The number of fonts available for easy download has reached an enormous quantity. Similarly, the number of font 'search and download' sites has also taken off massively. With each font site incorporating its own unique features and novelties there is bound to be a font site offering exactly what you're after. Here are ten of the best font sites out there right now.
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Fontstruct Sponsored by FontShop, fontstruct is an extremely interactive site. It proivides a tool, which it called the 'Fontstructor' to actually create your own fonts which you then share for all to see. A really cool feature of the site is the ability to display your font creations on your own site via fontstructs widget tool Check out fontstruct here |
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Dafont
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Font Squirrel Font squirrel have found their niche to stand out from all the other font sites and yelling their message as loud as they can on their homepage. Their unique feature is that they have explored the far reaches of the web to collect only free fonts for commercial use, which is actually a mega useful feature. There is nothing more frustrating than spending countless hours browsing through a font library site only to find the font that finally leaps out as you is one of the few that aren’t free to use. Check out Font Squirrel here |
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Google Web Fonts Ahh Google, is there anything it can’t lend it search prowess towards? Seemingly not. Google Web Fonts seems to be geared towards web designers in mind. The site has the method of instantly seeing how the fonts would present your desired text, much in a similar way to that found on dafont. You won’t find the abundance of wacky named font categories either here. Instead, you have four main categories of serif, sans-serif, display and handwriting. You can also adjust the thickness, slant and width settings to match your exact requirements. Another nice feature is being able to create your own collections of fonts, which is a feature probably reflective of their emphasis of appealing to web designers. All in all Google Web Fonts is a rather sophisticated affair. Check out Google Web Fonts here |
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1001 Free Fonts 1001 free fonts seems to be a bit of a mix between font squirrel crossed with more the design of a site more like dafont. There is a payment you have to make to unlock the fonts but once that is out the way it should be plain sailing to browse all the free fonts the site has to offer. There are interesting font category names by the bucketload here and the downloading process is make as user friendly as possible with large download buttons for Windows and Mac users next to each font. The only real down site is that to preview how the fonts will look with the text you have in mind, you have to click into each one separately to preview it. To be honest though, this isn’t as much of a downer as it sounds and the site is definitely worth a look. Check out 1001 Free Fonts here |
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My Fonts
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Urban Fonts Urban Fonts isn’t the most beautifully designed site aesthetically but it has some good functionality in its navigation. The predominant search method is the familiar box of categories to browse through but these are free. The option to purchase fonts is still available along the top of the page alongside items such as their top 100 fonts. The custom text preview is a bit time consuming to get into, much like on 1001 Free Fonts, in that you have to go into each font separate to see your custom text displayed. However, once the text is displayed, the site automatically displays it in all the major font size categories which can he very time-saving in the long run. Check out Urban Fonts here |
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Fonts.com fonts.com seems to have worked its way into many of the other sites mentioned here, usually as a search function within the sites. As soon as you go into the site it’s clear there is a lot more on offer. This isn’t so much the standard browse fonts and download them procedure. Included in the site are an abundance of articles, news pieces and blogs about the fonts you will find on the site. Check out Fonts.com here |
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Font Shop
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Acid Fonts Acid Fonts is the best of both worlds. It has the attractive design and illustrated examples found on the expensive sites but is centred around free fonts. With a good selection of categories and a nifty rating system on the fonts themselves, this site is one of my favs. Check out Acid Fonts here |
by Chris Fiander
