Font
Manager Shoot Out: Interface.
Intro
| Installation | Interface
| Auto-Activation | Conclusions
| Resources
When
we look at their interface, today's font management tools are
more alike than they are different. Before we dig into some of
those differences, let's look first at the three basic areas each
font manager has in common: Font Lists, Sets, and Font Previews.
I've
created a simplified version of each products interface above.
Click on any screen for a full sized preview of that product's
interface. Click the QuickTime tour below each for a short demonstration
of that font manager in action.
Apple
Font Book:
I
like Font Books' simple minimalist interface. If Font
Book provided better performance on larger font collections,
Apple's built-in font manager would be a comfortable basic tool
to use.
I
don't like that Font Book does not have a way to quickly
turn off all active fonts -- forcing me to either select all
active fonts and turn them off manually, or activate everything
and then deactivate them again.
I
like that I can quit out of Font Book and my fonts
remain active.
I
don't like that Font Book must reload its list of fonts
every time I launch it. Few things are worse than having to
wait for a large font library to load when you want to activate
a font.
I
don't like that Font Book's preview area only works
with one font at a time. Select more than one font and the preview
area goes blank.
Extensis
Suitcase Fusion:
I
like Suitcase's familiar well organized interface.
I find it easy to browse through font lists or create sets.
I
don't like that Suitcase needs to be running at all
times.
I
like Suitcase's long preview area, which can be especially
handy when exploring font choices for a new logo.
I
don't like that many designers fail to take advantage
of the pop-up menu at the top of the font list. While I find
this feature useful, the fact that so many people miss it must
be marked up as an interface problem.
Insider
FontAgent Pro:
I
really like that FontAgent Pro works in the background
even if the main program is not running. Including auto-activation
features. The best interface feature is that FontAgent can remain
hidden until you want to use it.
I
don't like that FontAgent's use of an invisible daemon
utility to provide this background feature can complicate things
if I need to troubleshoot system problems.
I
like that FontAgent has a flexible interface, allowing
me to customize what fonts or sets are displayed in either of
the two large list areas.
I
don't like that the interface has a large number of
pop-up menus and checkboxes that can be a bit confusing (a downside
to the flexibility mentioned above).
I
like FontAgent's small checkbox that allows me to group
fonts by family or view them as separate faces.
I
don't like that the FontAgent preview window is a bit
small.
Linotype
FontExplorer X:
I
like FontExplorer's clean iTunes-like interface.
I
don't like the sets list on the left side (similar
to iTunes). I find mixing the sets in with a Linotype Store
link and the full library lacks a sense of hierarchy.
I
like the use of simple checkboxes to indicate whether
a font or set is active.
I
don't like FontExplorer's small preview window.
I
like the option to easily "Group font families"
in the font list (similar to FontAgent).
I
like that I can quit out of FontExplorer while leaving
my fonts activated - similar to Font Book. (Unlike FontAgent,
auto-activation features stop working when FontExplorer quits.)
I
really like that FontExplorer is free (which is sort
of an interface feature).
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