There are thousands of fonts, and they include variants of the same font. The adaptation of a typeface with different formatting is also considered as a font. The popularly accepted formatting variants are:
i. Regular.
ii. Condensed.
iii. Bold.
iv. Extra bold.
v. Extended.
vi. Italic.
vii. Light.
When A Popular Communication Tool Misses A Font
Let us take the example of any favored email provider. A user is accustomed to using a particular font in word processors. He or she uses the font ‘Times New Roman’ and is comfortable with the font. After typing a letter the user pastes it on to the email interface and sends the mail. On a busy day, the same user tries to reply to a mail on the email page. This leads to a new discovery. The email provider doesn’t have ‘Times New Roman,’ although it supports the font when copied from another program. Our user tries all fonts on the platform and hits on a font called, ‘Georgia,’ which is very similar to ‘Times New Roman,’ but a bit large. So the user uses Georgia font formatted to a smaller size to get the same visual effects as the other font.
Alternate Fonts
In the above example, the user was lucky enough to find a font that might have satisfied him or her. That may not be the case in similar incidents involving a graphic design or a web mail program. The matter is usually solved using a website or software that identifies a similar font in a matter of seconds. There are many font identifier programs available.
Identify A Font From A Printout
You have a printed material like a magazine, a newspaper, or a letter in front of you. You liked the typeface and want to use the font somewhere. How to find out the correct name of the font to use it elsewhere?
Many font identifier resources can recognize a font name correctly from its database. For best and quick results employ the following procedure:
i. Get a clear image of the font.
ii. It is always better to get a larger font size, preferably size 18.
iii. You can even blow up the image to increase font size.
iv. The best way to get a clear image is to use a scanner. A high-resolution mobile camera can also do the job.
v. In case of a tricky situation where the source itself is asymmetrical, use a good image editor for best results.
vi. This image can be uploaded to the font identifier program to pick out the original font name.
Identify The Fonts From A Website
You find a charming font on a web page and want to use it somewhere, but you have no idea about the name of the font. There is nothing to worry. A good font identifier program will give the exact name of the font to you. Here is an easy procedure to get the font that caught your attention:
i. Open your font identifier website.
ii. You can bookmark it for easy accessibility for future use.
iii. Add its URL to the Google Chrome extension or the appropriate section of your browser. For example, if your browser is Safari on an Apple device, add the extension to Safari.
iv. Open the website that contains the font you want to identify. After the particular page with the font has opened fully, click on your font identifier extension on the browser.
v. Hover your mouse pointer over any font on the page and a corresponding box will display the following information about the font:
a. Name of the font.
b. Family to which the font belongs.
c. Font size as displayed on the web page.
d. Line-height.
e. RGB color code of the font color as given on that web page.
Identifying A Font Using The Link To Its Webpage
Many font identifier programs support URL recognition. It can be easily done by following the below-given steps:
i. Open the website of the font identifier program.
ii. Click on the tab that asks you to ‘identify the font.’
iii. Click on ‘enter the link to the page’. This shall open a box.
iv. Open a new tab on your browser.
v. Paste the link to the page that contains the font which you want to identify.
vi. The page that has your font will open.
vii. Press the ‘Ctrl’ key on your device and press ‘L.’ This will highlight the address bar of the page.
viii. Press Ctrl + C to copy the highlighted link onto your clipboard.
ix. Go to the font identifier website that is open.
x. Place the cursor inside the box that is open.
xi. Press Ctrl+V to paste the link of the font’s page into the box. You can alternatively right-click inside the box and select ‘Paste’ from the menu that opens.
xii. A new box will open that discloses all information about the font you searched for.
Uploading The Image Of A Font
Certain online font identifier websites support uploading images to give results. The results depend on the quality of the image. You can avoid getting wrong information due to a skewed image by uploading a good quality picture.
i. Take a picture of the font you want to use.
ii. Check the image for quality. If it is blurred or distorted, take another picture. The quality of the image depends on the resolution of the camera. Check your smartphone to ensure that it has a camera with a minimum 8-megapixel resolution.
iii. Open the website of your favorite font identifier.
iv. Go to the section that asks you to upload the image.
v. Click on ‘upload image from your computer.’
vi. In the box that opens, select the folder in which the image is stored. Select the image and click ‘open.’
vii. The image will get uploaded into the interface. Within a few seconds, the site will display the details of the font.
viii. Instead of using the upload option, you can alternatively ‘drag and drop’ it onto the font identifier’s page.
Tip: When clicking the photo of the font, do it in a good light. In a dark environment, enable the camera flash. Make sure that the shadow of your hand and smartphone do not fall on the object to be photographed. This usually happens when the light source is behind you.
Find Font Names Using Browser Extensions.
This is a fast and easy way to get information on any font that you liked. Certain font finder websites support browser extensions. You can easily add the extension to a browser like Firefox or Chrome. When you find a web page with an attractive font, you can right-click any word typed in that font to start using the new extension on your browser. The menu that opens will have the name of the font identifier program. Clicking on that will open another box that contains all the required attributes about the font.
Using Font Identifier Icon From The Browser.
Some websites display their icon in the browser menu. A simple click on the program icon will activate the identifier tool for that page. What follows is interesting. A web page can have more than one font. Suppose, you selected an entire paragraph typed using different fonts. The identifier software will break down the selection into different sections having same font types. The font attributes for each part will be displayed in separate boxes for easy comprehension.
Tools To Analyze Entire Web Pages.
In some cases, the user may need to analyze a whole web page. It will take a lot of time energy to select each part of the content to get the font attributes recognized using common methods. There are special programs that can scrutinize an entire web page in a matter of seconds. It involves the following steps:
i. Add the website as an extension to your browser.
ii. The icon of the program will be displayed within the browser menu. Click on it to activate the software.
iii. The dropdown menu that appears will have a typography element.
iv. Details of all families that appear on the web page will be presented with their typesetting specifications.
Code Inspection Method To Avoid Browser Extensions
There are developer skills which can be used to get information on a font and it doesn’t require adding an extension to your browser. Use the following steps that will act as a reliable font finder tool to give good results.
i. Select the text you want to analyze and right-click on it.
ii. Select ‘inspect’ from the dropdown menu. The web page will be vertically split into two. The left pane will display the web page and the right pane will show the internal coding used to create the page.
iii. Click on the styles tab which will display all the credits due to the selected font.
Which Method Is Suitable For Me?
The internet is rife with resources to identify most fonts. You can choose a few websites to do a test run. Select a common subject and run an appraisal using each of your selection. This will improve your skills in analyzing a font and also help you to select a user-friendly font identifier.
