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Below are the answers to the most common questions about The Type Index and the way to get the best out of it.
Do you host fonts ?
No. No more. We now prefer to rely on a collaborative scheme, a community-based philosophy, that benefits as much to authors than to users.
Every fonts included in the database offers a link to the place to get it : authors are getting traffic to their sites, and users are sure to get
the latest version of the face.
Exceptionnally, and on author's request, The Type Index will host
font files for defunct free foundries in the International Type Museum (I.T.M.). See below for more infos.
How to add a font ?
Adding a font is easy, and quick. It can be done directly from this website, by using the submission links and facilities provided.
1. use the search engine to see if the foundry of the
font you're adding is already in the database. (If it isn't use the add a foundry link on the top menu of the page. A specific submissions scheme will be provided to you).
2. If the foundry is already included, Go to its page, and use the Add a font link on its page.
3. You'll be taken to the submission page. There, following the steps the submission system provides you, enter all the required infos.
If you can, use the model image to create the preview images of the font, and use the image link to indicate its location on your computer. You can also do the same with the text preview.
4. This done, click on submit. You'll be proposed a final check of your submission. Verify it carefully and send it.
5. It will be then added to the pending queue.
6. It will then be checked by moderators at The Type Index, and included ASAP. You'll be warned as soon as this will be done (from 1 day up to 1 week), or if any problem occured.
And there it is!
How to add an author ? A foundry ?
Authors can only be added throught the submission of one of
their fonts.
If the foundry isn't already in the database, it has to be submitted
in the first place : please use the Add link in the top menu.
Can I add a font I'm not the author of ?
Of course, authors and foundries are the best persons when it comes to adding their fonts, but you may also do it as a font lover/user.
The only requirement is to actually know which foundry made it, and to know the required infos about it.
As for submitting foundries, you'll have to know their web adresses.
I don't know the foundry or the author's name. So ?
If the author's name is a mystery to you, set it to "Unknown". It may be updated later, either by yourself or by any other contributor.
But if you don't know the foundry, you can't add it to the database. But, maybe you'll find it simply by looking at the file's info
(Command-i) or by reading the read-me file that is often provided with the file: it generally contains the author and foundry name, and its legal status.
In general terms, please NEVER submit infos you are not sure of. It is better to rely on other people than guessing. One day or another, someone will update this info...
What about images (font or foundry) ?
Typography is a visual thing, so images are essentials. You may submit a font without images, but it will clearly disavantages it, and makes your work relatively useless! As it takes a few minutes to create one, any serious contributor should submit some.
Each font can display up to two different images, in order to help users having a good idea of how it actually looks. You can submit both of them :
The first one is the ALPHABET OVERVIEW. It is the font face ID card.
It has to be 400x100 pixels, GIF format, at 72 ppi (pixels per inch). It is a 28 points size Alphabet with a 32 points linespacing, with all Capitals ("ABCDEFGHIJKLM..") on the first line, all lowercases ("abcdefghijklm..") on the second one, and all numbers plus some essential signs on the last one. They all are typed in black on a white background. A model is downloadable here (Photoshop file).
The second one is less essential, but may be usefull : it is the TEXT PREVIEW. It features a small text typed in the font face, in order to give an idea of how it looks used like this.
It has to be 400x100 pixels, GIF format, at 72 ppi. It is a dummy text (Capitals + lowercases), at a 11 point size with a 13 linespacing, and with default letterspacing. It is typed in black on a white background. A prepared model is also available here (Photoshop file).
You can also submit an image for any foundry (logotype, etc..)
It has to be 144x144 pixels, jpg format, at 72 ppi with the logo or image on a white background.
Note : we STRONGLY encourages you to the models : this will help in comparing faces, and will allow users to see the face either for titling and for body copies.
We also STRONGLY encourages you NOT TO SUBMIT an image if you don't know clearly how to make it, or if any of the above mentionned specifications doesn't mean anything to you. A good preview is essential, but a bad one may provoke nothing but confusion, not to mention computer crashes!
What's this user thing ?
Being a registered user has two advantages : first,
you can submit font and foundries, and
second, you shall benefit from the My Type Index service.
As a user, you probably have dozens of font files, some free, some
commercial, some you just don't know the status. So choosing a
font for a project is very hard.
You may print an exemple of some and have a kind of home-made
Font book. But we all know this doesn't solve the problem. What
about comparing the faces, selecting them, what about knowing
where it come from, if it is a free or a commercial one, is it
the latest version of it, etc...
There comes the searchable database : if you are a registered user, you can built your own online collection
: with a simple click on any font page, you include it in your
own private list. Then you can
More : aside your personal collection list, you can, still with
a single click, create your private Favorite list, including any
font you like, whether you got it or not. This will prouve itself usefull to keep some spotted fonts in mind, for a future use.
So with registering as a user, you'll have all the weapons to get the most out of typography!
More infos about My Type Index are available here.
What's this Museum thing ?
The International Type Museum has been created to adress a very common fact in the world of (Internet) modern Typography : extinction.
As Internet typographers are often students, or people doing it as a hobby, it happens that they stop maintaining their websites, sometime for financial reasons, or simply because they now have another passion ruling their world.
The thing is that among the faces this kind of people offered to the world, some are really great, and enjoyed a great popularity, or would deserve to do so.
To avoid their complete loss, we invented a sub-project to our INTERNATIONAL TYPE INDEX project (as if we needed more work!!!) : the INTERNATIONAL TYPE MUSEUM concept, the first on-line museum of Typography in the world.
Technically, its objective is to keep available for download to the general public the freeware, shareware or public domain fonts that are a considered as valuable addition to the type history, when their authors are no longer distributing them. The selected fonts files are hosted in our computers, and people can get them from there.
Their are few requirements to apply :
The font submitted to the Museum must be eitheir Public domain, Freeware or Shareware . No commercial type will be included, as it isn't a commercial project, and we won't sell them for you.
The author must really need to have them hosted in the I.T.M. : anyone stopping his type activities but that still have a website can still host the font files himself, and doesn't need us...
The author should provide us with a valid email so we can keep track of its ownership on the font, and must provide us with a font file of each typeface submitted (Mac or Windows files).
The types are selected on a quality basis The Font board of the I.T.I. (which gathers typographers and designers) will examine them.
Only the best ones will then be hosted in the museum, and kept available through links in the museum pages (one file format for each main computer platform).
To apply your fonts, simply contact us using the Contact page
Still have questions ? Please
ask us using our contact page
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