Free Fonts Saved the Day

I was trying to match a font on a banner on one of the websites I work on.

First I tried to identify the font by submitting the image to MyFonts’ WhatTheFont tool, but that gave me less satisfactory results.

At that point I used the identifontsite by answering questions about the text available on the banner. It worked well, and gave me the name of the font I needed to buy.

Now I was facing the age long dilemma “if a client wants me to change one word on a 6 word banner, and my hourly rate is X, and I know for certain this is a one time need (the client is about to have a major web site redesign ), assuming it takes me 30 minutes to identify the right font for the job, edit the JPEG file, replace the text, save the file, and replace the file on the server, should I spend money on a font that I will only use for this one tiny project? Should I absorb the cost of the font and expense it on my taxes, or should I charge my client?”.

I didn’t even figure out what would be the price of the font in question, when it occurred to me it might be available to download for free. I Googled the font name, and clicked on one of the links that promised free fonts. The font I was looking for was not there, but a very similar one was available.

The internet saved the day again. Now I can obsess on other age long dilemmas… is it really wrong to wear white after labor day? When is it okay to start wearing white? New year? Easter? I am pretty sure the answer to that one is also only a few clicks away on Google.

Long live the internet!