Number 206 - July 2000

Fonts & Memory
by Irene M. Kraus, in Saginaw Valley May 2000 Blue Chip News
Many of the programs for use within Windows come with several typefaces. Using different fonts and styles is one of the easiest ways you can create customized looks for your documents. However, just as using too many fonts in a design can detract from it's intent, so can too many installed at one time on your system!     Windows, regardless of the version you are using, always runs better when you have more memory installed in your system. Each individual typeface uses some of the available memory in your system. The more fonts you have installed, the less memory you have available to do other things like run your programs!     So, how many fonts is too many? Well, that depends on what version of Windows you are using, and the amount of memory you have. If you're running Windows 3.x with a minimal install of 4 MB memory, I'd suggest keeping the number of fonts you have installed under 50. With 8 MB of memory, you should suffer no loss of performance when having as many as 100 to 200 installed.     In a Windows 95 or NT system, 8 MB of memory is needed at a minimum to run the system. If you are doing this, I'd limit installed fonts to under 100. With 16 MB of memory, you can increase the number of fonts to 200 to 300.	For those of you who are "power users" who have either more than 16 MB on a Win 3.x system or 32 MB on a Win95 or NT system, I'd still suggest limiting yourself to roughly 300-500 fonts. It is hard to believe that you could be doing any project that would need you to have more than that installed all at once! Use a Font Manager     For those of you who are font junkies (like me!), who have access to thousands of typefaces and are using different ones for different projects, I'd strongly suggest investing in a Font Manager program of some kind. Most are available as shareware, and will make your life much easier! These programs allow you to preview a typeface before installation, allow you to group fonts (regardless of source) according to project for easy installation and removal, and allow for easy printing of sample sheets of a set phrase or sentence in different typefaces. About the author...     Ms. Kraus' computer-related interests include writing, graphics & page design, and on-line messaging with over 18 years experience. She is the owner of Design COMP, and works as an Internet Marketing Consultant based in Erie County. Contact her at: ikraus@accsandusky.com, or by snail mail at: Design COMP, 1406 Dixon Dr., Sandusky OH 44870-4341.     This article is copyright by @ Irene M. Kraus, and was first printed in The CEBUG Swatter, November 1997. Author may be contacted via CEBUG, PO Box 1461, Sandusky, OH 44870-1461; or at address listed above.
Number 206 - July 2000