Though I don't have the privilege of owning it yet...I know MANY of you are using SCAL (sure cuts a lot) with your Cricut machine. That's not a bad thing...if my machine was out of warranty and my pocketbook would allow me to use SCAL too, I would but I have some VERY important news regarding fonts...
I am a bonafide font freak...it's honestly a rare occasion I meet a font I don't love...my "go to" font folder has over 13k fonts in it and I have thousands more that are getting lonely waiting for me to get the time to unzip them and add them to the master folder. This master folder USED to be the default windows font folder til something scary happened...
After pasting about oh I dunno a good extra thousand fonts in the folder if not more, my computer began to operate at snurtle speed (that's a cross between snail and turtle speed). In fact, it took twenty minutes for my computer to load enough so that I could see my desktop...and to get email or a browser required additional increments of 20 to 30 minutes....OH NO what did I do....
It took me FOUR DAYS (about 8 hours each day) to get my fonts back to normal...i.e. the standard windows default fonts...then my good buddy Jules informed me of a MUCH better way...I've done it this way now for over a year with GLOWING results and no more 4 day fixes. Take it from someone who knows...installing additional fonts to your default font folder can and will make you a very unhappy camper later...
Everything inside your "windows" folder (or whatever it's called for Mac users) has to load before your computer will run...it's your operating system folder. The more fonts you add (or anything else for that matter), the slower your computer will get....I had just over 1k in there and it took 20 minutes...can you imagine how long it'd take if I put all of them I have in there...oy ve!!!
Anyway...it's MUCH better for you to create another folder in your MyDocs file...DO NOT Name it just "fonts" (in any form...no Fonts, FONTS, FoNtS, well you get the point), or your operating system will get confused. I have two folders...one is zipped fonts and one is premium font folder. Whenever I download a font as a zip, it goes to the zipped fonts folder...then when I unzip it I cut and paste JUST the font to the premium font folder and then after it pastes successfully I delete the UNZIPPED folder keeping only the zipped folder and the new font in my font file. Periodically I put all the zips onto CD and delete them from the computer to make room for more!
If you double click the font and open it you can use it in almost any program (publisher, word, PhotoShop, paint, etc) until you close the font. That's how I USUALLY do it if I know what font it is I want for certain...when I am doing a Disney page for instance, I know waltograph would be great so I just go to the premium font folder and double click waltograph...now I can use it all I want until I close the file.
The other option I HIGHLY recommend is to get a free font viewer...think of it as a preview on a cartridge...the only difference is while it's open and running you can use any of the fonts you direct it to. I use Font Xplorer by moon sofware...you can download it free at http://www.moonsoftware.com/fxplorer.asp but there are others as well. Just google "free font viewer".
My "default folder" in Font Xplorer is set to my premium font folder...once it loads I have 13k fonts available (or however many I put in the folder) for use at my discretion and they are NOT installed to my computer. Font Xplorer also lets you install a "shortcut" to your font in the default windows folder...this doesn't take up hardly any space at ALL and is helpful when it's a font you use over and over and over...by installing the short cut only, you can still use it, even if you close the font itself or Font Xplorer and don't have to worry about it bogging down your system.
Ideally you shouldn't have anymore than 350-400 fonts in your default folder and I know there are like at least about 325 or so that are considered the "default" ones so you don't have room to add a whole lot more. In addition to the tips I got from Jules, I got my font knowledge here, Ellie even has a list of the default fonts for various operating systems just in case you deleted some you shouldn't have or whatever. You can EVEN find some cool fonts on her site as well!
I am a bonafide font freak...it's honestly a rare occasion I meet a font I don't love...my "go to" font folder has over 13k fonts in it and I have thousands more that are getting lonely waiting for me to get the time to unzip them and add them to the master folder. This master folder USED to be the default windows font folder til something scary happened...
After pasting about oh I dunno a good extra thousand fonts in the folder if not more, my computer began to operate at snurtle speed (that's a cross between snail and turtle speed). In fact, it took twenty minutes for my computer to load enough so that I could see my desktop...and to get email or a browser required additional increments of 20 to 30 minutes....OH NO what did I do....
It took me FOUR DAYS (about 8 hours each day) to get my fonts back to normal...i.e. the standard windows default fonts...then my good buddy Jules informed me of a MUCH better way...I've done it this way now for over a year with GLOWING results and no more 4 day fixes. Take it from someone who knows...installing additional fonts to your default font folder can and will make you a very unhappy camper later...
Everything inside your "windows" folder (or whatever it's called for Mac users) has to load before your computer will run...it's your operating system folder. The more fonts you add (or anything else for that matter), the slower your computer will get....I had just over 1k in there and it took 20 minutes...can you imagine how long it'd take if I put all of them I have in there...oy ve!!!
Anyway...it's MUCH better for you to create another folder in your MyDocs file...DO NOT Name it just "fonts" (in any form...no Fonts, FONTS, FoNtS, well you get the point), or your operating system will get confused. I have two folders...one is zipped fonts and one is premium font folder. Whenever I download a font as a zip, it goes to the zipped fonts folder...then when I unzip it I cut and paste JUST the font to the premium font folder and then after it pastes successfully I delete the UNZIPPED folder keeping only the zipped folder and the new font in my font file. Periodically I put all the zips onto CD and delete them from the computer to make room for more!
If you double click the font and open it you can use it in almost any program (publisher, word, PhotoShop, paint, etc) until you close the font. That's how I USUALLY do it if I know what font it is I want for certain...when I am doing a Disney page for instance, I know waltograph would be great so I just go to the premium font folder and double click waltograph...now I can use it all I want until I close the file.
The other option I HIGHLY recommend is to get a free font viewer...think of it as a preview on a cartridge...the only difference is while it's open and running you can use any of the fonts you direct it to. I use Font Xplorer by moon sofware...you can download it free at http://www.moonsoftware.com/fxplorer.asp but there are others as well. Just google "free font viewer".
My "default folder" in Font Xplorer is set to my premium font folder...once it loads I have 13k fonts available (or however many I put in the folder) for use at my discretion and they are NOT installed to my computer. Font Xplorer also lets you install a "shortcut" to your font in the default windows folder...this doesn't take up hardly any space at ALL and is helpful when it's a font you use over and over and over...by installing the short cut only, you can still use it, even if you close the font itself or Font Xplorer and don't have to worry about it bogging down your system.
Ideally you shouldn't have anymore than 350-400 fonts in your default folder and I know there are like at least about 325 or so that are considered the "default" ones so you don't have room to add a whole lot more. In addition to the tips I got from Jules, I got my font knowledge here, Ellie even has a list of the default fonts for various operating systems just in case you deleted some you shouldn't have or whatever. You can EVEN find some cool fonts on her site as well!
THANK YOU for the font advice! I am a font ADDICT! BTW, you have an award on my blog, come check it out!
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