Job:03171 Title:Typography Referenced (Rockport)
Page: 341
336-343 03171.indd 341 9/22/11 10:31 AM
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Type Management
FontAgent Pro
www.insidersoftware.com/FA_pro_osx.php
This app, which calls itself
the world’s smartest font
manager,” does in fact have
some pretty smart features, the
smartest of which is the ability
to sift through type by slant,
proportion, and weight attributes
all automatically detected by the
software. Looking for an extra-
compressed font to fi t that narrow
column? Sort by proportion to
fi nd the most condensed faces.
Equally useful for font fi lter-
ing is the font classifi er, which
lets users browse and assign cat-
egories and styles such as Text
Serif: Old Style preprogrammed
into FontAgent. For additional
organization options, Font Agent
provides the standard set and
smart set capabilities found in
other management packages, but
also allows for nested sets within
sets. This is useful for grouping
specifi c fonts, say s () disco
fonts, within broader ones, for
example, period fonts, or for cre-
ating a poster project set within
a larger branding project set.
Another unique perk is the
Font Player. This component can
“play” through a select set of fonts,
allowing the user to mark those
suitable for the project at hand.
A fi nal distinctive feature is Font-
Agent Pro’s ability to quickly
print out a sheet comparing a
selection of several fonts—a great
plus because comparing fonts
on a screen can sometimes be
deceiving. And, as in other pack-
ages, FontAgent Pro allows users
to share fonts over a local network
and search for fonts to purchase.
Simpler Sorting
Alphabetically listing fonts helps
designers who know the fonts by name,
but sorting through a never-ending list
can prove daunting. Just one of these
fonts is serif. The rest are sans serif. Do
you know which is the serif?
Baghdad
Bank Gothic
Barnhard Condensed
Baskerville
Baskerville Old Face
Batang
Bauhaus
Bell Centennial
Bell Gothic Std
Bell MT
Bembo
Big Caslon
Birth Std
Blackmoor
Blackoak Std
Blair
Bodoni
Book Antiqua
Bookman Old Style
Bookshelf
Bordeaux Roman
Bradley Hand
Sort fonts by slant, proportion, and weight
attributes with FontAgent Pro
To fi nd the handwritten font from the
preceding list, users would need to sort
through every font that comes before
’s Bradley Hand. Only then would
they see the handwritten font for which
they were looking—and this all pre-
supposes that they were using software
that previews what the font looks like.
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Job:03171 Title:Typography Referenced (Rockport)
Page: 341
336-343 03171.indd 341 9/22/11 10:31 AM