MS-DOS Font Installation

If you have any information that you feel belongs in this section, it would be greatly appreciated.

• Windows

  • Pat Farrell contributes the following description of font installation under Windows. Installing Fonts into Windows:

    This only covers Windows 3.1 with ATM. Font is a four-letter word in Windows versions prior to 3.1 due to the distinctions between screen fonts and printer fonts. The upgrade price of Windows 3.1 is justified by the integration of TrueType into the package and the inclusion of useful fonts for all printers.

    Commercial fonts usually have installation instructions with their manuals. The approach may differ from the method used for PD and shareware fonts.

    To install PD and shareware fonts in Windows 3.1:

    1. Copy the fonts onto a suitable scratch area (i.e. a floppy, or any temporary area of your hard disk.

    2. Execute ``Control Panel'' by double-clicking on the icon in the Windows Program Manager's ``main'' group.

    3. Double-click on the Fonts icon.

    4. Double-click on the ``Add'' button.

    5. Select the scratch directory holding the new fonts.

    6. A list of the fonts will be displayed. You can manually select the fonts you like, or you can use the ``Select All'' button.

    7. Make sure the ``Copy Fonts to Windows Directory'' check-box is checked. This will copy the fonts from the scratch area to your Windows directory.

    8. Click on the ``Ok'' button.

  • Special notes for Windows applications:

    Word for Windows (W4W) stores font/printer information in its own initialization files. After you add new fonts, you have to tell W4W that the printer can use the new fonts. Do this by selecting "Printer Setup`` from the W4W main "File" menu item, click on the "Setup'' button, and then click on two ``Ok'' buttons to back out of the setup mode.

  • Note concerning Windows 3.1 upgrade:

    There are two upgrade packages available from Microsoft for Win3.1. There is the standard version which contains TrueType support, and about six font families (Times New Roman, Arial, Courier, Symbols, Wingdings, etc.). It costs something like $50 (US). The second version contains a number of TrueType fonts that includes equivalents for the 35 standard Postscript fonts. This adds an additional $50, which is a pretty good value. However, if you plan on buying Microsoft's PowerPoint, it includes the same additional fonts/typefaces. So you can save money by not buying the fonts twice.

  • More about Windows

    • [Q:] Why are don't the TrueType fonts that come with Microsoft products (Word-for-Windows, PowerPoint, Windows 3.1 TrueType Font Pack, etc.) display and print properly on my system?

    • [A:] The font matching algorithm in Win3.1 is fairly simplistic. If you install lots of TrueType fonts, the algorithm can get confused. In this case, ``lots'' is more than 50 or so.

  • According to Luann Vodder who supports Microsoft Word on CompuServ:

    ``There is a procedure which Windows must go through when an application requests a font. Each font contains a list of attributes such as Family, FaceName, Height, Width, Orientation, Weight, Pitch, etc. When an application requests a font, it fills out a logical font for Windows containing the necessary attributes, then starts going through a font mapping algorithm to determine which of the installed fonts most closely matches the requested (logical) font. Penalties are applied against fonts whose attributes do not match the logical font, until the fonts with the fewest penalties are determined. If there is a ``tie'', Windows may need to rely on the order of the fonts in the WIN.INI file to determine the ``winner''.

    If the fonts you want are in your WIN.INI file, and show up in Windows' Control Panel, then try moving them higher in your WIN.INI file with a file edittor such as SYSEDIT.''

  • Kesh Govinder suggested the following warning:

    CAUTION: While many Windows 3.1 users would like to have many TrueType fonts at their disposal (and they are many available in the PD) a word of caution. A large number (>50) TT fonts will slow down your windows startup time. This occurs as every installed font is listed in the win.ini file, and Windows has to go through the entire file before starting up. While this may not affect most users, it will especially affect users of CorelDraw!, so be warned.

• Other Programs

  It is an unfortunate fact that almost all MS-DOS programs do things differently. Your best bet is to read the manual that comes with the program you want to use.