A method and system for providing a substitute font that visually approximates a selected font that is unavailable in a computer system is provided. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method and system first selects as the substitute font a font that is available in the computer system. The method and system then adjusts the overall widths of the characters of the substitute font to match the overall widths of the corresponding characters of the selected font. This causes the same combinations of characters of the substitute font and of the selected font to have substantially the same size and appearance. The method and system then makes the substitute font available to a program that has requested the selected font.