A Better Font Book

[zeedee-h]

I have had this idea kicking around for a while now, and have finally done a bit of work on it. I use font book quite a bit, I like its simplicity, but a few features could really improve it. The main thing that would make finding fonts quicker and easier is a tagging system, shown in this little mockup.

Whenever you add a new font - 3, you can assign tags to it that you have defined. These tags - 1, can then be used to search for a font based on its characteristics. You can change tags assigned to existing fonts - 4, and when browsing through a collection the weight variations appear in a separate popup - 2, to save time instead of drilling down for each font.

How complicated would it be to make some sort of patch with this functionality? or are there any existing offline mac programs that can do this? I havent found anything quite like it. Any feedback/input would be great!

 

[12dylan34]

I've always been interested in exactly the program that you've got mocked up above. Do the fonts already contain metadata? e.g. "I'm a serif font," or do you think the user would have to go through and tag them all?

Edit: Ignore my question. I didn't read your whole post....

 

[zeedee-h]

It would be great if fonts could somehow include metadata, but its probably unlikely until some next generation format. Also I think its great being able to assign your own, as how you define characteristics can be quite personal.

 

[benwiggy]

If you have any kind of font collection, Linotype FontExplorerX is essential. It allows you to add a customisable list of attributes to any font, as well as comments.
It has excellent auto-activation, plug-ins for Creative Suite, is rock-stable, and has superb management through font sets, including Smart Sets.

 

[citizenzen]

Personally, I love the idea.

I haven't used a font manager since ATM bit the dust around a decade ago.

But that might bring me around.

 

[MalooNZ]

Can't beat Linotypes Font Explorer