Installing fonts

Sep 03, 2012

Hi

How can I install a new font into Storyline?

It works fine in MS and text files but doesn't show up in Storyline. It is a TT font. The nearest I can get is Kristen but it's not quite like writing looks on a blackboard. So I installed KG TenThousandsReasons which is working OK on other programs but I cannot see it in Storyline. I have restarted PC and Storyline and it is on update 1.

Thanks again,

Richard

24 Replies
Justin Grenier

Good Morning, Richard.

Is it possible that Storyline was open/running when you originally installed the new font?  Either way, could you try removing and reinstalling the font with Storyline closed?

For reference, here is a Knowledge Base article from Microsoft on how to install or remove a font in Windows.

Let us know how it goes!

Milton Edwards

Hi, I'm Milton!

Please allow me to piggyback off of this question since it addresses Installing Fonts. 

I'm developing eLearning in Storyline, where the customer prefers that I use Helvetica as the primary heading style. I notiticed that the player.css file references the player font-family choices in this order: Helvetica, Arial, Veranda, each a san-serif font. However, when I insert a text field onto a Storyline slide, add text, and attempt to format the font style, I'm don't see Helvetica listed among the font style choices. I would think that it should be embedded since it's referenced in the player style sheet. Please enlighten me on 1) why it's not there, and 2) how I can embed it into Storyline.

PS: I read your link to the article on embedding fonts in Windows, but I don't have the Helvetica font available to me on CD

Thanks!

Justin Grenier

Good Morning, Milton.

Helvetica is not a free Font that is included with a standard installation of Windows.  I believe the font is available from Adobe at a cost.

The player.css file includes a list of common sans-serif fonts that can be used by the learner's browser to display fonts, but if you want true Helvetica, you will likely need to purchase it from Adobe.  Arial, however, is awfully close!

Please let us know if you need anything else.  Thanks!

Phil Mayor

Not a html expert here by any degree, but I thought the correct use of a html stack was

desired font, alternative, common, generic.

So in this case it should be helvetica, arial, verdana, sans- serif

I think Storyline should be choosing the requested font, commercial or not. and then alternatives when it is not installed

Milton Edwards

Guys,

First, thanks for your responses! I was unable to respond yesterday due to meetings. As for the Helvetica font, I'll inform the client that they'll need to purchase it from Adobe if they want to use it. As for the player.css, Helvetica should be listed as an alternate font, not a primary font choice since it does not appear in the font menu selection dropdowns when assigning text font styles. I actually think the Arial and Articulate font styles are great substitutes for Helvetica.

font-family{

         Arial, Articulate, Helvetica, sans-serif;

}

Phil Mayor

Justin Grenier said:

Good Morning, Rusty.

Learners shouldn't have any trouble viewing any font you use in published format.  The issue would be if you sent your .story file to a fellow designer for editing purposes and they didn't have the font installed on their machine. 

Please let us know if you need anything else.  Thanks!


That is not 100% correct, if you use Variables and references the font that you display the reference with must be installed on the users machine or the font is substituted, normally with an awful serif font

Brett Rockwood

To follow up on what Phil said about text input variables:

I don't think this is really an issue with Storyline per se and am not sure that it can easily be resolved. If you try to use a font in a varialbe reference that isn't installed on the user's computer that PC wouldn't know how to image the letter forms the user inputs as it wouldn't have the necessary font data to do so. Unless SL were to upload the complete font set of every variable and somehow install them on the user's PC on the fly I can't see how this would be possible. (You would almost certainly have font licensing issues as well to deal with further complicating the matter.) When you publish a file with no text input variable you can use just about any font desired and it will be embedded in the Flash content and rendered appropriately. Not sure what happens with HTML5 and iOS output.

It's really too bad and I'd love to be proven wrong but I wouldn't hold my breath for that happening.

bruno baudry

Hi Brett,

I am not sure I fully get what you mean.

What "SL" stands for ?

The flash player has no problem using embedded font sets in any type of text field (input or dynamic, obviously static).

Maybe I am wrong but I wouldn't be supprise if this issue would be solved in a near release, if articulate find a business case for it indeed.

BB

Kevin Thorn

Chiming in here a bit late.

The "Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif" is an browser order of preference (echoing what Phil said above).

I recently developed a project with Helvetica and it worked fine. First, forget the .css file now.

Helvetica is a Mac font and not available for Windows PC. There is however and alternative for both Mac and Windows called, Helvetica Neue. It's almost identical to the Mac version. Unless you're a seasoned typographer you won't know the difference.

Install the font as suggested above and you should be good to go.

Of note, here's my method for installing fonts. Never had a problem:

  1. Close all applications
  2. Copy new font into C:\Windows\Fonts
  3. Reboot (not really necessary but it's old habit)
  4. Reopen application 
  5. Font should now appear in your Font library

As for Variable References for input text boxes, the new Helvetica Neue font will display correctly because now it's referring the .css file and it "sees" this font as the original Helvetica. I'm not a typographer by any stretch, but the project I'm referring to was a very large project for a very large international company of which have not complained about font readability...yet. 

David Anderson is the typo guru here. Perhaps he could chime in and offer some perspective.

Phil Mayor

Brett Rockwood said:

To follow up on what Phil said about text input variables:

I don't think this is really an issue with Storyline per se and am not sure that it can easily be resolved. If you try to use a font in a varialbe reference that isn't installed on the user's computer that PC wouldn't know how to image the letter forms the user inputs as it wouldn't have the necessary font data to do so. Unless SL were to upload the complete font set of every variable and somehow install them on the user's PC on the fly I can't see how this would be possible. (You would almost certainly have font licensing issues as well to deal with further complicating the matter.) When you publish a file with no text input variable you can use just about any font desired and it will be embedded in the Flash content and rendered appropriately. Not sure what happens with HTML5 and iOS output.

It's really too bad and I'd love to be proven wrong but I wouldn't hold my breath for that happening.


In the flash output there should not be a problem embedding the character sets, I have done this for years in flash.  I the HTML5 version it would be good if we had GUI access to the substitution list to decide what fonts should be substituted

Nancy Woinoski

Lauren Tanner said:

Hi Richard,

Pardon if this is a redundant question, but did the new font (that you installed to your PC) simply show up in Articulate Storyline once you closed the program, installed the font, then restarted the program?

Thanks so much!

Lauren


Hi Lauren, I've installed numerous fonts on my PC and they just "show up" in the Storyline fonts list after the install. I didn't have to do anything special in Storyline to get them to display.

Kevin Thorn

Right. Once you install a new font it should be available for any program on your computer, not just Storyline. Meaning, that font can be used in Word, PPT, etc. 

You may have to reboot an application program like Storyline if you had it open while installing the font.. Storyline (and most programs) won't recognize the new font until the program has been rebooted.

Amy Holloway

I have a (somewhat) related question. If you use Helvetica Neue (or other commercial font) on a storyline-developed product that is then resold, does anyone know if you have to purchase an additional font usage license?

Kevin Thorn said:

Chiming in here a bit late.

The "Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif" is an browser order of preference (echoing what Phil said above).

I recently developed a project with Helvetica and it worked fine. First, forget the .css file now.

Helvetica is a Mac font and not available for Windows PC. There is however and alternative for both Mac and Windows called, Helvetica Neue. It's almost identical to the Mac version. Unless you're a seasoned typographer you won't know the difference.

Install the font as suggested above and you should be good to go.

Of note, here's my method for installing fonts. Never had a problem:

  1. Close all applications
  2. Copy new font into C:\Windows\Fonts
  3. Reboot (not really necessary but it's old habit)
  4. Reopen application 
  5. Font should now appear in your Font library

As for Variable References for input text boxes, the new Helvetica Neue font will display correctly because now it's referring the .css file and it "sees" this font as the original Helvetica. I'm not a typographer by any stretch, but the project I'm referring to was a very large project for a very large international company of which have not complained about font readability...yet. 

David Anderson is the typo guru here. Perhaps he could chime in and offer some perspective.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Amy,

I wanted to welcome you to Heroes! In regards your license question, it may be something that you'd want to check with where you bought the font, but I'd suspect if you published a course using a particular font and then are selling the course - you should be ok. The users won't have access to use that font except for seeing it within the course.

Granted, I'm not a licensing or copyright expert...so use that advice with caution.

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