Different Types

Fixed vs Proportional WIdth

Also called monospaced fonts or modern fonts
Fonts can either be fixed width or proportional width
This is a font whose characters are all the same width
Examples include Courier, Courier New, Lucida Console (used in Notepad)

Serif vs Sans Serif

There are two types of fonts:
Serif - Have "hooks" to their letters (e.g.Times, Times New Roman)
For printed documents, these are typically used for body text.

Sans Serif - Have plain edged letters (e.g. Arial, Helvetica)
For printed documents, these are typically used for headings

Documents that are viewed online often use the opposite type of font (i.e. serif fonts are used for headings and sans serif fonts for body text)

TrueType vs Type1

Type1 is a specification created and used by Adobe
Type1 are vector based
TrueType was created and used by Apple and Microsoft
All the fonts that are installed with Microsoft Office are truetype fonts.
Truetype fonts mean that the text appears on the screeen as it will be printed.
Truetype fonts are fonts that look exactly the same on the screen as they do when they are printed.
Using Truetype fonts makes documents more portable because they will look the same when printed on different printers.

OpenType

OpenType was created by Microsoft as a successor to both Type1 and TrueType
OpenType fonts can be used on both PC and Mac ??