Font management software

Font management software is a computer utility that allows the user to manage their system font files.

Typical features

* Browse fonts
* Install/Uninstall fonts
* Activate/Deactivate fonts
* Organise fonts into groups, categories or types
* Search for fonts with a specific name
* Index all fonts on the system
* View and print font/typeface samples
* Font sharing and distribution
* Some even check font integrity, basic repair functions

Demand

Although most operating systems come with their own font management, users who require many typefaces (such as Graphic designers) may wish to utilise more advanced font management software.

Not only does font management software help the user file and organise their fonts in a more suitable way, but it also helps improve system performance.

Keeping thousands of fonts active at once can slow down the system performance. These programs help you manage your fonts so you are able to activate only the fonts you require at any one time, and deactivate them afterwards. This is more apparent on the Windows and Macintosh operating systems as fonts are loaded in such a way that they are always active and available to all programs that use or display text.

Linux based operating systems generally do not pre-load fonts on a system-wide basis, and instead each application loads them as it needs them, leaving no need for a font-management program. However, current Linux desktop environments (such as KDE and Gnome) manage fonts for applications using their internal framework library calls for font display, thus allowing management of fonts centrally and comfortably via the GUI.

Many Linux distributions supply a font server program (such as X_Font_Server) distributing fonts over a network.

List of font management software

* Adobe Type Manager (discontinued) [ [http://www.adobe.com/products/atm/ ATM Discontinued] ]
* Extensis Suitcase Fusion ("Suitcase" merged with Font Reserve)
* FontAgent Pro
* FontExplorer X (mac/win [ [http://www.linotype.com/3321/freedownloadpc.html unavailable beta] ] ) (freeware)
* Alsoft
* MasterJuggler
* High-Logic
* MainType
* Typograf
* Opcion [http://opcion.sourceforge.net/] (open source)

References

External links

* [http://www.myfonts.com/utilityzone/ MyFonts.com Utilities Zone]
* [http://tutorialblog.org/font-management-software/ tutorialblog.com - Font Management Software review]
* [http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/05/25-font-management-tools-reviewed/ smashingmagazine.com - 25+ Font Management Tools Reviewed]