how can I write with windows default system font ?

February 15, 2008 1:37 PM

how can I write with "Marlett" windows XP default system font ?

Calling all the typography geeks :

Acording to my google-fu, every time you read "File", "Edit", "Submit" in Windows XP default theme, you are using marlett.ttf, a font shipped with windows but hidden in windows Fonts directory.

Can someone confirm it's the font used on the "submit" and "cancel" buttons ?

Now...

1) I can't check the settings box that would allow me to see the hidden files in this windows/fonts directory. How can I make this box checkable ? How can I see the hidden files in this particular directory ?

2) Once I can see this hidden file, can I use it as any other font (Arial, Times New Roman, etc.) ?

posted by Baud to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Marlett is used for drawing widgets like window resize handles, checkboxes, and the like. There are no letters in the font. Here's a list of the glyphs in the font. The font used on system menus buttons is specified by your Windows appearance settings. Check them out to see what you're using. I think the default under XP is Tahoma.
posted by zsazsa at 1:41 PM on February 15, 2008

you'd need to use something that's not Windows Explorer to view the folder (AFAIK, it treats the Fonts folder differently). you can try just doing "dir" from the command prompt; there's some options for it that will tell it to display Hidden files. you can change the attributes for those things by using "attrib". putting "/?" after either will give you some help text. there are other windows explorer-type deals you can download to do the same thing using a GUI like you're probably used to, too - check download.com for them. Windows 2000 and the Windows Classic theme in XP default to Tahoma for the actual words and whatnot; earlier versions tend to use MS Sans Serif. the XP theme in XP uses Trebuchet MS.
posted by mrg at 2:08 PM on February 15, 2008

Marlett shows up in my list of fonts in Microsoft word as well as wordpad. It's just a bunch of symbols, like zsazsa mentioned.
posted by delmoi at 3:16 PM on February 15, 2008

I'm pretty sure Tahoma is the menu font on XP.
posted by O9scar at 3:58 PM on February 15, 2008

Right-click on your desktop, then Properties menu iten > Appearance tab > click the Advanced button to display the 'Advanced Appearance' dialog. Clicking around in the picture will show you the font/size/color settings for the feature you click on, and allow you to make changes. By default, window and dialog font is Tahoma, window title-bar font is Trebuchet MS. If you go mad in here and eventually want to reset defaults, re-choose Windows XP Theme back in the 'Windows and buttons:' drop-down on the Appearance tab of the Properties dialog.
posted by normy at 5:47 PM on February 15, 2008