Truetype Helvetica Download for Free

There's not many reasons you would need to find a TrueType Helvetica download for free – it's a very common font found in most graphics and word processing programs. However, there are still many resources available if you do need it.

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Helvetica is a sans-serif font designed in 1957, long before computers, by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman. The clean lines of the font (without the serif curlicues that decorate Times or New Roman type fonts) made it immensely popular in print and design. The word "Helvetica" means Swiss, and it became almost ubiquitous – so popular that it was taken for granted.

When desktop and computerized publishing began to take off, Helvetica went along for the ride, as the early Adobe Postscript format included it as one of the original four fonts (along with Times, Courier, and Symbol). However, Adobe kept Helvetica as a closely guarded "Type 1" font, which was superior to their freely-licensed "Type 3" font.

When Microsoft and Apple teamed up to try and integrate font faces into their operating systems, they took similar but slightly different paths. According to Mark Simonson's article "The Scourge of Arial" both companies standardized the Apple-created TrueType format in their scalable font programs. However, Microsoft balked at paying the Linotype Corporation the licensing fees for Helvetica, and made their own similar version which became known as "Arial." Because Windows 3.1 grew to dominate the desktop environment, Arial displaced Helvetica as the most common font.

Apple paid the license, though, and Helvetica became the most common font used in the professional desktop publishing world (created primarily on Mac computers). Being able to tell the difference between the fonts is a point of pride for many designers. Many people searching for "free" fonts online forget that these fonts are designed, created and licensed by people who deserve to be paid for their work. Just downloading a "free" version of Helvetica can be the same as stealing.

Today, most web browsers will use sans-serif font "Helvetica, Arial, sans serif" as their default when the page calls for it. Web designers discovered that the simple lines of Helvetica were easy on the user's eyes, and it became the choice for text on the web. The quickest way to find a Truetype Helvetica download free of charge is to simply download a free copy of some Adobe product such as Dreamweaver or Photoshop.

Learn More about Fonts

Depending on whether you want to use the font in a scalable format, you may be able to get by with some similar font, such as Coolvetica, available at MyFonts. There are also many variations of the font style available at sites such as Search Free Fonts – these are fonts created by designers who wanted to retain some of the characteristics of Helvetica, without dealing with the licensing.

Keep in mind that some "free font downloads" are actually loaded with viruses and malware that can destroy your data, or they can use your computer as a breeding ground to spread spam across the web. It's best to go looking for fonts at trusted sources, such as the Microsoft Word support site or Chank, an independent design house with many free fonts.

However, the safest way to enjoy the benefits of TrueType Helvetica – with scalable options that keep the lines clean no matter how large or small you make it – is to simply use the version that comes with most computers. Even Microsoft Word has six versions of Helvetica included, from the most basic to variations such as "Helvetica Neue Ultralight."

Installing a downloaded font, free or licensed, used to be relatively complicated. It required that you find the correct folder on your computer and then make sure it was compatible with the various programs on your computer that used it, whether word-processing or graphic. However, most modern operating systems simply require you to double-click the font package and it automatically gets placed in the correct folder.

Helvetica is the typeface of choice time and time again among professional designers, and adding it to your palette is a good idea no matter where you plan to use it.

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