Font Managers: Getting Started
Okay look I’m not trying to enable you, but I mean, most of us here are font fanatics, font hoarders or whatever addictive terminology you want to call us. We love a good font or twenty or hundred. And I will admit, I’m right there with you all. Fonts are my jam. I can see one and if it just looks at me all pretty-like & it’s free?! Then it’s over I am downloading on the spot for my stash. I currently only have 109 fonts because I’ve reeled it back a bit however, I can always get more and I will get more.
“Your choice of typeface is as important as what you do with it.” – Bonnie Siegler
I have to agree – there are soooo many emotions & sentiments you can convey with just a pairing of fonts (or typefaces). So it’s only natural that we as creatives in this hobby take to fonts like fish take to water. But that sometimes can spell disaster for our PCs & laptops that we work on because installing all of those fonts can bog down our systems, the software we use to create and there’s always the possibility that pretty font will have a virus attached that passes the initial virus download check. I for one don’t have time for any of these things which is why I use a font manager.
What is a font manager exactly? Well it’s basically a software program that can
- organize
- sort
- activate/deactivate
- manage
- preview
do any and/or all of the above plus more to the fonts you own or will own. My favorite attribute is that I don’t have to install fonts any longer and therefore I can potentially have hundreds on hundreds of them at my fingertips at any time.
So I’ve searched the web for a few good font managers including the one I’ve used for years.
Reviews say this one is easy and straightforward and while I’ve never used it, people seem to like it. You can find a YouTube video here that might help anyone looking to try this one out.
Reviews say this one the best and most well designed manager. This is actually one I’ve been thinking about switching to but I just haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Maybe I’ll try it out and come back with a comparison post. You can find a YouTube video here that might help anyone looking to try this one out.
Reviews say this is a powerful and useful manager. I’ve never heard of this one so have no clue about the claims. You can find a YouTube video here that might help anyone looking to try this one out.
Reviews say this manager is considered one of the most reliable managers and that if you are using this one you can load fonts without installing them. This is my gem. I love the fact that as long as this program is open then all of my fonts are accessible within all of my other applications on my PC at the time. Close it down and nothing’s been installed and the fonts are inaccessible. I also found a few YouTube videos here and here that might help anyone looking to try this one out.
Ultimately your usage of these is going to depend on your needs and what you want to do with a font manager. What I can tell you from my experience using one is that they are easy, simple to learn, and give you multiple capabilities for font management. Let me know if this helped you and if you try one of these let me know how it works out. See ya next time.
