A c t i o n f o r L i b r a r i e s — F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 4

The Internet Connection

By Michael Sauers

Make Your Handwriting into a Font
Every once in a while I come across a utility that doesn't have any significant practical application, but that is so compelling that I need to try it out. Fontifier is one of those tools. Located at www.fontifier.com, this tool takes a sample of your handwriting and turns it into a TrueType font that works on any version of Windows or Mac OSX.

All you need is a printer, felt-tip pen and a scanner. The process requires downloading the available template, filling it out, scanning the filled-in template and submitting it back to the service. Within moments of submitting your handwriting sample, you'll be able to download your font. Although the process is straightforward, I did hit a few small snags in my testing, so here are some pointers to make it go smoothly for you.

Depending on which template link you select, you will either receive it in portrait or landscape mode. It doesn't matter which way you print it out, but the scanned version you send back must be in landscape. If you send it back in portrait (or upside-down for that matter) the process will fail.
When you print out the template, make sure the program you're printing with doesn't change the size of the template image. When I first tried to print it directly from WindowsXP it was expanded to fill the whole page. Instead I pulled it into a paint program that allowed me to print it at its actual size.
I tried filling in the template with both thin and thick felt-tip markers. The thin marker worked, but the result was spotty, at best. The thick marker provided a much more solid result.
The small lines on the left and right edges of each template box are your baseline. Keep above the lines unless you're writing a character, such as a lower-case g, that should extend below the line.
The completed template must be scanned and saved as a GIF file. Be sure to not save the GIF in an interlaced format. Interlaced GIF files will fail.
On the upload screen you are given a default name for your font, "My- Handwriting." This works as long as you install only your font on your computer. If you install multiple fonts, such as one for each family member, you might want to rename each font something more descriptive.
Once I was told that my font was created, I clicked on the link to open the file. In my browser I was told that the linked file "contained no data." However, when I right-clicked on the link and chose "save as," I was able to transfer the file to my computer without any problems.
Lastly, at a smaller size, my font looked choppy on the screen. However, once I sent it to the printer the result was as clean as it could be.

A sample of my font can be seen below:
handwriting

Currently this service is free; however, the site does warn that "Fontifier is still under development, and there is no charge for the service. We may decide to make a small charge at a later date."

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