Font question

Jul 02, 2012

If I have uploaded a funky font to use in my course, will it always be viewable to others?

a) while in creation mode if I send the file to others to view/edit?

b) after it's published, regardless of if that font is on the players computer?

Should I save the font in my "core folder" with all the other learning assets?

4 Replies
Phil Mayor

When its published the font is not needed on the users computer, unless you use text entry fields and then it will only display as that font if is on their machine.

In creation mode if you share you should send the font as well.  I have seen when I useda different font once that it was installed on my machine (not sure if i had installed it previously.

I would keep a copy of the font with my project files

Diane Elkins

I did a little testing.   As Phil said, the student does not need to have the font installed.  This is true both in the .swf published version and the HTML5 published version.  

As for another developer, a text box with a font that the developer doesn't have seems to still work.  It appears the same on screen, can be copied and pasted as another text box, can have the font and color changed, and can be published.  However, I would agree with Phil that is it probably still better to have the font saved with the files to make sure everyone has it--just in case.

Keep in mind that fonts are copyrightable.  You'll want to make sure you have proper permissions/licensing before distributing fonts to other people.   Here's an excerpt from Adobe's statement on font licensing.

When you purchase a font you do not obtain ownership to the font per se. You are actually paying for a license to use the font on a specific number of computers by a specific number of users. What most users do not realize is that when they purchase a license to use font software they cannot freely copy and distribute the font software.

Jeff Nauman

Phil Mayor said:

When its published the font is not needed on the users computer, unless you use text entry fields and then it will only display as that font if is on their machine.

In creation mode if you share you should send the font as well.  I have seen when I useda different font once that it was installed on my machine (not sure if i had installed it previously.

I would keep a copy of the font with my project files


This is one of Phil's posts from back in July... it's told me that text entry fields may be problematic, but that other than those, normal text should publish with the program and should not be an issue for the end user. The second of the two graphics in my original inquiry has the first two words as 'Welcome Aboard'- these are not text entry fields or returns... only the last word in the sentence is a text field variable. I can easily change the text entry fields to an 'Articulate' or Arial font because this is the only text entry field I'm using, but the entire remainder of my course is in the MV Boli font and would be a major redo.... yikes! What a lesson this is for an old training geek like me. Suggestions for workarounds gladly accepted! If not... back to the mines....

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