Comparison of the various computer fonts for hieroglyphs
The purpose of this page is to compare the graphic quality of every hieroglyphic font that can be used on computers, as far as we found them so far.
Please do no hesitate to share with us your own findings, by sending a sample of the selected glyphs in a JPG or GIF format (60 pixels high or 80 pixels width).
These fonts have been collected by the Rosette Team members, who own one or the other software, book, ...
These images are a small sample for demonstration purpose. We tried to be as fair as possible by displying each font in its best screen resolution, and then capturing the image in the same format for all.
The column "Type" provides the nature of the font :
* Vect. : vectorial font (which keep the graphism quality when enlarging)
* Imag. : "bitmap", a dot-per-dot definition ... when zooming, each dot begins to appear !
* Impr. : printing or stencil font (the digital capture takes here the original printed size).
* Photo : original photography or scanned document from a book.
The column "Nb" indicates the number of available characters in this font.
| Famille | Type | Nb | A1 | D10 | D38 | D39 | G43 | M40 | N35a | W18 | Z7 | Aa13 |
| J.F. Champollion |
Impr. |
900- |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Sir Alan Gardiner |
Impr. |
~700 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Everson |
Vect. |
4,747 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| GlyphBasic |
Vect. |
760 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Gardiner |
Vect. |
760 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| InScribe |
Vect. |
1,163 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Jonathan |
Vect. |
~300 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Jonathan1 |
Vect. |
~300 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Bernard |
Imag. |
~300 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| AmonFont |
Vect. |
~700 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Nahkt |
Vect. |
~100 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
| Glyphotext |
Vect. |
~2,500 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| HieroTex |
Vect. |
? |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Timonk |
Imag. |
? |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Images GIF |
Imag. |
6,724 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Gaétan |
Imag. |
768 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| WikiHiero |
Imag. |
? |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Glyphomat |
Imag. |
771 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| IFAO |
Impr. |
7,000+ |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Photo |
Photo |
... ! |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Method and Sources
These images have been captured by the SnapKey software, from a screen display as closest as possible to the final size, and then adjusted under ACDSee at the normalized size (the most contraining of 60 pixels heigh and 80 pixels width).
* J.F. Champollion : Honour to our Master : extracts from the Grammaire Egyptienne (1841) - Ed.Solin - Actes Sud 1997
* Sir Alan Gardiner : extracts from the Egyptian Grammar(1927) - Griffith Institute - 3rd edition 1957
* Everson : PDF document published in 1999, by Micheal Everson. Font has been enlarged under Acrobat Reader (http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n1944.pdf)
* GlyphBasic : WinGlyph software (copyright CCER) displayed in MS Excel size 64
* Gardiner : font collection from unknown origin, apparently derived from GlyphBasic, displayed in MS Excel size 64
* InScribe : InScribe software (copyright Saqqara Technology), displayed in MS Excel size 64
* Jonathan : two vectorial fonts under development by Jonathan-Montoumes, for the Rosette project.
* Bernard : an alternative font developped for the Rosette project from the best JF Champollion's drawings.
* AmonFont : an african-based hieroglyph collection (http://www.ankhonline.com/).
* Nahkt : font collection from unknown origin, with a very limited number of glyphs nombre de caractères très réduit, displayed in MS Excel size 64
* Glyphotext : character font of the most recent and very popular software.
* HieroTex : character database developped by Serge Rosmorduc (LaTeX)
* Timonk : image database found on the website http://timonk.com/estuff.html, and simply copied, saved in GIF format, and finally resized (original size paarox. 120 pixels). Note that this website also propose some large size / high quality and colorful hieroglyphs !
* Images GIF : images database from unknown origin, displayed and resized under ACDSee.
* Gaétan : image database from Gaétan Malardé's website (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/fmalarde/)
* WikiHiero : image database from WikiHiero application (http://aoineko.free.fr/index.php?lang=fr). The image quality has been impacted by the small size of the original screen display.
* Glyphomat : image database of the Glyphomat software (http://www.aegyptisch.de/glyphomat.pl). Capture form the application output in PDF format.
* IFAO : "Catalogue de la fonte hiéroglyphique de l'imprimerie de l'I.F.A.O." (réédition 1983). Catalogue d'E. Chassinat, gravure de S. Sauneron. Scanning from the original book at 720 ppp.
* Photo : partial enlargement from Vincent's photography collection (alias Gardiner) - Louvre 2005
Composed by Gardiner - 22/8/05 - last revision 9/10/05