In Windows CE, a font is a collection of glyphs that share a common design. A font is characterized by its typeface, style, and size. The font typeface determines the specific characteristics of the glyphs, such as the relative width of the thick and thin strokes used in any specified character. The style determines the font weight and slant. Font weights can range from thin to black. Slants can be roman (upright) or italic. The size of a font is the distance from the bottom of a lowercase "g" to the top of an adjacent uppercase "M," measured in points. A point is approximately one seventy-second of an inch.
In Windows CE, fonts are grouped into families, which share common stroke width characteristics. Fonts within a family are distinguished by size and style. The following table shows the font families.
Font family name |
Description |
| Decorative | Specifies a novelty font, for example, Old English. |
| Dontcare | Specifies a generic family name. This name is used when information about a font does not exist or does not matter. |
| Modern | Specifies a monospace font with or without serifs. Monospace fonts are usually modern; examples include Pica, Elite, and Courier New. |
| Roman | Specifies a proportional font with serifs, for example, Times New Roman. |
| Script | Specifies a font designed to look like handwriting; examples include Script and Cursive. |
| Swiss | Specifies a proportional font without serifs, for example, Arial. |
These family names correspond to constants found in the Wingdi.h header file: FF_DECORATIVE, FF_DONTCARE, FF_MODERN, FF_ROMAN, FF_SCRIPT, and FF_SWISS. Use these constants to create, select, or retrieve font information.