the most awesome font manager!

[Freckles]

I just found THE most awesome font manager I've ever seen!
It's called TypeDNA and I can't believe how versatile it is! It works as a standalone program or as a Photoshop CS5 extension, which I love. The beauty of it is that it lets you search your stash for the right font: by analyzing the shapes and other details of your fonts it can suggest fonts that are appropriate for what you want. It can also show you fonts that are similar or complementary, or that contrast with a chosen font, even among fonts that aren't currently active on your system. Any time TypeDNA is displaying a list of fonts, you can limit the results to a range of weights, widths, italics, and heights. It also gives you suggestions on which font you can use for a body text (journaling) with any given font as a header (title).

As in any other font manager you can also create groups of fonts and (de)activate certain fonts from within the program or extension.

I just downloaded the 3 months trial version yesterday and I made it scan for all fonts on my computer. I have thousands of them, but it still works smoothly! I love that it helps me choose a font so much faster and that it shows me fonts I didn't even know I had anymore, lol.

The downside: 1) it is not free. It costs $49. I'm going to try it out for a while but if I still love it as much as I do now, I think I'm going to buy it.
2) the extension doesn't work in earlier versions of PS. Only CS5. But you can still use it as a standalone program.


Here's their homepage: http://www.typedna.com/ and they have a try-out demo on their website too: http://www.typedna.com/try-font-manager-online/

I just got an email from them saying that if I invite a friend, both the friend and I can try it out for 6 months for free. I'd love that, ofcourse If anyone is interested, please give me your emailadress so I can send the invite!

[Leontine78]

I am not a CS5 user so I can't help you get the 6 month free trial.
But I have used the Font Thing in the past which I loved too. Now I use PSE9 and it's shows me what kind of font it is, only very very small! I haven't missed such a program lately...but you do make me curious.

[adrianka]

Thanks for the tip. Been thinking over something like that for some time, so I guess a trial can't hurt. I'm on CS4, but I'm deffo interested in CS6, and even if I wasn't, if it can work out as a standalone programme, it's fine with me.

BTW I only realised last week that you can resize of the font previews in PS, I've been squinting for years for no reason whatsoever. Now the previews are bigger my workflow is so much easier. :-)

Oh and yes, I'd deffo love to share a 6-month trial. You know my email. :-)

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Leontine78

But I have used the Font Thing in the past which I loved too. Now I use PSE9 and it's shows me what kind of font it is, only very very small!

You can adjust the size of font previews in PS (only found out last week, silly me), so maybe it's also possible in PSE?

[JulieB146]

Yup, you can resize the fonts in the font viewer. All you have to do is go into Preferences, click on that, and it's one of the options in PSE8, at least.

[breakingbrie]

Originally Posted by adrianka

BTW I only realised last week that you can resize of the font previews in PS, I've been squinting for years for no reason whatsoever. Now the previews are bigger my workflow is so much easier. :-)

Oh, this is so good to know!!! I've been squinting too, and I usually pass over a lot of fonts I'm sure I would use - I took the time to dl them, but never used because I can't see them!! I'm so going to have to do this, because picking fonts does slow me down a LOT because I have so many. Thanks!

[Penny Springmann]

Thanks for sharing!!!

[Freckles]

Adrianka: I used your email address. Hope you got it!

About viewing the fonts in the font previews of Photoshop, I didn't know that either But you know, I don't want all my fonts permanently installed because it makes my PS so slow, especially to start up. In AMP fontviewer I could temporarly install fonts and I'm glad to see TypeDNA has this option as well.

I'm so excited about this font manager, I just spent some time surfing for inspirational layouts ( but not only scrapbooking) that are creative with fonts. I already had the idea of doing my dd's baby book in a more graphic style because the photos are so tiny (only 72 dpi) and I'm excited about using and managing my fonts better!

[Arual]

I downloaded this (thanks for sharing!) but am having trouble getting it to open and work... Will be working on this today I guess. Normally things install and work so smoothly for me, but this one is being a pill!

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by breakingbrie

Oh, this is so good to know!!! I've been squinting too, and I usually pass over a lot of fonts I'm sure I would use - I took the time to dl them, but never used because I can't see them!! I'm so going to have to do this, because picking fonts does slow me down a LOT because I have so many. Thanks!

You're welcome! Things like this remind me how little I still know the programme even after all those years.

You can resize font previews in Edit > Preferences > Type > Font Preview Size. I set it to huge. It's taken some time for PS to chew through the fonts but it was SO worth it. :-)

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Freckles

Adrianka: I used your email address. Hope you got it!

Yes, thank you so much! So far I'm loving it. I wanted something like this for ages. :-)

[Freckles]

Originally Posted by Arual

I downloaded this (thanks for sharing!) but am having trouble getting it to open and work... Will be working on this today I guess. Normally things install and work so smoothly for me, but this one is being a pill!

I don't know which OS you're using, but if you're using Windows Vista or 7, make sure to run it as administrator. I forgot that too when I tried to install it.

[Arual]

Got it to work now! I'm on a mac... and I don't know why, but my Adobe Air wasn't updated and so it wouldn't open and work without that (it told me so too... so it was an easy troubleshoot)... now to figure out why my software didn't automatically update... strange. Oh well, at least this is working now! Yay!

Thank you so much!!

[k23m]

thanks for the info...I will be checking it out!

[Arual]

Kim, did you have to request the friend invite thing from them? I'm hoping I get one from them as well so that I can invite my friend who wants to give it a try!

[Freckles]

Laura, it should be in your inbox today in an email from them.

I haven't heard anything about my trial period being extended from 3 months to 6 months yet...
@Adrianka: did you get the 6 months from the start?

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Freckles

I haven't heard anything about my trial period being extended from 3 months to 6 months yet...
@Adrianka: did you get the 6 months from the start?

I think so, but now you asked I'm not 100% sure. Will check it from home. But I have this mental image of the number 6 in the texts somewhere, it's just my memory isn't too reliable.

I also got a possibility to share with a new person, which confused me, I thought that as I am the one you shared with I wouldn't be able to invite anyone else.

[Milmomma]

I dl the trial. thanks

[Arual]

I got the email this morning, Kim.

I wonder if just the person we invite gets the 6 months? Maybe I misread it (it was 4am, afterall.. lol) but it appeared to me that the person we invite gets 6 months, but not us... am I misreading it?

[coopert]

I would love to try this out. If anybody wants to send me an invite, my email address is info@theresacooper.com. I struggle with what fonts to use, so I'm sure this would be great.

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by coopert

I would love to try this out. If anybody wants to send me an invite, my email address is info@theresacooper.com. I struggle with what fonts to use, so I'm sure this would be great.

You should have an invite in your inbox now. :-)

[coopert]

Thank you Adrianka! I got it.

[Freckles]

Originally Posted by Arual

I got the email this morning, Kim.

I wonder if just the person we invite gets the 6 months? Maybe I misread it (it was 4am, afterall.. lol) but it appeared to me that the person we invite gets 6 months, but not us... am I misreading it?

lol, now that would be silly then!
I just checked again and this is what it says:
we would like to give you a 6 months trial license that you can share with a friend.

I would think that means both me and the friend get that license, but I could be wrong!

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Freckles

lol, now that would be silly then!
I just checked again and this is what it says:
we would like to give you a 6 months trial license that you can share with a friend.

I would think that means both me and the friend get that license, but I could be wrong!

I agree with you - sounds like both should get the license. Anyway, if you need an invite to get 6 months, I can send you one, too. No idea if that can work, but we can try. :-D

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by coopert

Thank you Adrianka! I got it.

Enjoy! :-)

[Sherri Tierney]

Would someone send me an invite? tierney@sbcglobal.net

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Sherri Tierney

Would someone send me an invite? tierney@sbcglobal.net

Done. :-)

I wonder how many we can send?

[Valgal]

Originally Posted by adrianka

BTW I only realised last week that you can resize of the font previews in PS, I've been squinting for years for no reason whatsoever. Now the previews are bigger my workflow is so much easier. :-)

OMG, I always wished I could see those previews better, so I just Googled it and changed mine too. Woohoo! How did I never know that was possible? Years of using PS and squinting at those previews. Doh!

[Arual]

Im thinking I need a lesson on how to use this... LOL!

Or maybe I totally misunderstood it's purpose. Hmmm.

Are we suppose to be able to choose our font directly in the manager and then type our text in our program (photoshop CS5)? Or is this suppose to be just a viewer... where we decide which fond we want, but then have to actually select it in photoshop to use it there?

Not sure if I made my confusion clear... probably clear as mud, I'm sure. :-)

[Freckles]

If you have your text layer selected, you can double click on a font in the organizer and then it will change in your document. If you don't have a font selected and you double click one, it will make a sample text layer in your document.
Here are some general tips (scroll down): http://www.typedna.com/support/index/platform/PC/
(if you have a mac, click this link: http://www.typedna.com/support/index/platform/MAC/)

[Arual]

Thanks Kim!

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Valgal

OMG, I always wished I could see those previews better, so I just Googled it and changed mine too. Woohoo! How did I never know that was possible? Years of using PS and squinting at those previews. Doh!

That makes two of us. Glad to have found out in the end. My eyes were really suffering with all that squinting. :-)

[scrapperjade]

That program looks AWESOME! Anyone want to do the "invite a friend" deal with me??

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by scrapperjade

That program looks AWESOME! Anyone want to do the "invite a friend" deal with me??

No probs, but PM me your email address (or post it here, depends on what you prefer).

[Sweeet]

Someone send me an invite, pweeeeeez??

xx2sweeetxx@yahoo.com

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Sweeet

Someone send me an invite, pweeeeeez??

xx2sweeetxx@yahoo.com

There should be an invite in your inbox. Enjoy.