Grixel™ fonts are vector-based Greek pixel fonts that can be used at 8px size in Flash and Photoshop while retaining the text clean and crispy on the screen display.
Grixel™ fonts (both Free and Commercial) include Western European, Central European, Turkish and Greek characters. They are Unicode TrueType fonts and are optimized to work in both Windows XP and Mac OS X platforms using Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Macromedia Flash 8.
For optimum results, the fonts need to be used according to specific guidelines. Please also read the FAQ section before using the fonts and this web site.
In the near future, smooth pixel fonts will be also developed. These will be pixel fonts with anti-aliased corners. Subscribe to the Grixel™ email Newsletter and get announcements first.
Grixel™ Fonts at
+Design magazine
March 2007
The first printed presentation of Grixel™ fonts, is included at issue 50 of +Design mag. Feel free to read the whole article, along with some pictures I took of the printed material. Demetris thank you very much!
Grixel™ website is
finally online
01 August 2006
After 10 months this website and almost 40 pixel fonts are finally developed. The site is optimised for firefox. There are also shortcuts for the menu and IE needs the "Enter" key after them in order to work. Enjoy!
Fonts
Here are the fonts you can purchase. Two Unicode ttf files, normal and loosely (xtnd) kerned versions, are included in the zip file along with usage guides in pdf format. It is advisable to download the Free Fonts firstly, before purchasing these, in order to verify that they will work as expected. Purchased fonts cannot be returned. Read also the FAQ section for further info.
Free Fonts
Here you can find free pixel fonts and use them in your personal and commercial projects.
Moreover, you are urged to download them before making any purchases in order to check whether the language of your OS works with the languages that Grixel™ fonts support, so as to ensure that the fonts you are planning to purchase, will work as expected.
Read also the FAQ section for further info.
These fonts here are under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
Read these guidelines before using Grixel™ fonts. Only Macromedia Flash 8 and Adobe Photoshop CS2 are fully supported. If you use older versions of these applications for commercial use, there are a few guides for them here too. Check also the FAQ section, and if you still have any problems with the font usage, just contact me at grixel [at] gmail.com.
1)
Use the font only at 8px or multiples of 8 (16, 24, etc) with "Bitmap text (no anti-alias)" selected.
2)
Position your text blocks where _x and _y values are whole numbers, i.e. position them at the point _x=250 and _y=150, NOT at _x=250.8 and _y=150.4. If you don't place your text's _x and _y position on a whole number, the pixel font will look blurred. On the View menu set the "Snap to pixels" to "on" for easier placement of the fonts on whole pixel values.
3)
When you place your text inside a movie clip, the clip must also be positioned on whole pixel _x and _y values. Do not scale the movieclip. Make sure it is at 100% size (Modify / Transform / Remove Transform)
4)
Align your text only left or right.
5)
Try to avoid animating (tween animation) pixel fonts. When your fonts move, they get blurry because they are not located on a whole pixel value. On the other hand you can try and animate them via actionscript using the Math.round(); function in order to animate the text clip in whole pixel values.
6) Avoid scaling pixel fonts using Flash's Scale feature. If you need to increase the size of your pixel font, increment the text's font size by 8 (16, 24, etc).
7)
Make sure that you view your stage / swf file at 100% view size. (View/Magnification/100%).
When exporting the swf along with an html page from Macromedia Flash, be sure to choose Match Movie at the Public Settings / Html tab / Dimensions.
8)
To enable the kerning pairs [160-200] that are included with the fonts, with "Static" texts turn on the "Auto Kern" feature while "Bitmap text (no anti-alias)" is selected. In "Dynamic" and "Input" texts with "Auto Kern" feature on, you must also Embed the letters that are included in the pairs.
If you turn off "Auto Kern", the font will still work fine but without the Kerning Pairs available.
9)
Loose (xtnd) version of Grixel™ fonts are not actually needed to be used with this version of Flash, as the “Letter Spacing” [A-V] option is available in all three types of texts (Static, Dynamic, Input). Set this option at 0 and the letter space of the font will be at its default value that was designed (Normal versions = 1 pixel letter space). Set it at 1 and you will add 1 pixel letter space to all the glyphs in the font, 2 for adding 2 pixels letter space, and so on.
Macromedia Flash MX 2004
Same as version 8 except:
1)
Use the font only at 8px or multiples of 8 (16, 24, etc) with the "Alias text" button [A] not highlighted.
2)
Kerning pairs are only visible in "Static" texts as it is the only option where "Auto Kern" is available. The font works fine with "Dynamic" and "Input" texts but without Kerning Pairs available.
3)
Loose (xtnd) version of Grixel™ fonts is needed for Dynamic and Input text, as the option “letter spacing” is not available at these two types.
Macromedia Flash MX, 5, 4
**Because Grixel™ fonts are Unicode fonts, Greek, Turkish and Central European characters maybe not available in Flash MX / 5 (and older versions) **
If you are still using one of these old versions of Flash authoring program for commercial projects, and you want to use the above language characters, just contact me at grixel [at] gmail.com so as to find out a solution with one of the free pixel fonts before your purchase.
Adobe Photoshop CS2 / CS
1)
Use the font only at 8px or multiples of 8 (16,24,etc) with the Anti-aliasing set to "None", the "Kerning" feature set to "Metrics", Horizontal and Vertical Scale set to 100%, the tracking set to 0 and the text field must be "Point Text" (click and type - DON'T click, drag and then type).
2)
The resolution of your picture must be at 72 dpi. If it wasn’t in the first place, don’t try to change it
through Image Size. You must create a NEW image from scratch at 72dpi.
3)
Always align your text Left. Sometimes it also works when aligned Center and Right.
4)
To enable the kerning pairs [160-200] that are included with the fonts, set the "Kerning" feature to "Metrics". To disable Kerning Pairs, set the "Kerning" feature to "0".
5)
Loose (xtnd) version of Grixel™ fonts is NOT needed for these versions of Photoshop, as the option "Tracking" is used to add letter space between the glyphs. Set this option at 0 and the letter space of the font will be at its default value that was designed (Normal versions = 1 pixel letter space). Set it at 125 and you will add 1 pixel letter space to all the glyphs in the font, set it at 250 for adding 2 pixels letter space, and so on (multiples of 125).
Adobe Photoshop 5.5
**Because Grixel™ fonts are Unicode fonts, Greek, Turkish and Central European characters maybe not available in Photoshop 5.5 (and older versions)**
If you are still using one of these old versions of Photoshop for commercial projects, and you want to use the above language characters, just contact me at grixel [at] gmail.com so as to find out a solution with one of the free pixel fonts before your purchase.
Pixel fonts are fonts designed specifically for screen display. They are one size fonts, designed on a grid and are crisp and clear when aligned with the screen grid. They are built using vectors, and are exported in TrueType format. As a result, pixel fonts work in any software, such as Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Word, Excel, and any other application that can use TTF fonts.
What languages do Unicode Grixel™ fonts support?
The fonts have been successfully tested on Windows XP with Western European, Central European, Turkish and Greek language, and those are: Albanian, Bosnian (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Occitan, Polish, Portuguese, Serbian (Latin), Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. Download the free fonts, and test them with your language.
I tried the free Grixel™ fonts but I can't type in my language that the font supports. Why is that?
Probably you are using an old Operating System that doesn’t support Unicode fonts. If you are using Windows XP or Mac OS X and the problem still remains, then the application you are using is probably an old version with no Unicode support. Contact me at grixel [at] gmail.com and I can help you work it out in case you are using an old version of Photoshop or Flash.
What do I get when I buy a Grixel™ font?
Each font comes in a zip file that includes a normal and a loosely (xtnd) kerned version, both in Unicode TrueType format that is compatible with Windows XP and Mac OS X. A pdf with usage guidelines is also included.
How does the purchase process work?
While browsing the Fonts section, click the "add to cart" button at the fonts you want to buy. When you have added all the fonts you want to purchase, hit the "checkout" button to review the fonts in your shopping cart. From there click the "Proceed to Paypal" button, which guides you to a secure page, where payment can be completed. Immediately, after the payment is successfully completed, an email with download details will be send to you. Make sure you have your spam filters set to accept emails from support [at] grixel.gr. Should a problem arise during initial download of the fonts, the session will remain live for five days or a total of three downloads per font, whichever comes first.
Click on the next button to see step by step the purchase procedure with Paypal.
How do I know my payment is secure?
The payments are all processed through Paypal, one of the leading online payment companies. You will notice during your payment that the address begins with https://, and your browser will display an indication that the page is secure. Your information will not be shared or used for any other purpose. Major credit cards are accepted. If you have any other security concerns, you can visit the Paypal Security Center.
I don' t have a Paypal account or a credit card or my currency/country is not supported by Paypal. Is there any other way I can purchase Grixel fonts?
I've purchased the fonts, but my download does not work. What do I do?
If you encounter any problems with your download process, please email me at grixel [at] gmail.com. Allow 24 to 48 hours for a response (unless I’m on vacation and away from internet access).
How do I use my fonts? / Grixel™ pixel fonts are blurry!
Read the Guide section on this site, or the pdf that came along with the font, for proper use.
If I set a Grixel™ font at 8 point in Windows, outside Flash and Photoshop, the characters are big and look blurry.
Set the font to 6 point. Many programs use 72dpi, but Windows is set to 96dpi. 6 point will make the font appear properly at this situation.
Can I use the free Grixel™ fonts for commercial projects?
Yes you can. If you use any Grixel™ font in a commercial project, let me know so I can add it to the font showcase at the Links section.
Be informed of the latest news and new font releases
Send us your willing to receive Grixel™ news and updates on free/commercial fonts at grixel [at] gmail.com.
Privacy policy:
Email addresses are never sold or given out to anybody.
This is a list with very low volume: one message every few months or so.
Contact me
Do you have questions about this website? Are the fonts not working as expected? Have you used the Free or the commercial Grixel™ Fonts on a website?
Feel free to contact me (Nikos Giannakopoulos) at grixel [at] gmail.com and I will answer as soon as possible. Please allow 24-48 hours for a response, unless I’m on vacation and away from internet access.
Links to other sites | Fonts Showcase
Respect There are some people that, without them, the site wouldn't be the way it is... Thank you all.
Srdjan Arsic(Arsa developed the shopping cart along with Paypal intergration) Eboy(Eboy designed most of the Pixel figures all around the pages) Quickhoney(Quickhoney designed some of the Pixel figures all around the pages) Walter Zorn(Walter developed the tooltip found in the fonts section and in shopping cart) Travis Beckham(Travis developed the scrolling effect that exists in the main navigation) Sergios Singeridis(Sergios helped me a lot on developing the current page with css )
Useful Diacritics Project(Get all you need to create typefaces with correct accents)
