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Pixel fonts are all the rage
these days in web design. Why? Because they're cool. And they
also can be very small and still legible. I'll show you some
techniques to make sure your pixel fonts come out nice.
First of all, you have to make sure that you
know how many pixels a pixel font should be. Usually, the font
designer will tell you this. Some fonts are 7 pixels, some are 5
some are 9 etc... You have to either have them be exactly this
size, or a multiple of this number. For example, a 7 pixel font
will look good at 14 pixels as well. It will be pixelated
looking, but many people like this look. Take a look at the
following image.
I have written a few lines of text using a couple of different
pixel fonts. Some are sized exactly, and others are not. You can
see how difficult they are to read when they are not the correct
size. Sometimes you can experiment with different sizes to see
how they look. But very rarely does a pixel font allow you to
deviate from the recommended size.
Also pay attention to the lines that say they
have antialiasing turned on. Antialiasing is a way to make your
fonts look smooth by adding pixels to the edges of themin
lighter and lighter shades until they fade out to nothing. Since
pixel fonts require a specific map of pixels to make them
perfect, you can't do this. They will get very blurry and
impossible to read. The only way to make them look perfect is to
turn the antialiasing off.
Below is you upper options palette in Photoshop.
There is a drop-down box that I have circled that dictates what
antialising scheme you use. To turn it off, choose "none" in the
options. You will have to select the Type tool in your tools
palette to do this.
That's pretty much it for this week. Pixel
fonts are great, and you can pick up a lot of them for free.
Just do a search on the internet or visit your favorite type
foundry and you are sure to find some that you like. Many times
designers will design the same style font in several styles and
widths. You can find all capitals fonts, or both upper and lower
case fonts in a number of great styles. Have fun! |