Anti-Aliased Fonts what are they

[csmith at icdc.com]

I'm just getting around with adding the fonts that I always wanted to add to my 
freebsd machine. I'm finding the ones there not really all that good for the 
things I want to do with GIMP and Abiword and other programs. I know this isn't 
a tech fourm but what are anti-Aliased fonts and how do they differ from other 
types of fonts and what can they  do for me? I know that's a mouth full but I'm 
just looking for basic information not anything like how to install or anything 
I found the article in the hand book great for that. 



Thanks in advance for your help. 

Chauncey.