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Pixel Fonts To The Rescue
Graphic designers working on web projects often complain that when typefaces designed for print are set to lower sizes that they become harder to read and unattractive to the eye. Even using anti-aliasing (the smooth option in the Character Palette) is not enough to help these fonts look better on screen. The solution when this happens is to abandon the printer fonts altogether and to try using a Pixel font, which will produce a crisp, clean image at very small sizes.
Pixel Fonts — Limits & Restrictions
Pixel fonts were created specifically for computers, with each pixel of the font designed on a grid that is exactly the same grid that is on your computer screen. Because of this Pixel fonts have certain limitations. They cannot be scaled and must be used at the sizes at which they were designed, or else at exact multiples. This is to prevent them from distorting. It is also important to never apply any anti-aliasing to them.
Let's Pick A Pixel Font
Some great pixel fonts can be found at Joe Gillespie's minifonts.com site. One of his font creations, Mini 7, is considered to be the most popular Pixel font in use on the web today, and it is one of my all-time favorites.
Pixel Fonts In Action
Pixel fonts are great for website photo captions, because you can get a lot of text into a small area, and it will still be very legible. (The screenshot below uses Mini 7). They are also great for website interfaces, especially navigation buttons.
Pixel Font Troubleshooting Checklist
Follow these guidelines (from minifonts.com) to avoid the most common problems:
Pixel fonts should be set on a page with a 72 ppi resolution.
Anti-aliasing (font smoothing) should be off.
The type size should be the 'designed size' or multiple of it. You will find this size in your ReadMe file.
All tracking and kerning should be set to zero and character widths to 100%.
Leading (line spacing) can be specified as required.
Always specify your font sizes in pixels, not points. A ten pixel font is not necessarily the same as a ten point one. Change your setup to work in pixels and set your document resolution to 72 ppi (pixels per inch).
Do not use a centered paragraph style. The math required to center text can result in fractional spacing and vertical rows of pixels can mysteriously disappear. Always set your pixel fonts ranged left and center it by moving the whole layer.
Save as GIF images at a 1-bit color depth, resulting in a small file size.
Inspiration
If you're curious as to how far you can take the pixel look, visit Kaliber 10000 (The Designers' Lunchbox). Now that's a "pixelated" website.
Pixel Fonts — Where To Get Them — Free Font Resources
DaFont.com — DaFont.com has some great free pixel fonts. Just do a search (top right of screen) for "pixel" to find them. I like Snoot.org px10 by Divide by Zero.
04 — On the front page click on "extra" and then you'll see "bitmap font" and "font ps.tt" - which are free downloads. This is a very nice collection of pixel fonts.
Wanted Fonts — Lots of free fonts. On left side navigation you'll see categories. Look for "pixelated" and search through the collection. "Endless Showroom" looks nice.
HighFonts.com — Another nice site with a great collection of free fonts you can download.
Silkscreen - Free Pixel Font — Silkscreen is a free four member type family for your Web graphics created by Jason Kottke. Available in both Mac and Windows versions.
How To Install & Remove Fonts In Windows — This font installation guide will tell you everything you need to know.
MiniFonts.com — Joe Gillespie's site showcases the individual fonts he has for sale (over 200), or you can try the free samples. The site also features some in-depth articles on the history of pixel fonts, pixel font usage tips, and a pixel fonts FAQ page.
That's it. Enjoy your Pixel fonts!
Photoshop CS4 & Photoshop CS4 Extended - Best Deals From Adobe
Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended feature a newly refined, tab-based interface in a single, integrated window, with self-adjusting panels arranged in docked groups. Automatically keeping tools well organized and away from your work area means you get greater efficiency, less clutter, and better results, faster than before.
Delivering all the features of Adobe Photoshop CS4 software, including the new Adjustments and Masks panels, Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended also provides breakthrough 3D editing and compositing power to paint directly on 3D models, create 3D animations, convert 2D images to 3D objects, and more; richer motion graphics editing; and more powerful and flexible image analysis and tracking. Learn more on our Photoshop CS4 Tutorials Page. To download the free trial, see details on our Photoshop CS4 Free Trial Download Page.
Find upgrade options and package deals at the Adobe USA Store. Teachers and students get special pricing at the Adobe Education Store. You can also buy in your country currency and language at the following Adobe International Stores:
Adobe United Kingdom | Adobe Germany | Adobe France | Adobe Eastern Europe
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium - Complete CS4 Bundle
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium software is the designer's dream toolkit for print, web, and mobile publishing. Creativity is rarely confined to one medium, so put your vector illustrations in motion, moving fluidly between Adobe Illustrator CS4 and Adobe Flash CS4 Professional. And use Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended to design and slice a web page for publishing with Adobe Dreamweaver CS4.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium combines essential tools for producing everything from professional page layouts to rich interactive experiences in a unified, intuitive environment. Also includes Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro, Adobe InDesign CS4, plus Adobe Fireworks CS4.
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Photoshop Web Template — Web Site Design Tutorial
Learn how to make a Photoshop web template with this web site design tutorial. Includes finished web page with code and links to free resources.
How To Create A Favicon In Photoshop
A Favicon is a little custom icon that appears next to a website's URL in the address bar of a web browser. And when I say little, I mean 16 pixels by 16 pixels. So if you like a good design challenge try your hand at this one.
Blog Templates & Blog Design Tips
This Photoshop tutorial offers tips on how to improve blog templates by adding your own design elements. Includes a list of free blog resources, and a martini recipe.
The Photoshop Blog offers the latest Photoshop and Digital Photography news and software updates, tips and tutorials, and random thoughts from graphic artist, digital photographer and Photoshop expert Jennifer Apple.
Photoshop Masking Plugin Fluid Mask 3 - $15 Discount Special
The 4 1/2 out of 5 star review of Fluid Mask 3 at MacWorld begins by saying that this "Photoshop plug-in takes the pain out of extracting backgrounds," and goes on to recommend the latest version, stating that "Fluid Mask 3.0.2 is a very effective tool for separating objects from their backgrounds. It offers a variety of useful features for tackling almost any difficult image, from wispy hair to complex foliage. Online video tutorials and live training sessions help ease the learning curve."
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Fluid Mask 3 is designed for photographers, image editors, graphic designers and all those who take digital image editing seriously. In a streamlined interface and workflow, Fluid Mask 3 instantly shows key edges in the image and provides comprehensive easy to use tools that work with difficult-to-see edges and tricky areas like trees & lattices. Features include:
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SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - Create Websites Instantly
There often seems to be a strict division of labor within the world of web design and development. Creative professionals tend to stick to the Photoshop domain, while those well-versed in scripting are left to the task of implementing their work. Indeed, the two realms are quite different from each other, to which any of us even vaguely familiar with either can easily attest.
Essentially, Photoshop is a no-holds-barred design studio, offering the artist a seemingly endless array of creative options. On the other hand, HTML, CSS, Java and the like follow strict rules of engagement, requiring the developer to take any number of esoteric concerns into consideration in order to ensure that designs are properly displayed on the web.
Turn Photoshop Into A Complete Web Design Tool
SiteGrinder seeks to bridge this gap between design and development. Basically, this program turns Photoshop into an easy-to-use and fully functional web design tool. With SiteGrinder, designers will now have the freedom to totally let their creativity loose and then, without skipping a beat, transfer their designs to the web. Bringing esthetic concerns together with more practical considerations, this program is an amazingly powerful tool that would make a fantastic addition to any web designer's bag of tricks.
Generate Your Web Pages Directly From Photoshop
By generating web pages directly from Photoshop, you'll be able to spend much more time on the creative end of the spectrum, since you'll know right off the bat how well particular designs will translate to the web. No more going back to the Photoshop drawing board after getting a phone call from your development team, telling you that what you had envisioned doesn't have a chance of being displayed on the web. You can immediately visually and interactively test your designs, which permits you to then make changes to either esthetics or functions while it's still relatively early on in the design process.
Pricing and Availability
Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download. SiteGrinder can be ordered from Media Lab's online store.
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Learn Adobe Photoshop with 21 hours of interactive Adobe Photoshop tutorials. This is training for real-world situations and includes additional tips and techniques used by the pros.
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