Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
Font managers reviews and opinions
mouser:
Coincidence?
--- End quote ---
yes, i just grabbed the easiest screen image to grab, i was not endorsing any particular program.
tomos:
Re a query about MainType from another thread:
From time to time I have purchased some cheap font managers, only to find they later (or already) were abandoned. I guess one of my prime reasons for buying "cheap" have been the price of the recommended ones. $49 and $59 may be okay prices for MainType 3 and FontExpert 2010, if they were to keep for life. But they are not lifetime licenses, and the upgrade prices are $29 and $39 - making especially FontExpert much too expensive, I think. Changes are not that big, it seems, but major versions come quick (*ALMOST* as often as Ashampoo!)!
Did you stick with your gratis version 2, tomos, or have you paid the $29 fee?
-Curt (May 30, 2010, 05:08 PM)
--- End quote ---
I only found out about the upgrade (of MainType) to version 3 last week so I'm considering upgrading -
OT(One)H it doesnt seem to get upgraded often (4 years since v.2 came out)
OT(Other)H there doesnt seem to be much happening in between - it's gone from 2.1.1 (2007) to 3:
2.1.1 [May 16, 2007]
* Install and uninstall fonts through double-click
3.0 [March 31, 2010]
* Better handling of font substitutes
* New context menu item: Open Containing Folder
* New filter option, Font Type: Unknown
* Added Foundry and a Full Font Name (Postscript) columns to the Fonts pane
* Show all Glyphs option
* Fixed issues with PostScript Type 1 fonts on Windows x64
* New setting for font display quality (aliased/ cleartype, etc)
* Automatic online version checking
--- End quote ---
I'm a very basic user. I use it just if I need to have a good look at fonts, & to install/uninstall or to load fonts ('install' till next reboot)
It doesnt affect me personally but I do find it a bit unfriendly that a bug fix is part of the upgrade (issues with PostScript Type 1 fonts on Windows x64) but I guess that's excusable considering the age of 2.1
It did (2008) get a very good review at Smashing Magazine (link in first post above)
MainType is an universal font management tool for both novice users and advanced graphic designers and typographers. In order to find the right fonts for your needs, the software includes filter and sort functionality. The main information about the font, such as its properties, supported characters, font type etc. are displayed in a font information pane. A groups pane helps you quickly organize all your fonts.
--- End quote ---
my emphasis
If you're seriously considering it, have a look at this MainType forum thread - they're considering a rewrite because it cant cache the details of your fonts - this means it currently has to read all your fonts on startup and people are saying it's slow (doesnt seem to be included in the list of improvements above). For me this is not a problem - I have only 200 fonts installed.
J-Mac:
Ohh and for serious font stuff, not that i do a lot of it, but i have Main Type from high logic, see the specials page for the discount! ;)
-Grorgy (September 07, 2008, 09:38 PM)
--- End quote ---
I have Scanahand "Pro" but not the most recent version. They have since added Themida to their products. I don’t like installing anything with Themida. It basically puts a wrapper around their code, I guess as protection against reverse engineering. Problem is that Anti-Virus developers can't scan inside the wrapper. Naturally some of the virus authors have found they can plant their products inside Themida's wrapper and not be detected by AV software. Very controversial a few years ago. I don’t know if all that has ever been resolved but since new info is not easily found when searching I just make sure I don’t install anything that uses Themida.
Jim
tomos:
It did (2008) get a very good review at Smashing Magazine (link in first post above)
MainType is an universal font management tool for both novice users and advanced graphic designers and typographers. In order to find the right fonts for your needs, the software includes filter and sort functionality. The main information about the font, such as its properties, supported characters, font type etc. are displayed in a font information pane. A groups pane helps you quickly organize all your fonts.
--- End quote ---
my emphasis
If you're seriously considering it, have a look at this MainType forum thread - they're considering a rewrite because it cant cache the details of your fonts - this means it currently has to read all your fonts on startup and people are saying it's slow (doesnt seem to be included in the list of improvements above). For me this is not a problem - I have only 200 fonts installed.
-tomos (May 31, 2010, 07:14 AM)
--- End quote ---
MainType 4 is out - I never upgraded to 3 so am going for #4
They're not overly informative about the details
New user interface
Improved performance
New user views
Quick search
Optimized support for large font collections
Easy backup and restore of your font library
New layout features improves usability
Detailed side-by-side font information
--- End quote ---
I gotta admit - I tried the free Nexusfont recommended by Gizmo - looks nice, but the portable version was unable to uninstall a font [Win7 64bit] so that prompted me to upgrade.
Curt:
MainType 4 is on offer right now - $59 seems okay
----------
I was lucky to get Advanced Font Viewer 4.42 for free from Givewayoftheday. ... However, the new version 5 is $97, which is absurd. There surely must be something both better & cheaper! http://www.styopkin.com/details_advanced_fonts_viewer.html -Curt (September 08, 2008, 07:08 PM)
--- End quote ---
their website sure doesnt make it look like $97 worth (visually or with info) I think for that price you get a "professional" font manager like Suitcase/Suitcase Fusion -tomos (September 09, 2008, 04:07 AM)
--- End quote ---
The price is now $39 with a lifetime license! But of course one might doubt the value of a lifetime license for a program that has not been updated for 3 years...
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version