Font typeface preview

A system for generating a preview representative of a font, comprising:

• one or more processors for executing programmed instructions;
• memory, coupled to the one or more processors, for storing program instruction steps for execution by the computer processor;
• a font typeface preview engine operable to generate a preview font file, the preview font file comprising a plurality of font typeface preview elements, wherein each font typeface preview element is associated with a font, and wherein the font typeface preview engine comprises:
• a mapping file generator operable to generate a mapping file comprising location data mapping each font to a storage location of its associated font typeface preview element in the preview font file.

One or more computer storage media storing computer-usable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method for generating a preview representative of a font, the method comprising:

• generating a preview font file, the preview font file comprising a plurality of font typeface preview elements, wherein each font typeface preview element is associated with a font and wherein generating the preview font file comprises:
• loading a plurality of font files, each font file including a plurality of glyphs in a typeface of a font;
• extracting a subset of glyphs from each font file;
• for each subset of glyphs, combining each glyph in the subset of glyphs into a single glyph for generating a font typeface preview element, wherein the font typeface preview element is a representation of the font;
• and
• packaging the font typeface preview elements in the preview font file;
• generating a mapping file comprising location data mapping each font to a storage location of its associated font typeface preview element in the preview font file;
• transmitting the preview font file and the mapping file to a client application executing on a client computing device for rendering the plurality of font typeface preview elements as representations of the fonts in a font selection menu, wherein the client application does not include the fonts represented by the font typeface preview elements;
• receiving an indication of a selection of a font, the indication of the selection of the font occurring in response to a selection of a font typeface preview element rendered in the font selection menu;
• and
• transmitting a font file including a plurality of glyphs in a typeface of the font to the client application executing on the client computing device.