Font Agent Pro 3

January 23, 2005 · Comments

During Macworld Expo a few weeks ago, [Insider Software](http://www.insidersoftware.com) released [Font Agent Pro 3](http://insidersoftware.com/FA_pro_osx.php). I pulled up my [old review of Font Agent 2](http://www.momathome.com/viewfromhome/software_reviews/fontagent_pro_2.php) and I can’t believe it’s been over a year. FAP 2 has served me well, but it had some annoying interface oddities. Above all, it always worked as advertised so I stuck with it.

I downloaded the demo version of FAP 3 and I paid for the upgrade a few minutes ago. Here’s my nickel review.

I’m not going to talk about the server/sharing features of FAP, because I don’t use them. There’s no reason to install the software on my iBook or PC (if there was a PC version). Looks like a good thing in a multi-user environment. I’m also not talking about “Classic” support, since I can’t remember the last time I opened a Classic application on my G5. Honestly, come to think of it, I don’t think I ever have. And finally, while Font Agent Pro does have the option to manage system fonts, I have made the decision to leave well enough alone and skip this feature. The default Mac OS X fonts are where OS X wants them.

But that said, I have *a lot* of fonts. I’ve been “collecting” them for about 12 years now, since my very first Mac computer and as long as they’re in good health, I can’t depart with any of them.

**Improvements:**

* It’s faster. Definitely. Not that I thought version 2 was all that slow. But now I can check the WYSIWYG button and the applications doesn’t grind to a crawl.
* More feedback on auto-activation. When fonts are auto-activated, there’s a little floater that comes up that lets you know which font FAP is working on. Often, InDesign or Illustrator will pop up a “missing font” dialog because FAP hasn’t had a chance to do its thing. The floater’s feedback helps.
* Subtle interface changes. It still looks like FAP 2, but organizing/sorting fonts is faster and easier. They have added an OS X-style search bar in the “fonts” pane. Before, the search pane was there but it was awkward to use. Start typing a few letters, and the list dynamically updates. Finally.

fap3-1.gif

* This is minor, but adjustments made to window locations are retained when the application is closed and reopened. In FAP 2, they weren’t.
* Filters! It would be nice if I could add filters based on custom criteria, but this is definitely a step in the right direction to be able to see at a glance fonts that are activated, auto-activated, TrueType, etc.

fap3-2.gif

* You can now activate fonts directly from the “Font Compare” window. In FAP 2, if you had a list of fonts that you were evaluating in the window, you had to go back to the sets or “All Fonts” window to activate a single font. Now you can compare and activate in one window.

fap3-3.gif

**Nitpicks:**

These are nitpicks, because I think it’s a solid upgrade worth the $49.95 fee for the active searching and filtering alone. But,

* My new registration code doesn’t work. Annoying. I’m sure support will figure it out when they read the email I just sent.
* Still should have a preference item to auto-activate the entire family instead of just the one font it finds in a document. This is not a big deal because I can filter on “Auto Activated” and then click to activate the family, if needed.
* I wish there was a better way to view a complete character set. Insider Software [recommends](http://insidersoftware.com/SU_faqs.php) using the OS X Cocoa-specific “Edit -> Special Characters…” menu item to get to the built-in Character Palette. I’m always one for the idea of “not reinventing the wheel” but I would much prefer something that looks a little bit more like the InDesign Glyph palette (shown below). Especially because the OS X “Special Characters…” menu requires that the font already be activated to view. In the dearly deparated Font Reserve, you could view the entire characters set of a font without activating it. Plus, with OpenType fonts there are so many alternates and ligatures possible in a font that a straight window as in the OS X default is too confusing to navigate. FAP doesn’t feel “finished” to me without this feature but I’ll live with it. Maybe version 4.

fap3-4.gif

* Along the lines of the nit above, the WYSIWYG menu is great and it’s faster than before but I’d love FAP 3 to borrow a feature from the dearly departed Adobe Type Manager Pro where you could tell the software to *not* WYSIWYG certain fonts on a case-by-case basis. Why? The image below illustrates in a game of “Name That Font?”:

fap3-5.gif

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