Picture of an Italian Renaissance scribe using a feather quill to write a manuscript by candlelight

Old Style Fonts Are New Again

Old Style fonts revive early Renaissance typefaces used by Italian scribes and printers to spread knowledge and enlightenment across the western world.
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Type point-size gauge measuring the font size of an uppercase A

Digital Font Size: What’s the Point?

When the prepress world moved from metal to digital type, processes changed but terminology didn't. So what does point size actually mean in the world of digital fonts?
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Black type sample depicting the letters U, v, w, x, y and z, and the words x-height x-factors, on a blue and green abstract background

Selecting Fonts: X-Height X-Factors

Font selection is full of x-factors, qualities that appeal to the eye or to the needs of a specific design. One of those x-factors is x-height. So what is x-height and how does it affect the way we interact with type?
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Image of Charlemagne statue with a lowercase g floating over the Aachen palace.

Lowercase g: The Story of Stories

Ever wonder why lowercase glyphs for the letters g and a vary in appearance? The answer involves kings, scribes, religion, power, culture and literacy. Grab some popcorn and settle into your seat because this story begins twelve hundred years ago.
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Image of several different kinds of donuts overlaid with the text Time to Choose

Installing the Right Font Formats

Tempted to install all your fonts on your Mac or PC? Not so fast. By selecting the right font formats ahead of time, you can avoid a lot of pain later. Learn which formats are best for you.
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Graphical image of treasure chest in a cavern filled with gold and jewels

Your Treasure Trove of Font Data

FontAgent® reveals a treasure trove of metadata, metrics and descriptive details about your fonts. And it makes all that data available for you to explore as you select fonts and create set criteria.
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Graphical image of a cityscape overlaid with regular and italic letters sporting colorful hats

Stylin’ Italics and Obliques

Most people use the terms italic, oblique and slanted interchangeably to refer to font styles that lean to the right. But they're not the same. In fact, italics have a style all their own.
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Concept image of a designer adding styled text to a document

Italics, Quotes and Caps in Creative Copy

Writing creative copy and confused about the proper type treatments for product names, publications, titles and quotations? Here's a quick slant on italics, quote marks and capitalization.
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Metallic type against a red background overlaid with the words "Digital Fonts"

Type, Fonts, Faces and Cases

Many digital typography terms of today — including type, typeface, font and uppercase — trace back to the creation of metal type in Europe five hundred years ago.
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Graphical image of an extended character set supported by OpenType font file format

The Benefits of OpenType

OpenType is a modern font file format whose benefits include cross-platform support, simple file management, advanced typography, expanded glyph sets, and compatibility through open standards.
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A stylized letter A floating over the image of a person on a stand-up paddleboard on a mountain lake

Explore Your Fonts with FontAgent

FontAgent® reveals a treasure trove of font metadata, metrics and descriptive details that you can search, sort and explore as you select fonts and make Smart Sets — on both Mac and Windows platforms.
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Blue and white name tag with the words Hello my name is Dusty Bold, begging the question What's in a Font Name?

What’s in a Font Name?

Font names can be cool, cute and even comical. But what does a font’s name actually say about it? In almost all cases, font names start with their family names and include style and metric terms to differentiate them from their siblings.
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Important FontAgent Server Concepts

These basic concepts provide a foundation for understanding the operation, administration and use of FontAgent® Server.
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FontAgent Terminology

Learn the terms that describe font management functionality in FontAgent® servers and clients.
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Font and Typography Terminology

Font management and typography have a unique language that's precise, technical, yet artsy. Here's a quick overview of common terms.
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