Help

Rosetta fonts

Fonts formats provided

Our fonts are provided in OpenType for desktop (OTF, TTF) and web (WOFF2). The Trial fonts are provided only in OTF format. All fonts are carefully crafted and optimized for screen.

Language and script support

Language and script support is specified on typeface microsites for all families together (section Styles), and for individual families on the first checkout page. Click on the red button to get the complete list of supported languages.

Selecting and testing the fonts

We have tried to provide as many options to preview and test our fonts as possible. Besides the edittable samples and PDF specimens, you can get free Trial fonts. There is also a live preview of the full character set.

Trial fonts

We have introduced free Trial licence so you can try our fonts before investing in a proper licence. A couple of important things to remember:

  • some characters have been removed from these fonts,
  • the fonts cannot be used for any published project, commercial or non-commercial,
  • the fonts can be used for unpublished student work.

To order, simply select the Trial licence in the left column during your checkout; then select the fonts you want to licence.

Trial fonts are not sufficient for proper designers’ work as it is intended only for testing or, for example, for creating mock-ups for the client to see before they commit to purchase your design. Once they do, you both need a licence.

Note: students can get a great discount on proper licence.

What is the default figure style?

It differs from typeface to typeface. It is always clearly marked in the OpenType features sections.

Pro? PE? What is what

Every company seems to give the Pro suffix a different meaning. For us, it means typographic extras are included. This may be different for each script, but for Latin the fonts will be equipped with small caps, various figure sets, superiors, and fractions as a minimum standard.

PE stands for Pan-European. Fonts with this suffix support Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts.

How webfonts differ

The language and feature support is the same in fonts for print and for web. So is their quality on screen. The webfonts always have the suffix ‘Web’ in the name and are obfuscated, so they work well only on the web.

Self-hosting webfonts

Self-hosting means you can keep the webfonts on your own server. This has many benefits, there is no need for webfont providers, no monthly charges, no tracking code, no downtimes. On the other hand, it requires a bit of coding (CSS code is provided with the fonts) and reasonable measures have to be used to ensure that the webfonts cannot be extracted (prevention of direct links to the files, or hotlinking from other sites, and maintaining the cautionary note in the CSS). We provide an example HTML and CSS code for most fonts.

The fonts are provided in the WOFF2 font format which covers most of the contemporary browsers.

The self-hosting licence model is build on mutual trust. We do not enforce any tracking on our customers. In return we kindly ask them keep an eye on the total traffic and upgrade when appropriate.

Webfont conversions and subsetting

You are allowed to convert the webfonts to alternative webfont formats (for example: Cufón, sIFR, Typeface.js, SVG fonts), but we do not recommend it. You can also subset the webfonts for the sole purpose of optimising loading times.

Note that non-web fonts (OTF and TTF formats) should not be manipulated in the same way or converted to webfonts.

Font X is missing a specific character.

It is possible for us to include it, however, it requires additional design work and post-production for which we are likely to charge. The pricing depends on the scope, but we often need to draw the character in multiple styles for the fonts to remain consistent.

Licencing

Introduction to font licencing

When you “purchase a font” in our shop you are in fact licencing the font according to the terms of our End-user licence agreement (EULA) which clearly describes what you can and cannot be do with the fonts. The licence is the legally binding contract between the licence owner (you or your client) and Rosetta.

You can specify the licence owner during checkout.

Our standard licence

We have simplified as much as we could. Our licence is perpetual (one-off payment) and allows the use of the fonts on desktop and on web. See the complete licence and accompanying table that describes the what can and cannot be done with the fonts.

Licencing for the web

The web use is only limited by the total traffic for all web sites that use the fonts. The licence owner can use the fonts on an unlimited number of domains.

If the monthly traffic exceeds the tier limit from the purchased licence at any time (even for a short period), an upgrade to a higher tier is needed. Get in touch via email and we will arrange that.

The self-hosting licence model is build on mutual trust. We do not enforce any tracking on our customers. In return we kindly ask them keep an eye on the total traffic and upgrade when appropriate.

When is a Custom licence needed?

Simply, if you need to licence for more than what the Standard licence permits; if you want to design merchandise that ‘stands on the shoulders’ of the fonts; if you are a major TV, newspaper, or magazine; if there is a need for automated processing of documents on your server; … Send us an email and we will draft a quote for you. We are usually quite fast and easy to talk to.

Who can use the fonts

Make sure that whoever is using the fonts is within the allowed number of authorized users (defined by the owner of the licence).

Note that if you licenced fonts for your customer, you cannot keep the fonts permanently. They can let you use the fonts within their allowance temporarily.

It is not permitted for groups to purchase a single licence to share.

Can I licence fonts for a client?

Yes. If you are an agency or design studio acting on behalf of a customer, you can purchase a font licence for them. Simply sign up a different licence owner during checkout.

For how many users should I licence the fonts?

Make sure that whoever is using the fonts is within the allowed number of authorized users (defined by the owner of the licence). You have to count all potential users of the fonts in your company and purchase a licence which permits the sufficient number of individual users. If you need more than 5 users permitted by our Standard licence, get in touch via email.

Can I transfer a licence to someone else?

Yes, but only with prior written permission from Rosetta. We will have to update our database of font licence owners.

Can I share fonts with other parties (printers etc.)?

The licence owner is permitted to make a temporary copy of the Fonts for use by a commercial printer or service bureau solely for use in the production of their own materials. It is the licence owner’s responsibility to make sure they remove the fonts from their computers after the job is done.

No other sharing is permitted.

Is there a time limit for my licenced fonts?

The licences offered in our e-shop are perpetual. Custom licences may have a time limit.

What if my company has multiple geographic locations?

It is not a problem.

Can I embed fonts in a Word document?

Yes.

Can I use your fonts to create a logo?

Yes. You cannot use Trial fonts for this of course.

Can I use your fonts in PDF files?

Yes.

Can I use the fonts on my mobile or tablet?

Yes. With apps like AnyFont, FondFont, Adobe Creative Cloud, or Fontstand, you can upload the fonts to your mobile or tablet (iOS, Android, …) and use the fonts in your apps there. Just honour the number of devices permitted by the licence type you have purchased.

Can I add the fonts to Adobe Cloud?

Yes. Just honour the number of devices permitted by the licence type you have purchased.

Can I embed the fonts in my mobile/tablet app?

This is only allowed through the Custom licence. Please, get in touch and we will provide you with a quote.

Can I use your fonts on my own merchandise?

Yes and no. Generally, you can. But the moment the merchandise is build on the fonts appearance (e.g. there is just one big letter or dingbat from our font on your t-shirt), then you should get a Custom licence.

Can I modify your fonts?

Nope. Purchased fonts cannot be converted or otherwise modified without prior written permission from Rosetta. We allow some modification for webfonts only. See the Rosetta webfonts section for details.

Licence upgrade

You should upgrade your licence when:

  • there are more people using the fonts than the current licence permits,
  • the traffic on your website is bigger than the current licence permits,
  • you wish to use the fonts for a purpose not permitted by the current licence.

I have more questions

If in doubt, regarding what is or is not permitted, or whether licence upgrade is needed, please refer to the licence or email us directly and we will figure it out together.

Shopping

Shopping for fonts

To be precise, shopping for fonts is actually shopping for font licences. Here is how you do it in our e-shop:

Click the ‘Buy now’ button anywhere in the Font catalogue to order fonts for a particular typeface. You can only order fonts for a single typeface, but thanks to that the process is really simple.

First step. In the left column, select the licence type(s) which best cover your needs. In the right column, select the fonts you need. They are divided in groups based on language support which is clearly marked with the red buttons. When ready, click ‘Next step’ at the bottom of the page.

Second step. Fill in your details, specify the licence owner, review your order, and proceed with the payment.

You are done. The download link and receipt will be sent to you in an email.

Accepted payment methods

Our e-shop accepts Visa, Visa Electron, MasterCard, Maestro, and Diners Club. Let us know via email if you wish to pay via bank transfer.

Our VAT policy

Customers based outside the EU or UK are not charged VAT. Customers based in the EU are charged their local VAT unless they provide a valid VAT ID during the checkout process, in which case they are charged 0% VAT. EU customers who were charged 0% VAT from us are required to declare and pay the associated VAT (the so-called ‘reverse charge’ procedure) in their country. Customers based in the UK are charged standard UK VAT.

User account details

There is no user account or password to maintain. No registration is necessary during checkout. We got rid of them deliberately in order to streamline the process. Your orders are matched with your email and maintained in our orders and ownership databases.

Free font updates

If you opt in during check out, you will receive free updates for fonts purchased in our e-shop automatically when these are release. Our policy is to provide maintenance and small updates for free. Additional language/script-support or new styles are usually considered paid upgrades. These are announced independently via our newsletter or social media.

Re-downloading the fonts

If you lose your font files and wish to re-download them, please let us know via email. We will resend your order email with a reactivated download link.

Discounts

We have decided to provide clearly structured and reasonable pricing over too many discounts and promotions. Currently we offer:

  • discounted bundles of fonts,
  • student/academic discount.

Student and academic discount

Students get 60% discount. Send us a scan of your student ID or email us from an academic email and we will send you a discount code.

Academic institutions and staff get 30% discount.

Charity discounts

If you are a charity and would like to get a discount, let us know, perhaps we could help. However, we do have a yearly limit as to how many we can support. We do not automatically provide discounts to non-profit organizations.

Do startups get discounts

Sorry, but no.

Using discount codes

If you received a promotional discount code, you can apply it in the ‘Order summary’ (on the right side in the second step of the checkout process) before proceeding with the payment.

Cancellation and refund policy

You can cancel your order without giving any reasons within a period of 14 days provided the Fonts have not been downloaded. If they have been downloaded no refund will be made.

You can return merchandise within a period of 14 days without giving any reason, in which case we will fully refund the cost of the merchandise. However, you will have to pay for the return shipping.

Font replacement

Rosetta will replace the Fonts in the event that the Fonts should not perform substantially in accordance with the documentation, provided that any such claim is submitted within thirty (30) days of purchase of the licence. Your sole recourse is replacement Fonts; no refunds will be granted. To submit a claim you must return the Fonts to Rosetta together with a copy of your sales receipt.

How do I install fonts

There are many online guides on how to install fonts on your system. Here is a good one from Adobe covering installation on major operating systems.

World scripts

How to activate Adobe World-Ready Composer

Adobe’s World-Ready Composer enables the correct typesetting of a range of world scripts, including many complex scripts. In case you are not using Middle East (ME) or India-specific versions of Adobe software, you will need to activate it to set properly shaped texts in Arabic, Hebrew, and Indian languages.

Activate on Adobe InDesign by choosing from the available composition modes in the Paragraph panel menu (Type > Paragraph > panel menu)

See similar settings on Illustrator and other Adobe apps.

Typing in a foreign script on your keyboard

In order to type in any script on your keyboard, you will need a Unicode-compatible keyboard mapping (also called keyboard or software keyboard) which maps keys from your physical keyboard to the Unicode characters of the particular script. The software keyboards are usually available in your operating system, e.g. for Arabic or Devanagari. You just need to activate them in Keyboard Preferences (on macOS) or in Language & region settings.

Typing in Avestan on Mac

The Avestan software keyboard (see previous entry for more info on software keyboards) is not currently included with the macOS. You can download the Avestan keyboard for macOS by Pim Rietbroek from GitHub.

Typing in Book Pahlavi

In order to type in Book Pahlavi, which is not currently encoded in Unicode, type using an Arabic-script keyboard, e.g. for Persian or Arabic languages. Most characters correspond to Arabic-script characters, but some are mapped differently.

Typographic glossary

Character vs glyph

The term character refers to any individual letter, sign, symbol, or mark. Whether it is the Latin letter ‘a’, the Devanagari syllable ‘क’, the numeral ‘8’, or punctuation mark ‘?’. The implementation of a character in a font is called a glyph.

Typeface

In a nutshell a typeface is the design of a collection of characters that implement particular script(s). Ultimately it is the creative work of the designer. Commonly a typeface is represented as a type family that groups various styles and weights with shared design principles.

Type family

A type family commonly includes styles in various weights and forms (italic or upright/roman). Sometimes all the variations do not fit in one family and that’s when super-families (or type systems) come in. The super-families include individual families which differ in width (e.g. Skolar Sans Compressed and Skolar Sans Extended) or intended size (so-called optical sizes, e.g. Neacademia Text and Neacademia Subhead).

Script and writing system

A script is an organised set of signs, symbols and marks required to represent spoken language in written or printed form. A script is the visual representation while a writing system is the general system used for organization of these signs and their connection to the language. In short there are three basic categories of writing systems: alphabetic (e.g. the Latin script), syllabic (e.g. Indian scripts) and logographic (e.g. Chinese script).

Complex script

The term complex script is used to describe scripts that require complex text layout features in order to ensure correct text shaping that allows the display of a given language adequately. Such complex scripts may need to make use of one or all of the following features: combining marks, glyph reordering and splitting, contextual shaping, specific rules for word breaks and justification. The shapes themselves might not be complex.

Indic and Arabic scripts are typical examples of complex scripts.

Font

A font is in effect the carrier of a typeface. It is a software. Typically, a font only carries a single type style (such as Regular Italic or ExtraBold), but there are font formats which can represent multiple styles (OpenType GX, Multiple-Master fonts).

These days the terms typeface and font are often used interchangeably. However, the former refers to the design ideas, the latter refers to their software or material implementation.

Webfont

Webfonts are fonts in formats intended for the web, e.g., WOFF, WOFF2, or EOT. They should be optimized for the web and reading on screen.

Hinting

Hinting refers to special instructions in fonts which control the rasterisation process in low resolutions. In other words, better hinting means better performance of a font on the screen in small sizes. Hinting can be automated or manual. The latter usually means good appearance in text sizes (around conventional 10–16 pixels sizes) on screen, auto-hinting is sufficient for display sizes (ca. 18 pixels and above).

However, the best way to judge the performance of webfonts is to compare screenshots from various platforms.

Variants/styles

A type family often comprises a broad array of variants (or styles) across the following categories: weight, width, upright/italic, ….

Weight

The weight refers to different degrees of thickness of the strokes letterforms are made of or, in other words. The most commonly used weights are (from lightest to darkest): Thin, Extralight, Light, Regular, Medium, Semibold, Bold, Extrabold, Black. While the regular weight is traditionally the one used for continuous text, the extreme ends of the spectrum – such as Thin, Light, or Black – usually are more suitable for short texts, headlines, and for display purposes.

Width

The width attribute refers to the broadness of letterforms, ranging from ‘narrow’ to ‘wide’. While the intervals between the two ends of the spectrum are unlimited, the most commonly used classifications are Compressed, Condensed, Normal, and Extended.

Uprights vs. italics

The two most common style groups in the Latin (and Cyrillic or Greek) are upright (also Roman) and italic. In contemporary use these two are seen as companions, the italic traditionally being employed to achieve emphasis within a text set in upright.

Spacing (also, fitting)

In typeface design the term spacing describes the process of distributing space between characters in a font. By determining the space on each side of a character, the aim is to fit every character with all possible preceding or following characters (whether it be letters, punctuation etc.). The ultimate goal is to achieve a harmonious and balanced rhythm and an even colour/texture to ensure a pleasing and easily readable text.

Kerning

In contrast to spacing, kerning only deals with specific combinations of letters, not with general distribution of space/rhythm in a typeface.

The term kerning is often used instead of spacing. Such usage is wrong and should be punishable by milder forms of death!

Letter-spacing (tracking)

In close relation to spacing lies letter-spacing (or tracking), which is employed by the font user to manually adjust the defined spacing globally. If carefully applied, informed adjustments to the letter-spacing can prove to be useful in certain situations. Depending on the typeface, in display sizes, letters may appear a little too loosely arranged and in that case negative letter-spacing can be utilised to make for a more cohesive word shape. The same applies to small sizes where a moderate amount of positive letter-spacing can aid legibility and readability.

Excessive negative letter-spacing injures readers’ eyes and should be punishable by gently chopping both index fingers of the designer responsible.

Note: the concept of letter-spacing does not apply to scripts with connecting characters; here any alteration of letter-spacing will corrupt the design.