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February 5, 2001

The Fundamentals of Professional Web Sites for Business Professionals

This Week’s:

Features

Step-by-Step: Choosing a Hosting Service

Joy to the URL! Promoting Your Web Address

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"Smart Choices" is a Smart Idea

The Quest for the Best in Web Hosting - FutureQuest

Techniques

Font-asttic Instant Graphics!

Technique

Font-asttic Instant Graphics!

by Carolyn Cooper

You say you need some sharp graphics, but you don't have the budget for a custom design or an expensive graphics package? Look no farther than your keyboard!

That's right, your keyboard. Creative use of good fonts and your graphics program can let you create custom images and graphics that will add zest to your design. And you can start with what you have at hand.

Most computers come with a set of fonts already installed including a pictographic font of some kind. Check your list of available fonts for something called "Dingbats" or "Ding"-something. These are graphic characters and symbols that often include arrows, pointing fingers, digital icons and more. And don't forget the symbol font! And even if you don't have anything but Arial or Verdana, you can still create directional buttons.

Example 1
An effective "Next" button was created with 2 characters from the Verdana font that comes standard with the Mac. A similar button could have been made with the Arial font that's standard on Windows machines. The bullet character (Option-8 on the Mac, Alt-8 on the PC) was first positioned in bright blue at 80 points (the measurement used for type) and then the left angle character (Shift-period) was centered in white at 16 points over the bullet. Plus it only takes 1 second to download!

Pictographic, or image based, fonts are practically a cottage industry among graphics designers these days. If your budget is tight, you may want to check out both online font sites and commercial sites like Eyewire.com for an appropriate pictographic font. The font prices are usually less expensive than a high-end, professional text font, but cover a wide range starting as little as US$10 from shareware online designers to US$140 from some of the specialty design houses. On average expect to pay between US$20-60 for a good, professional pictographic font. Some type design houses, like DsgnHaus, specialize in developing pictographic fonts in various styles and subjects. Some houses, like P22, even develop type fonts to go with specific pictographic fonts — which makes it easy to maintain a consistent graphics style for your site!

With the right font you don't need custom graphics!

Even if you don't want to use a pictographic font, there are a number ways to use a good, professional text font.

A strong initial character can give your page a visual boost without pictures.
age, rage against the dying of the light.
Do not go gently into that good night.
— Dylan Thomas.

1914-1953

The key to using fonts as graphics is restraint. Select a single pictographic font or set of fonts from the same source. Choose a related typographic font. Or select a single, decorative typographic font that matches the style of your site and message.

Even foreign text fonts can be useful! There's a lot more that can be done effectively and inexpensively with fonts. If you want to know more about font sources and selecting and using fonts effectively on the web, let us know. We might even tell you want this character means — and yes, it's a font!

Find out how to arrange an independent consultation or a workshop for your conference or organization on this or any other Internet-related topic.