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Confused about the relationship between a font and a typeface? Then you had best read this (1) first.
Well, what do I want from a font manager? Several things:
I look for a utility which can present to me samples of fonts, probably using my own text phrase.
I want to be able to check out True type (TTF), Type 1 (PFB/PFM) and Open Type Fonts (OTF), all
whether installed or not.
I may want to use the utility to install or uninstall fonts, and I'd prefer it didn't lock up just because I've
pointed it at a folder containing several thousand typefaces.
Over the years some excellent font utilities have emerged and then stagnated, perhaps in part because
more recent versions of word processors incorporate font viewers to help in choosing between your
installed typefaces. Additionally, font viewing functions have now been incorporated into the Windows
and OS X operating systems.
The good news is that the field has not been entirely abandoned. Have a look at the following utilities - I've used them all:
AMP Font Viewer 380 handles/browses all uninstalled and installed fonts (2).
FontPicker is a handy comparative tool to compare installed fonts (3).
Extended Character Map is a boon for dingbat (4) fonts. It can be found at the following obsolete
software sites (5), (6).
If you are mainly interested in reviewing your installed fonts the free Fast Font Preview (13) provides a
quick multi-line view but doesn't review all types of uninstalled fonts.
Not all fonts contain Unicode characters (10) but if that's your thing BabelMap may be just what you want
(11). Start with Basic Latin! See also this neat Unicode Viewer (12).
Among commercial products Typograf is the very best I have found; it's well worth registering (7).
Typograf reviews installed and uninstalled typefaces of all kinds. It has an excellent keyboard
representation for making dingbat font use easy. It installs, uninstalls and does all but wash the dishes. The makers, Neuber, also offer an impressive little type twisting program - excellent for creating banners,
headers and so on (8). There is a certain thoroughness about their products that makes them a delight to
explore and use.
Bitstream Font Navigator, though discontinued, is still in CorelDraw as version 6. This site (9) shows how
you can get it. I tested this and it does work, but it's a pain to download the huge CorelDraw Suite just to
get the font manager.
Several other commercial products are worth a mention as they also understand TrueType, OpenType
and Type 1 typefaces, whether installed or uninstalled.
Font Map (14) has a range of character views but recent updates are only available to registered users.
MainType (15) is an excellent multi-line font viewer and management utility which handles all forms of
typefaces, whether installed or uninstalled. This font viewer was recently created (December 2005) and
has gone through various contemporary updates. It has plenty of printing options but no keyboard
character map.
So what do I recommend? Among the free managers AMP Font Viewer is the best overall for average
users, while for commercial managers Typograf is an easy first choice.
This item was written by Peter McDonell, AKA "Font Pharos". Peter has had a consuming
interest in fonts and typography for more than ten years and is a regular commentator on the subject. Registered site visitors can contact Peter by clicking here.
(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface
(1a)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Font_%28disambiguation%29
(2)http://www.ampsoft.net/utilities/FontViewer.php
(3)http://www.charten.com/Products/FontPicker.htm
(4)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingbat
(5)http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/extendedcharactermap141.html
(6)http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/2007/PL2007TEXT.php#0261-PW
(7)http://www.neuber.com/typograph/index.html
(8)http://www.neuber.com/twister/index.html
(9)http://www.noscope.com/journal/2004/09/font-management-solution
(10)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode
(11)http://www.babelstone.co.uk/Software/BabelMap.html
(12)http://www.soft-gems.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid
(13)http://www.lanmisoft.com/fastfontpreview.htm
(14)http://www.ccountry.net/~dix/fontmap.htm
(15)http://www.high-logic.com/maintype.html
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I really find NexusFont 2 a great manager for my fonts.It's free,simple to use and looks good.I give it a two thumbs up and highly recommend it.
I find AMP font viewer ok but it doesn't split font groups for viewing - ie, serifs, scripts etc.
The best freeware font viewer I've used (and still use) is Sue Fisher's The Font Thing. The last update was back in 1999 but IMO it's still a lot more versatile than others mentioned here. Like other font viewers it installs, uninstalls and renames but also splits the font groups which is what I require when I'm hunting for a font in a particular group.
Here's the list
* Browse installed and uninstalled fonts
* Browse fonts in subfolders as a single combined list
* View sample text and individual characters in your choice of colours
* Change sample text "on the fly" or easily switch between you own
standard text samples
* View detailed font information
* Print font samples
* Associate notes with fonts
* Install or uninstall any number of fonts at once
* Load (and unload) any number of fonts for temporary use
* Copy or delete any number of font files at once
* Rename font files to avoid file name conflicts
* Filter fonts according to their type
* Group fonts into collections for easier management
* Use multiple font windows simultaneously for easy font comparison and
management.
Here's the link - even though it's 1999 it works just fine on XP
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~scef/tft.html
Oh, The Font Thing may have been mentioned in a posting here - I haven't read through all postings so sorry if I've double posted :-)
Cheers,
Peter
Another great font viewer/manager is NexusFont. I would recommend it.
http://xiles.net/programs/
Thank you!!! NexusFont is great. It shows several fonts at a time so you can compare and the best part is it lets you choose the size for viewing. It lets you customize groups and lets you have a list of favorites on the pane to the left. I can't say enough about this program... EXCELLENT
Hmm, the best way to manage fonts without spending a dime is with AMP Font Viewer. The best feature I like is the install temporary fonts. I can load and unload a font on a need to use basis without loading up 2000 fonts slowing down my PhotoShop. Well I can show you better than tell you if you watch this video: pclicious.com/how-to-manage-fonts-free-and-easily
Font Frenzy is the best Font manager IMHO. Why? Because it allows you to safely get rid of all the unnecessary fonts that get installed.
Font Frenzy http://www.sdsoftware.org/default.asp?id=5936
AMP http://www.ampsoft.net/utilities/FontViewer.php
The Ampsoft viewer was already linked-to by the author of the original article... as item 2, above.
The article on this page is nice, as are its links. I particularly applaud the author's absolutely essential attempt to differentiate in the reader's mind between "font" and "typeface." Bravo!
Another one worthy of consideration is CFontPro, which qualifies as a font "manager" (as opposed to a "viewer" or "previewer") as I'm about to define it in what I write here...
If I may be permitted, I'd like to suggest a small bit of general wisdom to anyone looking for a good font utility in this classification...
It's wise, in my opinion, to think of "font viewing" (or perhaps font "previewing" would be more appropriate) and "font management" as two different things... two completely separate font utility functions. Though it's possible to get one single utility that does both well (and when one can, that's really hitting paydirt), what's far more likely is that you'll end-up with one utility that's a great font manager, and another that maybe doesn't manage fonts so well (or maybe not even at all)... but is, nevertheless, a terrific font previewer.
Though it's not what I'm really talking about here, there is, I suppose, yet a third function or type of font utility; and that might be one wherein the utility does something interestingly useful with fonts... like, for example, a utility that allows one to compare two or three different fonts in actual use, side-by-side... such as Charten Software's Font Picker (listed as item 3 at the end of the main article on this page), just to name one (and there are many font utilities that would fit, generally into this third category... I'm just mentioning one here for illustration purposes).
But let's just concentrate, here, on the first two categories:
A good font manager does what any good product of that type should do, and that's manage fonts... install and de-install, keep the most-used ones installed and all others de-installed (but ready in an instant if needed), archive, backup, group, rename, display technical details, hunt for fonts online... blah, blah, blah. There are several good free products which do that sort of thing... some of them linked-to from this very page... and that's fine...
...but, unfortunately, many of them do not really make good font viewers or previewers, and here's the primary reason why:
No matter how good a utility like that may be at managing fonts, such a utility is a lousy font previewer because any good page layout or typesetting professional will attest that he/she needs to see and review his/her list of available fonts quickly, and at a glance, all of them at once, scrollable left/right or up/down, without having to click on a fontname in a left pane in order to see its appearance in a right one.
In keeping with this notion, most decent desktop publishing software (heck, even what most page layout professionals consider to be the relatively low-end Microsoft Publisher does it) will often offer, as a configuration option, the ability to see the pulldown font list with each fontname displayed in the font itself so that the appropriate font may be more easily chosen from its appearance as well as its name. (Of course, any page layout or typesetting professional will attest that even with desktop publishing software which does this, he/she will still have a good font lister/previewer of the type that I'm describing here open in another window on the desktop for better reference.)
The first freeware utility I ever found (back in 1998) which did this particularly well was one called, simply, "FontViewer," by a clever fellow named Jake Richter at PC Magazine who obviously completely understood what I'm talking about, here. I still have that silly little thing... and use it, and love it (though I neither use nor love it exclusively). If you read Mr. Richter's article about it (from which, remarkably, here, 11 years later, it can also still be downloaded), you'll begin to grasp the importance of the previewing approach that I'm promoting, here, versus the one taken by most other font utilities (wherein one must click on a font name in the left pane in order to see, in the right pane, how it will look... just one font at a time).
Two other, far more current freeware font viewing products also achieve the goal of previewing well, even if not necessarily also managing well... or even at all. One may be found by using item 13 among the links at the end of this page's main article, and that's Lanmisoft's freeware Fast Font Preview (which has only rudimentary, barely serviceable font "management" capabilities); and the other is Bitstorm's freeware FontList product (which lists/previews fonts, and that's pretty much it).
Again, think of managing and previewing as separate functions... both necessary, but often not found in the same products... especially among the freeware products. That said, there are good font managers out there (sadly, few of them free) which also have a good preview capability built-in... and if you can find one, then more power to you! However, if the font manager you love happens to be of the type which displays font names in the left pane, and then previews only the clicked-upon/highlighted font in the right pane, then you'll almost certainly also need a good font previewer like one of the ones to which I've linked you herein (and there are others out there). Beyond that, additional font utilities which do special things (like, for example, the earlier-linked-to one that allows one to compare two or three paragraphs, side-by-side, each in a different font, just to name one) would need to be added to your font toolbox as needed/desired.
As one will notice if one searches on some of my postings on this site, a recurring theme with me is the ridiculousness of the notion that one piece of software within any given category will do everything which one may need. While that's sometimes possible, what's usually more likely is that one must choose two or three utilities from the same category, each of which does something better than the others, and then one selects which one to use based on the task. By so doing, one creates a sort of pseudo-suite of products which won't, of course, be integrated, but which will, each when used as appropriate, by golly get the job done. My personal pseudo-suite consists of the four font products to which I've linked herein, above; plus the extended character map product linked-to in item linked-to in items 5 and 6 on the list of links following the main article here (although I don't really think of that one as a "font" product, so much... but that's just me). I'm now also taking a look at a couple other products that I've either just learned about, or have been reminded of, either from this article or something linked-to therefrom.
One final caveat: Don't allow the fact that any given product calls itself a font "viewer" to confuse you, or cause you to settle on something which won't really do what I'm suggesting herein is an imperative. Some products call themselves font viewers but, in fact, they work just like the font managers (which don't also happen to be good font previewers) that I've mentioned herein tend to work.
Some other font-related freebies worthy of at least a look:
Hope that helps!
Bravo. This is what the article should have been, a primer in the difference between font viewing and font management. I do not need a tool that does font previewing, as any worthwhile font manager will incorporate the same functionality. Any excellent font management tool should offer features similar to Apple Font Book or Enfocus Suitcase, both Mac-only tools, and there are very few that do for Windows, and fewer still that are freeware. The only ones I ever found that came close were The Font Thing (not updated since the early years of this decade I believe, and a horribly unstable resource hog on non-NT kernel versions of Windows) and AMP Font Viewer. I will now have to try the ones you've linked.
I just looked at the web page for your top-rated Typograf - it says "Vista coming 2009" :(.
Heres one I have not seen before, thought you might like to look at it
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Cfont_Pro/1100493764/1
Tony
Can anybody tell me which of the mentioned programs (or perhaps a "freebie" that was not mentioned) will allow me to COMPARE one or more fonts, whether installed or uninstalled? That is a feature I really need! Thanks.
I second Nexus Font. It's got a clean and nice-looking interface with install/uninstall font options. Haven't tried the program out extensively, but I downloaded on the recommendation of the reviews in the forum.
Used the link from post below: http://xiles.net/programs/ to get it.
Try FontXplorer at http://www.moonsoftware.com/fxplorer.asp. It is my favorite all time font manager and viewer. You can type in some text, see it displayed with all the fonts installed or in a specific folder, select the ones you like and then view just those selections as you narrow down your choice. It's been installed on my computer for years now with it's own desktop link I use it so much!
NexusFont bro, NexusFont.
Didn't mention this on my previous post (nov 30 08), but it will let select fonts as you are viewing them, and then see only/compare the selected fonts, using the default text or your own.
I recommend NexusFont
http://www.xiles.net/
A great application!
AMP is a realy good font browser... I use it for years...
You should try NexusFont. Great interface, filter-as-you-type fonts, fast, reliable, no-install executable option, has many tools such as save the font as images, select some fonts to show and compare, full character map, etc. A true gem. I used to use BitStream Font Navigator, but simply put: NexusFont just works the way a font viewer/manager should work.
xfonter the old version is free
What about Extensis Suitcase, is a commercial manager but handles all font types and has a handy little feature I especially like - auto font activation works with adobe apps and deactivates the fonts when you close your file.
No more missing font warnings.
Unless you exist in another plane of reality, $100 is NOT FREE. This site reviews FREEWARE, not commercial software that costs $100.
Use AMP a lot. Great for browsing fonts on a cd/dvd before installing.
I have been using AMP Font Viewer for quite some time (over a year) and it's awesome! It has it quirks (it freezes occasionally), but it helps me to prevent my computer being filled up by fonts I don't need. As a flash developer I need a lot of fonts designers give me to use in their design. I make sure I temporarily install the font using the Font Viewer during the project. When the program has closed, the font is uninstalled automatically! Love this feature!
AMP font viewer browsed installed and not installed fonts nicely, but the first time i asked it to install a font, it totally crashed on me and had to be task manager ended.
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