I don’t know about you, but I find most of the default World of Warcraft fonts to be difficult to read on a large display (mine is a 24" widescreen; I’ve previously used 19" 4:3 and 21" 16:9 displays). I can only imagine how difficult it must be on a smaller screen, especially if you have to crank up the font size in order to get a readable image.
Today, we’re going to resolve that issue with a nice little plug-in called ClearFont 2 (CF2). While it’s available at Curse, the most current version is found at WoWAce, and the dowload is here. The author also has a website, but the latest entry there is from April 2007.
In addition to the basic ClearFont package, which includes nine fonts, you can also install a Font Pack of 16 more fonts.Many of the FontPack gfonts are decorative, but according to WoWAce,"CF2′s fonts get registered with SharedMediaLib, so they are includedas options in mods like PitBull, ElkBuffBars, and Quartz." You can view samples of all the fonts here.If you use Prat (I think this will be next week’s add-on, and is shownin use in the font samples), you need to choose your chat frame fontfrom within Prat.
Installation is similar to most other add-ons: Download, unzip to your \WorldofWarcraft\Interface\AddOns folder. You should then have a \ClearFont2 folder under \Addons. Once in game, type /cf2 for a short list of available commands. You also have a minimap icon, or a button on FuBar (if installed).
Clicking the icon brings up the following menu:
The first 3 options are the ClearFont options for font face, size, and whether to use the selected ClearFont font for other addons.
The other options configure the add-on, but not the font.
Here are 3 shots of the Quest Log.
The first shows the default Blizzard font (CF2 not installed).
This shot is with the CF2 default font (Calibri V.1) installed. Note the enhanced readability of the quest list and the buttons, compared to the shot above.
Finally, a shot with one of the other CF2 fonts, in this case Lucida Sans Demibold. Personally, this is just a bit too large for my taste, but of course, you could reduce the font size if you like the effect.
The included readme file contains information on importing your own choice of fonts to replace those available in the add-on, and for the code-inclined, you can also create your own font packs, with minimal coding. (Note that fonts must be TrueType; the Open Font fonts included in Windows Vista won’t work, nor will Adobe or other commercial fonts.)
For me, the flexibility and readability of the other fonts makes this a must-have add-on.
Agreed – this is a must-have add-on…. I fell in love with it the second I installed it.
I think i done it right not sure yet. Haven’t checked but i added some of my own fonts i.e: Angelina font into the clearfont2_fontspack without replacing any. I just put them in along with the original ones. Is this correct or have i messed up? I’m not a complete computer whizz so i could use a bit of help getting my fonts into the game.
Boedicia, the read-me file in ClearFont should have the instructions you need. I believe you can copy your own fonts in to the /fonts folder, but retain the Blizzard font names (for example, ArialNarrow). But again–check the readme file, or visit the author’s website.
(I haven’t added any fonts, which is why I’m a bit unclear on the process.)
just wanted to let you know the picture links on this page are broken. clear font sounds neat though. I’ll check it out.
Oh shoot…shows how much I look at old posts! Clearly, some stuff didn’t get transferred when I moved the Aerie from Blogger to WordPress. New weekend project, it seems.
Thanks, Greta!