You must be using a Photoshop pixel font and not a Flash pixel font (theres a difference). You really have no choice but to find another font because if you don’t embed the font outline people without the font can’t read it, but if you do embed the font outline, it will turn out like that.
:crazy: I laid out my whole site with that font! How can I tell which are flash fonts and which are the busted fonts that fill up before I download them?
You really can’t, some Photoshop pixel fonts DO work in Flash, but others don’t. The difference is that some Photoshop pixel fonts don’t really fall on exact pixels, they just appear that way. And when you set them to be non-anti-aliased they work just fine. But in Flash they MUST fall on exact pixels otherwise they get distorted and often fill in the middle of letters.
The only way you can be entirely sure you have a Flash pixel font is if you download it from Flash fonts site like www.fontsforflash.com or www.orgdot.com/aliasfonts/ , otherwise it is guess and check.
I went through the same thing in the beginning of my work in progress Flash site, but luckily I caught the issue before I got deep into it so it was easy to switch my font and make small changes to accomodate.
I found out the problem. Aux has a base size of 10, but flash can only handle pixel fonts with a base size of 8. That sucks though! Aux was the most legible pixel font I could find. Any suggestions on a easy reading pixel font?
I would stay away from Pixel fonts. They are just a fad.
If you use a regular font in a size that is readable to everyone (at least 12 pt), then your site will be much more viewable, and therefore a better site.
Flash was not designed to handle small font sizes, to counter this, people use pixel fonts. They still are difficult to read, even when done properly.
If pixel fonts were the rage, and made for better sites, don’t you think that MSN and Yahoo and Google would be using them?
JMO
Rev
*Originally posted by Supree *
**I found out the problem. Aux has a base size of 10, but flash can only handle pixel fonts with a base size of 8. That sucks though! Aux was the most legible pixel font I could find. Any suggestions on a easy reading pixel font? **
That’s not true. It all depends on what size the font is meant to be set.
And pixelfonts are not a fad. It’s the only way to keep your fonts anti-aliased and embedded.
You are thinking about thos small, annoying ones. There are enough fons out there (like Arial11 For Flash5 Beta) tham mimic standard and not-standard, but still very readable fonts that you normally would only get if you used device fonts.
Yahoo and google and MSN does’t use them, because normal ones are just as good and much more common. And there’s the fact that people will feel more comfortable with a ‘normal’ font than a pixelated version.
And pixelfonts are {b]not** a fad. It’s the only way to keep your fonts anti-aliased and embedded.
I disagree… use a regular font properly, and you have no problem keeping the anti-aliased font embedded (Flash was designed for regular fonts, not pixel fonts)…
And as far as a fad goes, only time will tell, now won’t it…
Take a look at any major production site. One that has been produced by a large studio, for a large corporation… If it was better to use pixel fonts, don’t you thing they would be using them? Disney doesn’t use them (younger demigraphic), ESPN doesn’t use them. Why? because they don’t want to sacrifice useability for design’s sake.
I still say, wait a year or so, pixel fonts will be passe’ …
Rev
Usability? They just embed other, not-regular fonts. They look crap, always antialiased.
Usability has nothing to do with it. It doesn’t hinder the placing of the buttons, or how the site works.
Why don’t they use them? There aren’t alot of them around in a shape, size, style, etc that you want. Now if you look at .ttf fonts, you have much more choice.
And I want to say that Flash is a vector program, it was not designed for fonts period. The fact that you have to do some wierd **** with your normal font (be exactly pixellated), is a example for that.
*Originally posted by [m] *
**Usability? They just embed other, not-regular fonts. They look crap, always antialiased.
Usability has nothing to do with it. It doesn’t hinder the placing of the buttons, or how the site works.
Why don’t they use them? There aren’t alot of them around in a shape, size, style, etc that you want. Now if you look at .ttf fonts, you have much more choice.
And I want to say that Flash is a vector program, it was not designed for fonts period. The fact that you have to do some wierd **** with your normal font (be exactly pixellated), is a example for that. **
usability <b>includes</b> readable fonts. Usability is the art of making a site usable to all users, and intuitive as well.
you don’t have to do anything weird with your fonts, if you use properly sized fonts. You wouldn’t write a letter to anyone with 8pt fonts, so why in heck would you make a web page with one?
<b>So, if I understand you, all Flash sites looked like Crap before last year when pixel fonts came into vogue? </b> if this is true, then you have a few people who have made their sole living making sites that look like CRAP!
If pixel fonts were that much better, then why isn’t Macromedia pushing them?
I wouldn’t be so brazen in your statements, unless you have been working as a full-time designer since the inception of Flash… You just don’t have the experience to make those statements (unless you started as a professional when you were 13 years old).
Always is such a finite word.
BTW - how do you get your head through the door with that ego?
j/k
Rev
usability <b>includes</b> readable fonts. Usability is the art of making a site usable to all users, and intuitive as well.
But pixel fonts are more readable than normal ones. I know that there are bad readable pixelfonts, but you have bad readable normal fonts aswell.
you don’t have to do anything weird with your fonts, if you use properly sized fonts. You wouldn’t write a letter to anyone with 8pt fonts, so why in heck would you make a web page with one?
You think that every pixel font is small? You say ‘properly’ sized fonts. You must mean 16px and over, because there are enough pixel fonts that are very readable.
<b>So, if I understand you, all Flash sites looked like Crap before last year when pixel fonts came into vogue? </b> if this is true, then you have a few people who have made their sole living making sites that look like CRAP!
You did not understand me, or I did not made it clear enough. A font does not make or break the looks of a site, but in comparison anti-aliased fonts looks alot better than aliased ones.
If pixel fonts were that much better, then why isn’t Macromedia pushing them?
I am not MM. Ask them.
I wouldn’t be so brazen in your statements, unless you have been working as a full-time designer since the inception of Flash… You just don’t have the experience to make those statements (unless you started as a professional when you were 13 years old).
And it just so happens that you match all those criteria?
I don’t know anything about you or how good you are. And it’s the same for you. I thought this discussion was about wether or not pixel fonts are good things.
Rev
You have your own icon? Cool! 
They look crap, always antialiased.
then all of the sites I have ever designed (over 7 years of professional full time design, with a list of clients) have fonts that look like crap?
You were the one who made the statement about looking like crap, not me.
and yes, I do fit all of those requirements, and I have worked in partnership with Macromedia on several different portions of Flash, in the pre-release arena. I was at one time a Solutions Partner with Macromedia.
I was mentioning experience, since on your own website you say you are a “self-taught web designer,” so how can you possibly know what is a fad, and what is going to be the future? On your site, you also have no commercial sites in your portfolio, so I assumed you are not producing web sites as a sole business.
I suggest you calm down the ego, and realize that there are a lot of people who have been doing this a lot longer than you, and that you don’t know everything there is to know about Flash.
All pixel fonts that I have seen for Flash are meant to be used at 8pt, and not much larger.
My point, one more time, is that pixel fonts are a fad that young designers are using for their own personal sites, and aren’t being used for Professional Quality sites being paid for by clients, and intended for viewing by the majority of the web. I talk to clients every single day, and have yet to have even one request a pixel font. As a matter of fact, most of them have stated how hard they are to read.
Rev
then all of the sites I have ever designed (over 7 years of professional full time design, with a list of clients) have fonts that look like crap?
You were the one who made the statement about looking like crap, not me.
Again: in comparison to pixel fonts, they do.
I still don’t think pixel fonts are a fad. They look alot better than normal ones, but it’s a shame that there aren’t many nicely sized ones. I think that pixel fonts will always exist, though not on a grand scale. The trouble with pixel fonts is that there usually smaller than normal, like you said. But it has a great potential, unlike a fad. The thing I don’t understand is why there are so much pixelfonts that are tinier than normal fonts.
You seem to know alot about fonts and expierienced in the field of webdesigning, you could awnser this question: Why do designcompanies use regular fonts? Is it because there stretchable, or very common and there are a lot of styles?
mainly because anti-aliased fonts are easier to read, if done properly, and the look is much more comfortable for the average end-user. And the end-user is the sole reason for creating a web site. Not my own desires in design, not what the client think looks good, but what the end-user is going to think about the feel and comfortability of the site. If a site has text that is difficult to read, the end-user will not return, and will prob leave prematurely before seeing the entire site, or giving the link to someone else.
Also, as a company, you generally want your web site to be a compliment to your brick and mortar business, carrying the same style and feel that all of your other media protrays.
Pixel fonts were invented to make a “style” of small, boxed in buttons, and Flash does not handle small fonts well, and because young designers thought they looked “cool.” Most of these designers don’t care if everyone can read them, because they are using them on personal portfolio sites with a limited expectation of appeal. If it is personal, they feel they can do anything.
pixel fonts may not go away completely, but then again, we still have bell bottom trousers too, and they haven’t been in style in 30 years…
and your statement about pixel fonts always looking better is simply an opinion, and should be expressed as such so that others do not take it as fact…
Lets just say I feel that Pixel Fonts are a “Trend” that will be gone in a few years at most.
Rev
Well, than we have different oppinions on it. I’ve come across many sites, mostly proffesional, that have bad fonts. Their fonts are so anti-aliased, you need to take a screenshot and sharpen it in photoshop. 
That’s why I like pixelfonts. Always clear and it looks like how a normal webpage would display normal fonts.
And with the different media, I don’t have any experience with it. But I do know the importance of having a design that looks the same.
a lot of designers do not use fonts properly, so they look fuzzy.
It is an art, no doubt.
just like there are lots of badly designed HTML sites by large design firms, there are a ton of bad Flash sites…
the general consensus of end-users I have seen say that a well anti-aliased font looks more professional than alias’d text.
that said, I agree there are a lot of sites using fonts badly.
Rev
A prime example of a non-pixel font using Flash site is 2Advanced. They are a prime example because almost every Flasher looks up to them in one way or another, and they manage to create such an excellent Flash site without the use of teeny tiny pixel fonts.
I agree that I like the clearness of pixel fonts, but that doesn’t mean they are better. Ive seen Flash sites that use pixel fonts that are definitely too small to read, and it get’s quite annoying. There are some sizes I find comfortable to read, and that all depends on the size and style of the font. Same goes with any other font though, if it is readable then it doesn’t matter if it is anti-aliased or not, you don’t NEED a pixel font to create a Flash site.
*Originally posted by lostinbeta *
A prime example of a non-pixel font using Flash site is 2Advanced. They are a prime example because almost every Flasher looks up to them in one way or another, and they manage to create such an excellent Flash site without the use of teeny tiny pixel fonts.
2Advanced’s text is blurry and two small. It is a bad combination.
What font does kirupa use here kirupa.com - Text In Flash: Make it Legible! ? It looks very readable.
Edit
Verdana
I have no problem with 2As font. I actually like it.
And that is Verdana, the font most popular on HTML web sites since it is clean and most systems have it installed by default.
I’m guessing most people have it installed, so I don’t have to embed Verdana?
Well as a safety precaution it is usually good to embed fonts because not everyone will have Verdana installed, but I know for fact that the Windows and Mac OS come with Verdana installed by default. Verdana or Arial are probably your safest bets of not having to embed, but there are still those people out there that may not have it.
