I like for you please to elaborate first? There comes many fonts preloaded in your system I have found many more in website DaFont.

I am sorry for making “double post”

I don’t there there are many clear lines between the two. There are plenty of free professional-level fonts to be found all over the web. There are also probably some not-for-free fonts that aren’t very professionally done. I’d say that the majority of free fonts aren’t necessarily “professional,” but that doesn’t mean they are totally unusable.

I think lately, the bar has been raised, and fonts that are truly “professional” tend to come in families of several weights and also include many glyphs that most free fonts don’t.

Not all fonts are created equal, and there in lies the difference. Wether it’s poor use of nodes, an overall bad design, or a font that was done but has very limited appeal and usefulness.

As far as residing at a particular website, daFont carries free fonts, there’s thousands of other sites as well, and some are not always ’free’ but are commercial fonts being pirated under a different name. While places like Myfonts.com carries many quality commercial fonts, it also allows people to submit their work and have it downloadable for free. There are also many professional type designers that choose to run their own shop and sell for themselves, meaning you don’t have to buy through a major foundry, or even a minor one to get professional fonts. You can’t judge quality by price, some accomplished type designers release free faces as an incentive. Even large foundries do this.

I think you’re using the term “amateur” in the sporting sense, which does have a pretty strict non-profit (for the players) definition, but such is not so clearly defined in the arts.

Fonts are free (no cost) only when their authors or foundries declare them to be so, skill, certification, experience, or establishment notwithstanding.

I think it probably has a lot to do with the experience of the designer. My (unreleased) fonts are incredibly amateur, and probably still will be by the time I release them. There are plenty of professional type designers who have gone back and pulled their amateur works from the market. Take a look at the Schwartzco web site; Christian has posted stuff going back to when he was 14 and you can see how one develops to the professional level.

“How does one differentiate between amateur and professional fonts?”

Umm...I don’t think you do. They aren’t really adjectives that make a whole lot of sense in the context of typefaces.

If you’re looking for analogies...maybe buildings would be better. There are well built, sound, strong buildings designed by internationally known architects and then there are falling down shacks built with scraps by transients down by the railroad tracks. One probably took a lot more time and craft to build, probably costs more, and likely has more uses, but both can have character and either might be the right building for the right setting for a particular need.

As with any art or craft, some of the best work is done by amateurs, and some of the worst by professionals. And vice versa. I can’t see what difference “type designer” makes as opposed to, say, “playwright,” or “cabinet maker” when it comes to the distinction between amateur and professional.

A font is either good or bad.
Your decision.

OK - interesting answers. I know this was a vague question with no real answers, and so that’s what I got. But it’s interesting.

Here’s the deal. I’m doing research into font preferences. I’m at a step of my research right now where I am trying hard to define “trendy” fonts. It has been suggested to me that perhaps amateur, ephemeral, grunge fonts are trendy by several people. So let me ask one more:

What do you think current trends are in type design?

“trendy fonts”

How about: “Someone (else) took a big risk & used (or made) the font (first), it seems to be well received, and not too many people have used it yet. So, if I use it right now, I’ll be thought of as an innovative person.”

’Bout the same as with anything trendy.

Are you doing research into what’s trendy, or what people think is trendy?
Have you defined what “trendy&#822