Non-stop dings!
Our dingbat helper has individual links to over 2000 fonts listed alphabetically by font name / topic,
mostly freeware and shareware, with more than 400 titles downloadable from our own
Lost Fonts Archive
Installing and using dingbats and other fonts
Go straight to these topics:
Dingbats are simply fonts
Font installation, unzipping, etc
Fonts and PSP
HP FontSmart
Dingbats are simply fonts
Before getting to the links to help with installing your fonts, a word about dingbats in particular.
Dingbats are picture or symbol fonts, but they are just fonts — there's nothing different about installing, using or uninstalling a dingbat font from any other regular font. PC and Mac fonts can differ (the reason why many sites offer a choice of download type; though we understand this doesn't apply if you have Mac OS X which can use TrueType fonts); but if you already know how to deal with a regular text font on your own particular system, then treat dingbat fonts exactly the same. But, if you're unsure about how to handle fonts at all, just scroll on down to some links that will help :)
If you're still not sure what dingbats are, what you can do with them, or how much fun they can be to use, take a look at these pages for a fuller explanation and a few creative ideas: Decorating with Dingbats by Sarajane Helm, and/or Using Dingbat Fonts by Joan M Mas. When your creative juices have been stimulated, you'll find plenty back here to download!
Installing Fonts and other issues
For Windows XP who better than Microsoft Typography to tell you how: this page includes screenshots and instructions, so you can't go far wrong. Here are the equivalent pages for Windows 9x, ME, 2000, NT4, and for Windows 3.1.
Also from Microsoft: OpenType overview.
For Vista, from Microsoft Windows Help: Installing/uninstalling fonts in Vista.
Many font creators and vendors provide helpful pages for installing fonts on various systems or resolving issues. Among them, these pages were also current at the time of writing:
- Fonts.com - Problems using Postscript fonts with Windows Vista
- MyFonts.com - Font Formats for Windows
- Typotheque - Installing Fonts
- Typotheque - Which Format to Choose
- Fonthead Design - FAQ
- Vintage Type - Installing Fonts
Otherwise you could try this comprehensive article by Jacci Howard Bear in About.com's Desktop Publishing section, covering the download of fonts, how to extract your fonts from the zipped file you save, and installing various types of font on Windows and Mac systems.
Important to remember when installing additional fonts, no matter which Windows system you use: don't install a TrueType font and a PostScript font with exactly the same name. When you buy or download fonts you will often find both versions supplied -- decide which format you need and install only that version. One or two of the links above may help further but basically, if you are uncertain which to install, then TrueType is probably the one to go for.
For Web-TV users, Mike Moore's Templar site has a ton of links to more resources than you can shake a stick at, on a whole variety of subjects, including two tutorials originally written by Lady Timeless: Grab, Unzip and Use that Dingbat! and Using that Dingbat!
Fonts and PSP (Paint Shop Pro) . . . or Photoshop . . . or . . .
Many visitors arrive from searches along the lines of (for example) "fonts for PSP" or "PSP fonts" or "installing fonts in/for PSP".
PSP doesn't have fonts of its own, nor does it need a special type that will only work in PSP. In common with other graphics applications such as Photoshop (or indeed any programme that uses fonts), PSP can access and use any font, either installed on your system or available by being temporarily open, whether it's a regular style or a dingbat font. If you want more fonts to be accessible from within PSP, it's a case of installing them on to your system rather than adding them to PSP. Once installed, PSP and all your other programmes can access them.
If you want to create picture graphics in PSP or Photoshop etc, dingbat fonts will provide an almost endless source and variety of material. But we suggest you drop any reference to PSP when you search for fonts, as this will limit your results to pages which also include the term 'PSP' — which probably most font or download sites won't. Whether you're looking only for dingbats, or for other (or all) styles of fonts for your graphics, you don't want to miss any, do you :))
Of course if it's dingbats you're after, you're already in the right place! — try our own download area/font archive where more than 400 titles are available, or browse through the dingbat-finder section where over 2000 titles/topics are listed alphabetically: most links take you to the designer's own site where the title can be downloaded (or to our own or another dingbat archive if necessary).
Do you have FontSmart?
NOTE:Since this piece about FontSmart was originally written in mid-2003, it's been surprising how many arrive here from searches for FontSmart. Most of you will be looking for a copy to download, so at the end of the following piece is a link to download the Lite version.
If you have a Hewlett-Packard printer you may have the HP FontSmart program already installed without realising it. This is a font management utility which was bundled with certain older printers' software. For example, I had a LaserJet 2100 and (earlier still) a LaserJet 5P, and FontSmart came with both. The 2100 came with v2.5, but after extensive sleuthing a reader of this page reported the last as v3.1 (many thanks, Alan). HP used to offer FontSmart Lite as an easily accessible free download but so far as I know it hasn't been available from the home site for many a year. Whether the software was included with newer printer models or is still distributed (and whether it was only ever a feature of laser printers rather than inkjets), I'm really not sure.
Anyway, if you have (or had) an HP machine, search the C-drive to see if the fontsmart.exe file is anywhere around. Double-click it from Explorer to open the program and give it a spin. FontSmart is only a 16-bit application, and while its features may be fairly basic in comparison to other font management tools, I've found it really useful and easy. It works as a standalone, functioning independently of printer software, so essential programme files can be saved and transferred to another system long after you may have changed printers.
Create a shortcut on the desktop and it's arguably a more useful and quicker option for installing and uninstalling fonts than going through the Windows Control Panel; over which it also has the advantage of being able to create on-screen samples within itself of all installed and uninstalled fonts found on your system (it won't see anything contained only in zip files). Once created, these samples remain against the font name whenever the program is opened, a reminder at a glance of the style of each one as you run down the list; and it can also group similar styles of fonts together. While it dates from a time when only TrueType fonts were commonplace, OpenType fonts show up fine; though they're not distinguishable with different icons as they are in the Windows Fonts folder.
If fontaholic tendencies mean you keep saving more fonts, ask FontSmart to scan your drive again to find them and create samples. It can choke if overloaded — not crash your system (not in my experience at least), but it could throw up its hands in despair, say "enough is enough" and refuse to create any more samples. For this reason, with font styles I'm only likely to want very rarely, I tend to keep the majority in zip files where they won't be picked up (and take up less drive space).
After searching your drive(s), a 2-pane window shows uninstalled fonts on the left, installed on the right, and it's easy to swap fonts from one to the other (highlight, and click an arrow button), with FontSmart taking care of the "cleaning up", i.e. telling the system registry what you've done. The individual characters of any selected font, installed or not, can also be examined at large magnifications, which is handy for checking what dingbat characters look like.
It's a shame if Hewlett-Packard no longer bundles the FontSmart utility with its printer software, but if you have an HP machine check your system, or ask HP-owning friends if they have it . . . you could get lucky.
Jul 2007: as this update was checked, a copy of FontSmart Lite was available for download from Active Design.
I haven't needed to use this freeware version, so can't say what it's like or what it does; however I've seen a few forum comments (dating from several years ago) confirming it's a 16-bit programme, with the 32-bit version only shipping with some HP printers. My thanks also go to readers who have reported it working happily on their Win 9x, Win2K and XP systems (nothing yet on Vista), but you should be aware that this is now an old programme if you intend giving it a try.
Take a look at the other Dingbats-UK pages.
As well as nearly 300 downloads right here on the site,
there are individual links to nearly 2000 more dingbat fonts listed alphabetically.
Tempted? — go on, click a link!
Dingbat finder links . . . A - C and # D - G H - M N - S T - Z
'Lost Fonts' download archive News
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Last updated 14 September 2007
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