Font Downloads?

[Son of Spam]

There are a number of different free font sites out there on the Big Bad Internet.

That's good.

Unfortunately, you have to download each font individually.

That's bad. :x

Anyone know of a site where you can download ALL the free fonts they have available in one go (i.e. as a .zip/.rar file)?

Thanks.

[Curmudgeon]

Well, just keep in mind, that it will slow down Paint.NET opening up immensely with tons of fonts

[Gladi8or2]

Why would you want to have so many fonts?

Imagine you would have all the fonts from http://www.dafont.com, that are around 8500 fonts.

(1) It would slow down your system immensely. I don't know how long it takes to load a font, but I believe loading 8500 fonts will cost a disturbingly long time

(2) At 70kB per font file, and in general 2 or 3 font files per font (bold, cursive, etc.), this is almost 1.5GB of fonts. Personally, I know better uses for my bandwidth and storage...

(3) If you use 2 new fonts every day, which is very unlikely, you will need over 11 years to use all these fonts.

(4) Don't overestimate the importance of fonts. Everyone involved in graphics editing or webdesign will tell you the same: having too many fonts in one image/website gives an unprofessional impression. Moreover, you can do almost everything with the basic fonts you already have. In the maybe 5 years I've been doing things like this, I have downloaded maybe 10 fonts (like 1 gothic font, 1 eroded font, 1 lcd-digits font etc.).

[Crazy Man Dan]

Everyone involved in graphics editing or webdesign will tell you the same: having too many fonts in one image/website gives an unprofessional impression. Moreover, you can do almost everything with the basic fonts you already have.

Using too many fonts at one time is sloppy, but having a nice selection of fonts and using them responsibly can really help to keep things fresh. There are a few instances where only a handful of fonts work, but sometimes it's a nice change to throw Cicle in there instead of Tahoma or Calibri. And there's nothing like Birth of a Hero on a default Windows installation.

So yeah, you don't want to go overboard, tossing 10 different fonts into one design, but I find that having greater choice can actually aid creativity.

I currently have 873 fonts installed on my computer. There are a few I use often, a few I've used only a couple of times, and plenty I've never used, but I'll always check them to see how they fit into whatever I'm designing at the time.

But be warned - large font lists can make navigating font menus excruciatingly slow in some programs. Paint.NET is pretty good, but it does hang noticeably when you get to the more complex fonts like Morphina, Steadmanesque, or anything by Gyom Séguin.

I'd also advise against just grabbing everything you can get your hands on. There are some fonts I see out there that I'd never have a use for. Just grabbing one off the front page of DaFont now: David (no offense d.a ). My personal graphic design style is nothing like that, and something like that would never fit into one of my designs, so there's no use in me downloading it. You should look through the list of fonts, see how each one flows, and only download one if you think you'll have a use for it. It'll take more time, but it strengthens the relationship.

[david.atwell]

There are some fonts I see out there that I'd never have a use for. Just grabbing one off the front page of DaFont now: David (no offense d.a ).

Ugh. None taken. That's an offense to the name.