Recently, for the first time in a long while, I have needed to install custom fonts on my system to do some testing for particular customers. The process was actually ridiculously easy, but I figure it is worth sharing as a quick tidbit (this works on both Vista and XP):

1. If your fonts are in a zip file, unzip them first. Put them on your desktop.
2. Open control panel.
3. Open the Fonts option (this will open \Windows\fonts).
4. Copy your font files into the folder which was just open.
5. To be thorough, restart any applications where you need to use the new font.

That’s it. Mac users can find instructions here (although I cannot test them, it seems easy enough).

If you are looking for some custom fonts, a quick Internet search on ‘free fonts’ will list several sites, but here are a couple I found during quick search:

• http://www.searchfreefonts.com/
• http://www.1001freefonts.com/

Are you looking to give your web site, graphics, papers, etc. a unique flair? If so a simple and effective way do this is with a non-standard font. While you could make your own, a better option is usually to use an existing one. If you are looking for a font to use, then take a look at Search Free Fonts.

The appropriately named site, Search Free Fonts, has over 13,000 free and 31,000 commercial fonts available for you to preview. You can browse by category, alphabetically, most popular and highest rated.

Fonts can be very expensive (either time spent or money-wise) if you want to develop your own, so consider taking a look here if you are in the market.