[SLE] Here a font, there a font, everywhere a font font

So on Linux just how does one go about creating a new font? and So on Linux just how does one install a font? and Is there an international standard for language fonts? and What are the tools (on the desktop) for creating and for installing fonts? Hope these are not dumb questions. I do know one very small thing. I know there are files like type "ttf" which contain a font (or set of font characters like A, B, C, etc.?) and the data in the file is according to some format of information which completely defines the font. That's not much to go on. I don't even know if each character is a font or a set of characters constitute a font. Ted