diff --git a/src/dlangui/core/types.d b/src/dlangui/core/types.d
index a6422f55..d3ee5cd0 100644
--- a/src/dlangui/core/types.d
+++ b/src/dlangui/core/types.d
@@ -159,6 +159,8 @@ struct Ref(T) { // if (T is RefCountedObject)
 
 // some utility functions
 string fromStringz(const(char[]) s) {
+    if (s is null)
+        return null;
 	int i = 0;
 	while(s[i])
 		i++;
@@ -166,6 +168,8 @@ string fromStringz(const(char[]) s) {
 }
 
 string fromStringz(const(char*) s) {
+    if (s is null)
+        return null;
 	int i = 0;
 	while(s[i])
 		i++;
@@ -173,20 +177,11 @@ string fromStringz(const(char*) s) {
 }
 
 wstring fromWStringz(const(wchar[]) s) {
+    if (s is null)
+        return null;
 	int i = 0;
 	while(s[i])
 		i++;
 	return cast(wstring)(s[0..i].dup);
 }
 
-bool startsWith(string str, string prefix) {
-    if (str.length >= prefix.length)
-        return equal(str[0..prefix.length], prefix);
-    return false;
-}
-
-bool endsWith(string str, string suffix) {
-    if (str.length >= suffix.length)
-        return equal(str[$-suffix.length .. $], suffix);
-    return false;
-}
diff --git a/src/dlangui/graphics/ftfonts.d b/src/dlangui/graphics/ftfonts.d
index d776952b..2faacd0c 100644
--- a/src/dlangui/graphics/ftfonts.d
+++ b/src/dlangui/graphics/ftfonts.d
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ import dlangui.graphics.fonts;
 
 import derelict.freetype.ft;
 private import dlangui.core.logger;
+private import std.algorithm;
+private import std.file;
+private import std.string;
 
 private struct FontDef {
     immutable FontFamily _family;
@@ -21,18 +24,163 @@ private struct FontDef {
 		_italic = italic;
         _weight = weight;
 	}
+    const bool opEquals(ref const FontDef v) {
+        return _family == v._family && _italic == v._italic && _weight == v._weight && _face.equal(v._face);
+    }
+    const hash_t toHash() {
+        hash_t res = 123;
+        res = res * 31 + cast(hash_t)_italic;
+        res = res * 31 + cast(hash_t)_weight;
+        res = res * 31 + cast(hash_t)_family;
+        res = res * 31 + typeid(_face).getHash(&_face);
+        return res;
+    }
 }
+
+private class FontFileItem {
+    FontDef _def;
+    string[] _filenames;
+    string[] _faceName;
+    @property ref FontDef def() { return _def; }
+    void addFile(string fn) {
+        // check for duplicate entry
+        foreach (ref string existing; _filenames)
+            if (fn.equal(existing))
+                return;
+        _filenames ~= fn;
+    }
+    this(FontDef def) {
+        _def = def;
+    }
+}
+
+private class FreeTypeFontFile {
+    private string _filename;
+    private string _faceName;
+    private FT_Library    _library;
+    private FT_Face       _face;
+    private FT_GlyphSlot  _slot;
+    private FT_Matrix     _matrix;                 /* transformation matrix */
+
+    private int _height;
+    private int _size;
+    private int _baseline;
+    private int _weight;
+    private bool _italic;
+
+    /// filename
+    @property string filename() { return _filename; }
+    // properties as detected after opening of file
+    @property string face() { return _faceName; }
+    @property int height() { return _height; }
+    @property int size() { return _size; }
+    @property int baseline() { return _baseline; }
+    @property int weight() { return _weight; }
+    @property bool italic() { return _italic; }
+
+    this(FT_Library library, string filename) {
+        _library = library;
+        _filename = filename;
+        _matrix.xx = 0x10000;
+        _matrix.yy = 0x10000;
+        _matrix.xy = 0;
+        _matrix.yx = 0;
+    }
+
+    private static string familyName(FT_Face face)
+    {
+        string faceName = fromStringz(face.family_name);
+        string styleName = fromStringz(face.style_name);
+        if (faceName.equal("Arial") && styleName.equal("Narrow"))
+            faceName ~= " Narrow";
+        else if (styleName.equal("Condensed"))
+            faceName ~= " Condensed";
+        return faceName;
+    }
+
+    /// open face with specified size
+    bool open(int size, int index = 0) {
+        int error = FT_New_Face( _library, _filename.toStringz, index, &_face); /* create face object */
+        if (error)
+            return false;
+        if ( _filename.endsWith(".pfb") || _filename.endsWith(".pfa") ) {
+        	string kernFile = _filename[0 .. $ - 4];
+            if (exists(kernFile ~ ".afm")) {
+        		kernFile ~= ".afm";
+            } else if (exists(kernFile ~ ".pfm" )) {
+        		kernFile ~= ".pfm";
+        	} else {
+        		kernFile.clear();
+        	}
+        	if (kernFile.length > 0)
+        		error = FT_Attach_File(_face, kernFile.toStringz);
+        }
+        Log.d("Font file opened successfully");
+        _slot = _face.glyph;
+        _faceName = familyName(_face);
+        error = FT_Set_Pixel_Sizes(
+                _face,    /* handle to face object */
+                0,        /* pixel_width           */
+                size );  /* pixel_height          */
+        if (error) {
+            clear();
+            return false;
+        }
+        _height = _face.size.metrics.height >> 6;
+        _size = size;
+        _baseline = _height + (_face.size.metrics.descender >> 6);
+        _weight = _face.style_flags & FT_STYLE_FLAG_BOLD ? FontWeight.Bold : FontWeight.Normal;
+        _italic = _face.style_flags & FT_STYLE_FLAG_ITALIC ? true : false;
+        Log.d("Opened font face=", _faceName, " height=", _height, " size=", size, " weight=", weight, " italic=", italic);
+        return true; // successfully opened
+    }
+
+    @property bool isNull() {
+        return (_face is null);
+    }
+
+    void clear() {
+        if (_face !is null)
+            FT_Done_Face(_face);
+        _face = null;
+    }
+
+    ~this() {
+        clear();
+    }
+}
 
 /// FreeType based font manager.
 class FreeTypeFontManager : FontManager {
 
+    private FT_Library    _library;
+    private FontFileItem[] _fontFiles;
+
+    private FontFileItem findFileItem(ref FontDef def) {
+        foreach(FontFileItem item; _fontFiles)
+            if (item.def == def)
+                return item;
+        return null;
+    }
+
 	private FontList _activeFonts;
 
-    private FontRef _nullFontRef;
+    private static FontRef _nullFontRef;
 
     this() {
         // load dynaic library
         DerelictFT.load();
+        // init library
+        int error = FT_Init_FreeType(&_library);
+        if (error) {
+            Log.e("Cannot init freetype library, error=", error);
+            throw new Exception("Cannot init freetype library");
+        }
+    }
+    ~this() {
+        // uninit library
+        if (_library)
+            FT_Done_FreeType(_library);
     }
 
     /// get font instance with specified parameters
@@ -51,8 +199,35 @@ class FreeTypeFontManager : FontManager {
     /// register freetype font by filename - optinally font properties can be passed if known (e.g. from libfontconfig).
     bool registerFont(string filename, FontFamily family = FontFamily.SansSerif, string face = null, bool italic = false, int weight = 0) {
         Log.d("FreeTypeFontManager.registerFont ", filename, " ", family, " ", face, " italic=", italic, " weight=", weight);
-        return false;
+        if (!exists(filename) || !isFile(filename))
+            return false;
+
+        FreeTypeFontFile font = new FreeTypeFontFile(_library, filename);
+        if (!font.open(24)) {
+            Log.e("Failed to open font ", filename);
+            destroy(font);
+            return false;
+        }
+        
+        if (face == null || weight == 0) {
+            // properties are not set by caller
+            // get properties from loaded font
+            face = font.face;
+            italic = font.italic;
+            weight = font.weight;
+            Log.d("Using properties from font file: face=", face, " weight=", weight, " italic=", italic);
+        }
+
+        FontDef def = FontDef(family, face, italic, weight);
+        FontFileItem item = findFileItem(def);
+        if (item is null) {
+            item = new FontFileItem(def);
+            _fontFiles ~= item;
+        }
+        item.addFile(filename);
+
+        // registered
+        return true;
     }
 
-	~this() {}
 }
diff --git a/src/dlangui/graphics/images.d b/src/dlangui/graphics/images.d
index 686bc21c..50d2918e 100644
--- a/src/dlangui/graphics/images.d
+++ b/src/dlangui/graphics/images.d
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import dlangui.core.types;
 import dlangui.graphics.drawbuf;
 import std.stream;
 import std.file;
+import std.algorithm;
 import libpng.png;
 
 /// decoded image cache