Help Me Find A Mac Font

June 1, 2007 10:49 AM

Mac Font question: I am doing some home tech support for an elderly couple, and they're looking for a symbol/dingbat sort of font that draws frame/table elements (corners, etc.). I know I have seen fonts just like this but can't for the life of me remember what they might be called. If you can think of the names and/or give a link to a free download, I would appreciate it.

No need to point me to the zillions of font download sites, thank you, unless you are sending me directly to the sort of font I am looking for.

posted by briank to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Victorian Ornaments 1 or 2 from P22 can be used to make borders. These are not free fonts (~$20 each), but the borders are pretty interesting, and your clients might like them. Their fonts are available for Mac or PC, and I like the company in general -- they have nice fonts.
posted by amtho at 11:16 AM on June 1, 2007

If you have unicode support, any unicode font with the right symbols should work. On my WinXP system, for example, Arial and Courier New work. I don't see why a suitable Unicode font wouldn't work on a Mac. The characters in question are around unicode point 0x2500.

Example (spacing may be off but symbols should still display):

x250c;x2500;x2500;x2500;x2500;x2500;x2510;
x2502;             x2502;
x2514;x2500;x2500;x2500;x2500;x2500;x2518;
posted by reptile at 11:24 AM on June 1, 2007

That worked in preview but not in the post, oh well. Imagine an ampersand and # before each of the xs above.
posted by reptile at 11:25 AM on June 1, 2007

Nice tries, amtho and reptile. The Victorian one is too ornate, and the Unicode characters are not decorative enough.

Keep the suggestions coming!
posted by briank at 11:33 AM on June 1, 2007

A google search for "border fonts" finds some hits that might help.

A commercial collection here: http://www.fonts.com/FindFonts/detail.htm?pid=400814&osadcampaign=1001

A few free ones here: http://www.1001fonts.com/fonts_overview.html?page=1&category_id=29

Hope this helps.
posted by reptile at 12:03 PM on June 1, 2007

Bingo. Thanks, reptile
posted by briank at 12:22 PM on June 1, 2007