News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

December 28, 2006

software

The font of all knowledge

Posted Dec. 28, ’06, 8:11 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software

Font BookUnless terms like “serif” and “kerning” tend to get your salivary glands working overtime, you probably have little need for a font manager beyond OS X’s included Font Book (right). But for those who do get all hot and bothered by fontography and need a way to separate their Garamond Pro from their Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT, there are a number of options. Ars Technica’s Dave Girard has delved—in frightening depth—into the world of font managers.

The contestants? Insider FontAgent Pro 3.3.0, Linotype FontExplorer 1.1, and Extensis Suitcase Fusion 12.1.3. Three enter, but only one will leave. Alright, all of them will probably leave. Though FontAgent Pro comes out with an 8, narrowly beating Suitcase and FontExplorer, which both ended up with 7’s, all three offerings have different strengths and weaknesses to present your average fontophile. If you’re in the market for a font manager, you’ll want to check out the full review, or at least the comparison chart at the bottom of the final page.

For me, though, fonts have been useless since Apple stopped including San Francisco in the MacOS. How am I supposed to make ransom notes now?


1 Comments

Jack said:

Everyone says fix the Finder. I say Fix the f'ing Fontbook. That is, throw it out. Thanks for this post. I use suitcase, but I'll check the others out.

Leave a comment

 




Visit other IDG sites: