Website Design Articles :: Useful Tools

Preview fonts on your pc

The font browser from STC Associates allows you to preview the active fonts in your Windows Fonts directory in your browser. An absolute boon to web developers. Five stars!!

If you want a Windows font navigator then FontHit Font Tools is a manager that allows you view, preview, install, uninstall, print in colour, customise size and text of the previews, browse your hard drive for fonts and create your own folders for convenient and automatic categorisation. You can drag-n-drop to add font files (even folders and zip files with fonts) to the preview list, and it also has a character map which is great for symbol fonts. You can also search the Web for fonts and font-related Web pages. The best bit? It's free!

One of the best is Bitstream's Font Navigator 5.0. Bundled with CorelDraw's Graphics Suite, you can get it if you download the CorelDraw trial. However be warned it's a massive 186meg! This page (see comments by yoyomaster and dominidian) gives instructions for extracting Font Navigator without the need to install CorelDraw and suggests that it doesn't expire.

Also recommended is MainType from High Logic. MainType is a powerful font manager for Windows that offers a straightforward and easy-to-use interface to help you maintain your fonts.

It includes features for novice users who just want to view and install fonts as well as advanced features for graphic designers and typographers. In order to find the right fonts for your needs, the software includes filter and sort functionality as well as a font information pane that reveals important typographic data. The groups pane helps you quickly organise your font collection. Not free - £22.37 ($40) but there is a trial version.