Font Editor

What Does Font Editor Mean?

A font editor is a type of software specifically designed to modify or create font files for use in various applications. They can either create or edit outline or bitmap fonts, or both depending on the software package developer’s intentions. However, most modern font editors deal with outline fonts, as bitmap fonts are more specialized and not as widely used.

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Techopedia Explains Font Editor

Font editors are used to create or modify already existing fonts. They can be compatible with TrueType Font (TTF), Postscript, OpenType and other font formats depending on the software. An easier way of describing a font editor would be that it can be considered a drawing program first and foremost, as it allows the user to draw the outlines of letters, specify angles and implement any other features a developer may have devised. Some font editors allow the user to edit per block or pixel which gives precision, while others approximate the creation rather precisely by using splines, lines, points and paths and then mathematically creating the fonts.

The user creates a lot of “images,” the characters themselves, and then bundles them based on certain metadata or parameters such as distance from each other, angle, width and height. The editor then bundles these into font files that the computer can use.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…