The Font Dialog Box

• choose Format Font (or press Ctrl + D in Windows or press Cmd + D in Macintosh)

The Font dialog box represents a place where almost all of your character formatting can take place simultaneously. This dialog box is not for the timid, but does offer you many things if you dare! The dialog box consists of three “tabs”, Font, Character Spacing and Animation/Text Effects. (In Office 97 Windows, Office 98 Macintosh, and Office 2001 Macintosh, this tab is called Animation. In Office 2000 Windows, it is called Text Effects. The only difference is the name.)

The Dialog Boxes

	The Font Dialog Box in Word 2000
	The Font Dialog Box in Word 98
	The Font Dialog Box in Word 98

The Options for the Font tab

Font, Font Style, Font Size

• [Font]
  • You can enter the name of the font you wish to use in the box, or you can scroll the list of fonts below the box (you will see the name of each and every font installed on your machine) and then select a font by clicking on its name.
  • A sample will appear in the [Preview] box in the lower right
• [Font Style]
  • choose from the styles available for the selected font (usually Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic)
  • again a sample appears in [Preview]
• [Size]
  • You can enter the size of the font you wish to use in the box, or you can scroll the list of available font sizes below the box (you will see the sizes available for the font selected in the [Font] box) and then select the desired size.
  • A sample will appear in the [Preview] box in the lower right

Underline

• if you click on this dropdown box, you can select from ten different underline styles (in Word 98, the underline styles are listed by name; in Word 2000 and Word 2001, the underline styles are listed graphically):

  Option	Description	Keyboard Shortcut
  (none)	normal text, used to stop or remove underlining	Ctrl+U (Windows) Cmd+U (Macintosh)
  Single	words and the space between words are underlined with a single underline	Ctrl+U (Windows) Cmd+U (Macintosh)
  Words Only	words are underlined with a single underline, the space between words is not	Ctrl+Shift+W (Windows) Cmd+Shift+W (Macintosh)
  Double	words and the space between words are double underlined	Ctrl+Shift+D (Windows) Cmd+Shift+D (Macintosh)
  Dotted	words and the space between words is underlined with a single, underline of dots	none
  Thick	words and the space between words are underlined with a solid, thick line	none
  Dash	words and the space between words are underlined with a dashed underline	none
  Dot Dash	words and the space between words are underlined with an alternating dot-dash line	none
  Dot Dot Dash	words and the space between words are underlined with a line that alternates between two dots and a dash	none
  Wave	words and the space between words are underlined with a wavy line	none

• (oh, by the way, check the [Preview] box …)
• NOTE: This is the only way to underline in a manner other than standard, single underline. The underline button on the toolbar only gives the standard, single underline.

Color

• if you click on this dropdown box, you can select a color for your text
• the number of colors in the list depends upon the setup of your system
• if you have a color monitor, you will see the color change both in [Preview] and in the document itself
• if you have a color printer, you can print in color
• this is the same as selecting the Font Color button on the toolbar

Effects

• click to turn “on” or “off” whatever combination of effects you desire (although some effects cannot be combined such as All Caps and Small Caps)

Effect	Description	Example
Strikethrough	adds a line through the selected text	Strikethrough
Double Strikethrough	adds a double line through the selected text	check the Preview box!
Superscript	selected text is raised above the baseline of the normal text and the font size of the superscripted text is reduced	superscript
Subscript	selected text is lowered below the baseline of the normal text and the font size of the subscripted text is reduced	subscript
Shadow	adds a gray, drop shadow through the selected text	check the Preview box!
Outline	the color of selected text is changed to white, a thin outline is placed around the text in its original color	check the Preview box!
Emboss	the selected text will appear slightly raised	check the Preview box!
Engrave	the selected text will appear carved in, or “engraved”, into the page	check the Preview box!
Small Caps	changes lowercase letters in the selected text to uppercase letters and reduces their size	SMALL CAPS
All Caps	changes lowercase letters in the selected text to uppercase letters (hey, if you want all uppercase letters as you type, press the Caps Lock key!)	ALL CAPS
Hidden	hides the selected text from display or printing; is displayed with a dotted underline when thebutton is “on”

• Don't forget to watch the [Preview] box!

The Options for the Character Spacing tab (watch Preview again)

• [Scale] is a dropdown list that allows you to scale the selected character(s) from 33% to 200% of the specified size; this adds spacing between letters while also affecting the size of the letters
• [Spacing]
  • click in this dropdown list and your text can be Expanded or Condensed [by] whatever amount you designate; this increases or decreases the amount of space between characters in the selected text without affecting the size of the letters
• [Position]
  • click in this dropdown list and your text may be ^Raised or _Lowered above or below the line [by] whatever amount you designate

   

  	Superscript versus Raised	In Microsoft Word, Superscript raises the text above the line and also decreases the point size
  		for example, 142
  		On the other hand, Raised raises the text above the line without any change in point size of the raised text
  		for example, 142
  	Subscript versus Lowered	In Microsoft Word, Subscript lowers the text below the line and also decreases the point size
  		for example, 142
  		On the other hand, Lowered lowers the text below the line without any change in point size of the lowered text
  		for example, 142

   

• [Kerning]
  • refers to how snugly or loosely letter pairs hug each other — really advanced typesetter stuff — but it is there if you want to try
  • so what is kerning anyway?

    When font designers design a proportional font (remember nearly all fonts are now proportional), they carefully select the uniform spacing between characters for the best overall effect. Unfortunately, when text is set at larger sizes, some character combinations begin to look like they are too far apart. For example lowercase f and lowercase i may begin to look too far apart simply because of their shapes. It really is a trick of the eye — the characters are no farther apart or closer together than any others. Still font designers have found a way to compensate for this phenomenon: kerning pairs. The type designer picks out the particular pairs of letters that begin to look oddly spaced at larger point sizes and builds into the font kerning instructions spacing guidelines for kerning pairs

     

  • like I said, it is really advanced typesetter stuff but now you know — and if you find an oddly spaced pair of characters, you now know where to go to adjust this trick of the eye!

The Animation/Text Effects tab (watch Preview again)

This tab allows you to add really neat animation effects to your text. Not much good when you print your document but it does look good on the screen!

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Copyright©2003
last updated August 12, 2003