Courier New Font Does Not Appear Bold at Smaller Point Sizes

• Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 3.0, 3.01, 3.02a for Windows 3.1

SYMPTOMS

When you use Microsoft Internet Explorer to view a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document that contains text formatted with the Courier New Bold font, the text may not appear as bold text. This problem occurs when you reduce the size of the font in Internet Explorer by clicking the Use Smaller Font button on the toolbar, or by clicking the View menu, pointing to Fonts, and then clicking Small or Smallest.

CAUSE

TrueType fonts are outline fonts, which use mathematical descriptions of characters as an outline consisting of a series of points. Most monitors must convert outline fonts to bitmap form using a process called "scan conversion," before displaying them on the screen. When the Courier New font is converted to bitmap form in this manner, it cannot be reliably displayed in bold at smaller sizes.

RESOLUTION

To work around this behavior, use either of the following methods.

Configure Internet Explorer to use a Different Fixed-Width Font

To configure Internet Explorer to use a different fixed-width font, click Options on the View menu, click a font in the Fixed-Width Font box, and then click OK.

Increase the Size of the Font

To increase the size of the font in Internet Explorer, click the Use Larger Font button on the toolbar, or click the View menu, point to Fonts, and then click Medium, Large, or Largest.

MORE INFORMATION

This behavior also occurs when the Courier New font is displayed at small point sizes in Microsoft WordPad or any other program. However, it occurs more frequently with Internet Explorer because Courier New is the default fixed-width font in Internet Explorer, and because the Use Smaller Font button in Internet Explorer can be used to reduce the size of the font to point sizes that cannot be displayed reliably. This behavior does not normally occur with WordPad because you cannot choose a point size smaller than 8 point in WordPad.