| # Supported Fonts |

The set of supported fonts varies between different implementations of the Java 2 platform. This page documents font support in Sun's Java 2 Software Development Kit, Standard Edition, v. 1.4 (J2SDK), and Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition, v. 1.4 (J2RE). For the terminology used, see the `Font` class description.

- Support for Physical Fonts
- Support for Logical Fonts
- The Lucida Fonts

## Support for Physical Fonts

Sun's Java 2 Runtime Environment supports TrueType and PostScript Type 1 fonts.

Physical fonts need to be installed in locations known to the Java runtime environment. Sun's Java 2 Runtime Environments look in two locations: the `lib/fonts` directory within the J2RE itself, and the normal font location(s) defined by the host operating system. If fonts with the same name exist in both locations, the one in the `lib/fonts` directory is used.

Users can add physical fonts that use a supported font technology by installing them either in the `lib/fonts` directory within the J2RE, or by installing them in a way supported by the host operating system (dropping them into the Fonts folder on Windows, using the pkgadd command on Solaris).

## Support for Logical Fonts

Logical font names are mapped to physical fonts in implementation dependent ways. Typically one logical font name maps to several physical fonts in order to cover a large range of characters. Sun's Java 2 Runtime Environments use font.properties files to define the mapping.

Adventurous users can modify the font.properties files or create new ones. For example, users may want to add additional physical fonts to a given mapping in order to extend the set of characters supported by a logical font.

## The Lucida Fonts

Sun's Java 2 Software Development Kit and Java 2 Runtime Environments bundles several physical fonts of the "Lucida" design family. These fonts are also licensed for use in other implementations of the Java 2 platform. These fonts are physical fonts, but since they come with the Java 2 runtime, they don't depend on the host operating system. Using them provides the benefit of a consistent look and feel across platforms and implementations for a large set of languages.

There are three different type families: `"Lucida Sans"`, `"Lucida Sans Typewriter"`, and`"Lucida Bright"`. Each family has plain, bold, italic, and bold-italic styles. Not all of these are present in all Java 2 implementations. For example, the default download bundle of Sun's Java 2 Runtime Environment for Windows only contains the Lucida Sans plain font (but note that application developers can include all Lucida fonts with a J2RE that they redistribute with an application).

The following table shows which Unicode 3.0 character blocks are covered by each font family:

Unicode Block | Lucida Sans | Lucida Sans Typewriter | Lucida Bright
--- | --- | --- | ---
Basic Latin | yes | yes | yes
Latin-1 Supplement | yes | yes | yes
Latin Extended-A | yes | yes | yes
Latin Extended-B | partial | partial | partial
IPA Extensions | partial | no | no
Spacing Modifier Letter | partial | partial | partial
Combining Diacritical Marks | partial | no | partial
Greek | yes | yes | yes
Cyrillic | partial | partial | partial
Hebrew | yes | yes | no
Arabic | partial | partial | partial
Devanagari | yes | no | no
Thai | yes | yes | no
General Punctuation | partial | partial | partial
Superscripts and Subscripts | partial | partial | partial
Currency Symbols | partial | partial | partial
Letterlike Symbols | partial | partial | partial
Number Forms | partial | partial | no
Arrows | partial | partial | partial
Mathematical Operators | yes | partial | yes
Enclosed Alphanumerics | partial | no | no
Box Drawings | partial | partial | no
Block Elements | partial | partial | no
Geometric Shapes | partial | partial | partial
Miscellaneous Symbols | partial | partial | no
Dingbats | yes | no | no
Alphabetic Presentation Forms | partial | partial | no
Arabic Presentation Forms-A | partial | partial | partial
Arabic Presentation Forms-B | yes | yes | yes

Note that of the writing systems that are generally fully supported by Sun's Java 2 Runtime Environments, the Lucida fonts do not support Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, and Korean.

The fonts are installed in the Java 2 Runtime Environment's `lib/fonts` directory as the following files (not all of them may be present):

>     LucidaSansDemiBold.ttf
>     LucidaSansDemiOblique.ttf
>     LucidaSansOblique.ttf
>     LucidaSansRegular.ttf
>     LucidaTypewriterBold.ttf
>     LucidaTypewriterBoldOblique.ttf
>     LucidaTypewriterOblique.ttf
>     LucidaTypewriterRegular.ttf
>     LucidaBrightDemiBold.ttf
>     LucidaBrightDemiItalic.ttf
>     LucidaBrightItalic.ttf
>     LucidaBrightRegular.ttf

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