Editing Fixedsys (section)

{{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox typeface
| name = Fixedsys
| familyname = 
| image = Fixedsys font sample-withText Fixedsys.svg
| style = [[Sans-serif]]
| classifications = 
| creator = [[Bitstream Inc.]]
| commissioned_by = [[Microsoft]]
| foundry = Microsoft
| foundries = 
| creationdate = 1984
| releasedate = 1985
| trademark = 
| based_on =
| aka = SysFixed<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/about|title=About Microsoft Typography - Typography|date=2020-03-10|access-date=2021-05-21}}</ref>
| variations = 
| sample = [[File:Fixedsysfontpreview.svg|220px]]
| shown_here =
| sample_fullimage = Fixedsys Basic.png
}}

'''''Fixedsys''''' is a family of [[Bitmap font|raster]] [[monospaced font]]s. The name means ''fixed system'', because its [[glyph]]s are monospace or fixed-width (although bolded characters are wider than non-bolded, unlike other monospace fonts such as [[Courier (typeface)|Courier]]). It is the oldest font in [[Microsoft Windows]], and was the system font in [[Windows 1.0]] and [[Windows 2.0|2.0]], where it was simply named "System".  For [[Windows 3.1x|Windows 3.x]], the system font was changed to a [[Typeface#Proportion|proportional]] [[sans-serif]] font named [[System (typeface)|System]], but Fixedsys remained the default font in [[Microsoft Notepad|Notepad]].

Fixedsys fonts family contains fonts encoded in several [[Windows code page]]s, with multiple resolutions of the font for each code page. Fixedsys fonts of different code pages have different point sizes.

The glyphs for the upper areas of each one appear to be drawn separately, not taken from a single master set, as there are visible differences in the appearance of various visually similar characters that are shared between the code pages.

Though Fixedsys is a sans-serif font, it is vaguely similar in appearance to the [[VGA compatible text mode#Fonts|hardware text mode font]] of most [[IBM PC compatible|IBM-compatible]] [[personal computer|PC]]s, though not as similar as certain sizes of [[Terminal (typeface)|Terminal font]]s seen in Windows.

In [[Windows 95]], [[Windows 98|98]], and [[Windows Me]], Fixedsys remains as the default font for Notepad. This font was superseded by [[Lucida Console]] in Notepad for later versions of Windows. In [[Windows 95]], this default font cannot be changed. Fixedsys of other code pages can be selected by specifying script settings in font selection dialogue, but not font of all code pages can be chosen.

Due to its clean style and easy readability, it has enjoyed some popularity with the programming community, even giving rise to an imitation font&nbsp;— Fixedsys Excelsior&nbsp;— which, based on the original Fixedsys typeface, also includes a large number of [[Unicode]] script ranges.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fixedsysexcelsior.com/|title=Fixedsys Excelsior 3.00 Truetype Multilingual Font|date=2019-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207073141/http://www.fixedsysexcelsior.com/|access-date=2019-11-20|archive-date=2019-02-07}} The current home of the font is http://github.com/kika/fixedsys</ref>

There is a certain amount of similarity between Fixedsys and [[Chicago (typeface)|Chicago]], the default system typeface on the [[Apple Macintosh]] between 1984 and 1997. The key difference is that Chicago is a proportional typeface while Fixedsys is monospaced. A smaller CGA version of this font also exists, with some characters bearing a resemblance to the IBM 8x8 CGA font. The EGA version is nearly identical to the CGA version, only in differing in a small number of characters.

According to a string embedded in the .FON file (which is viewable with a hex editor or with a typeface editor such as Fony), this font was designed in 1984 by Bitstream Inc., but the high resolution 8514/a version (used in modern versions of Windows operating system as the high DPI variant, which is larger and looks different from the VGA version) was designed in 1987 by Microsoft Corporation.