FontCreator - Frequently Asked Questions
Before consulting this list, please check to make sure you are running the latest version, which is FontCreator 6.5.
Q: Can I share and sell fonts that I create with FontCreator or are there licensing implications?
Q: What is the difference between the Home and Professional Edition?
Q: Is it legal to modify a commercial font?
Q: Why don't quotation marks work in Microsoft Word?
Q: Is FontCreator available for a Mac?
Q: How can I change the height of a font?
Q: I want to change the font name, but I don't know how. What is the solution?
Q: My font only looks good at large sizes, what can I do to improve the quality at small sizes?
Q: Where can I find a glossary of terms used in font design?
Q: Can I share and sell fonts that I create with FontCreator or are there licensing implications?
A: If you have created a font yourself (without using anything from other fonts), it is your property. However be aware FontCreator Home Edition can NOT be used for commercial purposes. You have to buy the Professional Edition instead.
Q: What is the difference between the Home and Professional Edition?
A: This comparison chart shows the differences between the two editions.
Q: Is it legal to modify a commercial font?
A: Several font vendors do allow this, as long as the modified font is only used on machines for which you have licensed the original font. If you have questions about what can or can't be done with a font, you should contact the font's manufacturer.
Q: Why don't quotation marks work in Microsoft Word?
A: Word-processors often use autocorrect to convert the straight apostrophe (') and straight quote or inches character (") to typographical quotation marks (“), (”), (‘) and (’), also known as smart or curly quotes. If your font doesn't have mappings to these characters, you will see rectangles instead. When the quotes aren't showing at all, you need to add outlines to the corresponding glyphs. Make sure that your font contains all of the recommended glyphs.
Q: Is FontCreator available for a Mac?
A: No, the software runs on Windows only. However Mac OS X does support fonts created with FontCreator.
Q: How can I change the height of a font?
A: To change the top and bottom of a font; select Settings from the Format menu to open the Font Settings window and select the Metrics page. Here you can change the Win Ascent (Top) and Win Descent (Bottom). You should also update the other ascender and descender values. To update all values at once, press the Calculate button. Read more....
Q: I want to change the font name, but I don't know how. What is the solution?
A: The font name is stored inside the font, so changing the file name won't work. The easiest way to change the font name is to use the AutoNaming wizard available from the Tools menu.
Q: My font only looks good at large sizes, what can I do to improve the quality at small sizes?
A: The quality has a lot to do with hinting. The hints are what make it look good at low resolutions. FontCreator does not fully support hinting. Screen fonts are incredibly complex to make well, but if you want to hint your font then you could use Microsoft Visual TrueType to add hinting to your fonts. VTT is a professional-level tool for graphically instructing TrueType and OpenType fonts. Another solution is grayscale support. To enable it select Smoothing from the Format menu. Delete all entries. Now add a new entry and set "Grayscale rendering" as well as "Smoothing".
Q: Where can I find a glossary of terms about fonts?
A: There are a lot of terms used in font design: Ascender, Glyph, Diacritic. These and more are explained here.