A font editor is a class of
application software
Application may refer to:
Mathematics and computing
* Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks
** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...
specifically designed to create or modify
font files. Font editors differ greatly depending on if they are designed to edit
bitmap fonts
A computer font is implemented as a digital data file containing a set of graphically related glyphs. A computer font is designed and created using a font editor. A computer font specifically designed for the computer screen, and not for pri ...
or
outline fonts. Most modern font editors deal with the outline fonts. Bitmap fonts uses an older technology and are most commonly used in
console application
A console application is a computer program designed to be used via a text-only computer interface, such as a text terminal, the command-line interface of some operating systems (Unix, DOS, etc.) or the text-based interface included with most gr ...
s. The bitmap font editors were usually very specialized, as each
computing platform had its own font format. One subcategory of bitmap fonts is
text mode
Text mode is a computer display mode in which content is internally represented on a computer screen in terms of characters rather than individual pixels. Typically, the screen consists of a uniform rectangular grid of ''character cells'', each ...
fonts.
List of font editors
The following editors use outline vector graphics to create font files in common formats.
Free software
*
FontForge
Proprietary software
*
FontLab (Mac, Windows)
*
Fontographer
Fontographer (FOG) is a font editor for Windows and macOS; it is used to create digital fonts. It was originally developed by Altsys but is now owned by FontLab Ltd.
History Altsys Corporation
In December 1984, James R. Von Ehr II founded the ...
(Mac, Windows)
*
Ikarus
See also
*
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), ...
References
Editor
Digital typography
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