Flash CS5: The Missing Manual

About Typefaces and Fonts

Choosing a typeface for your project should be fun—just not too much fun. There are two paths to the available typefaces installed on your computer. Using the menus, go to Text→Font or in the Properties panel, find the Character subpanel, and then click the Family menu. Either way, you see a list like the one in Figure 6-3. Make your typeface decisions based on the job at hand, and you can't go wrong. Think about what you expect your type to do, and then help it do that job by choosing the right typeface, size, color, container, and background. Beginning designers often treat text as yet another design element and let the desire for a cool look override more practical concerns. Designers sometimes talk about a text block like just another shape on the page. But cool type effects can torture your readers' eyes with hard-to-read backgrounds, weird letter spacing, or hopelessly small font sizes. (For more advice on readability, see the box on Small Is Beautiful.)

Note

If you want to be technical in a Gutenbergian fashion, typefaces are families of fonts. Times Roman is a typeface, while "Times Roman, bold, 12 point" is a font. Somewhere along the line, as type moved from traditional typesetters to computer desktops, the meaning of the word "font" came to be synonymous with "typeface." That's okay, but knowing how the terms originated makes great cocktail party banter.

Figure 6-3. Most likely you've got a bewildering number of typefaces on your computer. Many ...