
Get the Font - octosphere
https://www.getthefont.com/
======
henning
Typefaces are an incredibly labor-intensive product to produce.

The more complete it is with respect to specialized features like ligatures,
old-style figures, international lettering, weight variations, display-sized
variants, etc. etc. the more this compounds upon itself.

Just think about that before you use this to download Gotham/Proxima
Nova/whatever cool font you want to use but don't feel like paying for.

~~~
usaphp
The problem is licensing, the prices for licensing is just absurd. Like to get
a font to use in your app, you need to pay $5,000+ for any decent looking
font. And if you are trying to design something - good luck downloading a font
for a desktop to try it out. I am sure this system can be improved to benefit
both font authors and font users

~~~
spanktheuser
Given that only a few type designers are even prosperous, let alone wealthy,
my sense that this is the necessary price. I assume you like you get paid for
your labor. Or is it only type designers that should work for free because you
have some sort of basic human right to a "decent looking font."

> I am sure this system can be improved to benefit both font authors and font
> users

One approach that could work is draconian DRM but no one liked the drawbacks.
You must have some idea on how improve the system, since you are so sure it
can be improved. I'd suggest you implement this idea - you'll be doing
everyone quite the favor and become rather wealthy as a result.

~~~
wcdolphin
Or alternatively the market is not very efficient. There is zero marginal cost
for a font to be used, yet people are currently precluded from using fonts due
to price. That seems to suggest there may be an inefficiency, and reducing the
price may not only reduce piracy but also increase revenue.

------
deltron3030
Another trick is to append a _typeface-_ before the font name when searching
NPM, e.g. here: [https://npms.io](https://npms.io)

The creator of the Gatsby static site generator has a "typeface.js" repo where
he uploads and prepares free Google and Fontsquirrel fonts for NPM, including
the css. It makes the self hosting of fonts really easy if you use webpack.

[https://github.com/KyleAMathews/typefaces](https://github.com/KyleAMathews/typefaces)

------
tptacek
So this is basically a search engine for font piracy? There are already good
databases for free fonts.

~~~
chris_wot
You are looking at this the wrong way. This is a great way of locating font
pirates.

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amenghra
[https://fonts.google.com/](https://fonts.google.com/) lets you search fonts,
see a preview and then download a zip file (or get a link if you don't
want/need to host the font).

------
tofof
Tried it on the most recent font I've needed, DilleniaUPC (the font used by
youtuber SovietWomble, if anyone's familiar). Not only did it not recognize my
initial misspelling (DilenniaUPC), it doesn't find anything for .ttf of that
font.

Admittedly, DillenniaUPC is a Microsoft font included on windows
2000/XP/Vista/7/8, not legally available for download elsewhere. Practically,
there are many locations offering this font for download.

In either case, recognizing the font name and reporting the unavailability of
free download for this font would be far superior to the "Nothing found,
sorry!" result.

As is, it's unclear why I should ever choose this tool over typing the name of
the font and the desired extension into google.

~~~
_RPM
And what great enthusiasm with the “!” they have

------
perchard
This is enabling the piracy of typefaces. It takes significant skill and time
to create a typeface, and creators should be paid for their work.

Instead of pirating typefaces, please see:

[https://fontstand.com/](https://fontstand.com/)

[https://fonts.adobe.com/](https://fonts.adobe.com/)

[https://typographica.org/on-typography/my-favorite-font-
sour...](https://typographica.org/on-typography/my-favorite-font-sources-a-
shortlist-of-trusted-foundries-and-retailers/)

Many foundries also offer trial versions of their typefaces. For example:

[https://www.grillitype.com/free_trials](https://www.grillitype.com/free_trials)

If you don't want to pay for a typeface, there are many very good open source
options available. For example:

[https://github.com/IBM/plex](https://github.com/IBM/plex)

[http://www.latofonts.com/lato-free-fonts/](http://www.latofonts.com/lato-
free-fonts/)

~~~
cmroanirgo
There's also google's rather excellent Noto font (available in all languages!)

[https://www.google.com/get/noto/](https://www.google.com/get/noto/)

[https://github.com/googlei18n/noto-fonts](https://github.com/googlei18n/noto-
fonts)

[https://github.com/googlei18n/noto-cjk](https://github.com/googlei18n/noto-
cjk)

------
tobr
What is this, accidental pirating?

~~~
2bitencryption
"Please only download fonts for which you have the rights."

Doesn't really seem like "safe harbor" to me if the host is the one who
curated the selection of downloads...

~~~
zhte415
Doesn't seem curated, seems like Github was scanned for any file ending in
.otf .ttf .woff .woff2 .eot and the link's directly to that Github hosted
file.

Overall this doesn't sound like great news for someone that decided they'd
distribute a fee-able font on Github without realising it. Helvetica on old
Mac, or Calibri on Windows, for example.

------
hkai
It worked for me. So does it basically search GitHub for the font and gives
you a GitHub link?

------
hrbf
Indeed a great way to find accidentally pirated fonts. Here’s to the countdown
of type foundries sending mass takedown requests to GitHub.

------
Fnoord
Tip: Search for Powerline. It'll get you fonts which work amazingly well with
Powerline.

------
dorianm
"Server internal error" from the API on any search request, even when retrying

------
Epskampie
Tried it with montserrat (open free font). It gave me “something went wrong!”
error.

~~~
pinewurst
Looks like one just has to retry when that happens. It took me three tries but
it did come back with a pointer to that font.

------
system2
Suggestions would be helpful. Some fonts are really hard to type.

------
leowoo91
Why is it suggesting names in my contact list when I start typing?

~~~
function_seven
I’m guessing the field name matches something your browser interprets as
autofill-able?

Like <input name="fname">?

~~~
leowoo91
I checked the input field, it doesnt even have a name, my browser is Safari :/

~~~
function_seven
I don’t have dev tools on mobile, so it was a guess. iOS Safari also prompts
for autofill on that page. I think sibling comment is right. The placeholder
has “name” in it.

------
kevintb
Great site!

------
vtesucks
Is there a crash course in typography I can get somewhere? I have trouble
deciding whether slim fonts are better or wide fonts are for legibility. And
what other factors matter more.

~~~
aasasd
I recommend [http://practicaltypography.com](http://practicaltypography.com),
though it won't answer your question (iirc).

By ‘slim’ fonts, do you mean lighter lines? If so, afaik it's not a matter of
prescriptive typography, and in addition, heaviness may vary with the font.
For headings and short inscriptions, light fonts are alright (personally I
often outright prefer them for headings), but for body text, you should check
legibility of the chosen font on non-hidpi displays, and preferably ask
someone with older and more tired eyes—as light fonts tend to cause strain for
people with worse eyesight. Generally, of course, the ‘regular’ weight is the
recommended one, since it's tailored for setting main text in the first place.
The current fashion of using light fonts is brought about by graphic
designers, not typesetters.

If you mean condensed fonts instead, those are only suited for short runs of
text, since the lines become too dense.

~~~
vtesucks
I mean slender, less width. The latter. I saw that in the Mozilla post about
goodbye edgehtml, the headline was in wide font.

~~~
aasasd
Ah, it seems Zilla Slab is indeed rather wide, though not as spaced-apart as
e.g. Verdana, partly due to the slabs (which are an idiosyncratic choice for
body text).

In my experience, wide fonts such as Verdana can be tiring in long texts, as
the eye has to move more to consume the same words. However, in the case of
Zilla, the letters are still close together, so overall the font is barely
wider than more traditional serif ones. Note that it's also very well kerned
and there are no irregularities in the type. So, the challenge would be to
find a wide font that doesn't put letters too far apart and has good kerning.
(Zilla itself is free, btw, like other Mozilla fonts, but again slabs are
peculiar―it might remind too much of Mozilla sites if used in headings, but
may be ok in body text.)

On the other side of the scale, narrower fonts are also ok until a certain
point, where they become too dense and are suited only for short inscriptions.

Basically, there's an optimal width, and that's what most fonts use. Large
deviations are risky, and you need to make sure that the chosen font works
well in other aspects―'blackness' and kerning―or the reading experience will
begin to fall apart.

Note that headings are very forgiving in regard to font experimentation,
compared to body text―as the reader will glance over them pretty briefly.

------
mrhappyunhappy
As a UX UI designer I often download premium typefaces to use on my machine.
If I like how things look I may recommend the type to my clients. If I had to
pay to every typefaces before I recommend it, I would never do it. In essence,
my so called "pirating" is making type designers money. Has it ever occured to
anyone that by allowing designers to download premium typefaces, they are
making themselves MORE money? Would you rather make a few hundred bucks from
me or thousands of dollars from my clients?

I mean, it's not like it hard to find a zip file of all the premium typefaces
via torrent or one of the many sharing sites, what makes you think getting
them from GitHub is such a terrible thing?

~~~
Veen
> Would you rather make a few hundred bucks from me or thousands of dollars
> from my clients?

They'd rather make many hundreds of thousands of dollars from enterprise font
users. The business is not really designed to be convenient to smaller
companies.

