Fontlab Typographic Tools - font editors and converters

Fontographer Reviews

The Kleper Report on Digital Publishing - Issue 16.4 July / August 2011

"Fontographer 5.1 is the best-in-class font editor, the flagship application that has launched a thousand faces (and more). Not only does it excel as a powerful and flexible font editor, it enables the serious typographer to customize their existing fonts, add new glyphs as needed; critically adjust kerning and spacing; convert old fonts to a new format; and more."

“Every design studio should have Fontographer 5 for its wealth of font creation, editing, fixing, and conversion abilities.”
— Macworld, 6 October 2010, rated 4.5 out of 5 Mice

“The engineers at FontLab have produced what is without question the best upgrade ever to the venerable Fontographer program. The update of the interface retains the familiar Fontographer feel while providing a more modern look, and there are quite a number of improvements and new features. It's obvious there has been a lot of thought, time and effort put into this upgrade, and I am very grateful for all that work. My favorite new and improved features are the character antialiasing, OpenType and Unicode support, the ability to work with FontLab Studio .vfb file formats and the new hinting capabilities. Just these few things alone are going to make my workflow so much better, and they are but a small part of the long list of improvements. I highly recommend Fontographer 5 to anyone who is considering upgrading from earlier versions or is considering learning how to make fonts. Experienced users will love it, and I feel that even a new user who is skilled with other drawing programs would quickly adapt to using it.”
— George Thomas

“Fontographer’s real innovations are below the surface. (...) Generally speaking, the Fontographer crew has delivered a solid upgrade — with some room for future improvements. (...) Fontographer’s interface is much more intuitive, understandable, and therefore more easily accessible; a clear advantage for the rookie.”
— Oliver Linke (PAGE magazine, October 2010)
(Read the full review!)

“Fontographer has served as a critical component of the font outline creating/editing workflow for a large number of the world’s leading type foundries for over two decades. FontLab’s recent efforts to revamp and enhance Fontographer is important, and timely, in that it ensures that these same type foundries can continue to use this important application on contemporary operating systems.”
— Dr. Ken Lunde (Senior Computer Scientist, Adobe Systems Incorporated)

"Fontographer 5.0, a Font Software product from fontlab.com, gets a 5 Stars SoftSea Rating"
— Softsea.com, July 2010

"The new FOG5 is head-and-shoulders above my previous mainstay, FOG4.7. I was productive immediately, since all the familiar keyboard shortcuts and tools are still there. There are many new features, such as larger zoom(!!), enhanced Font Information settings, new formats for output (.otf for Mac and Windows), and especially the larger, clearer whole-font display. Very highly recommended for font designers -- and graphic artists who want to fine-tune or enhance a font. Works like a Mac program should. A real winner."
— Dave Thompson (President, Educational Fontware)

“Fontographer’s virtue is in its relative ease of use. For designers used to programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop, Fontographer's tools are intuitive and easy to understand.
— Computer Arts, March 2006

“What was the first Bézier drawing program for Macintosh computers? No, it wasn't Illustrator. Nor was it FreeHand. The answer is Fontographer.”
— creativepro.com, Feb 2001

“Fontographer may be largely responsible for a creative burst of type design unmatched in hundreds of years.”
— HOW Magazine, Feb 1996

Reviews for Fontographer 4.7

Fontographer 4.7.3 Review in Macworld (June 2, 2006)
"For nearly any font editing task you’d want to accomplish—from simple tweaks to creating your own from scratch—Fontographer is still, after 21 years, the quickest and most intuitive way to go."

Kleper Report on Digital Publishing, Issue 11.2 March/April 2006.

Fontographer on Versiontracker.com (rated 3.1 out of 5)

Fontographer 4.7.2 Review in Computer Arts (UK), issue 120, March 2006, page 82 (rated 4 out of 5)
“Fontographer's virtue is in its relative ease of use. For designers used to programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop, Fontographer's tools are intuitive and easy to understand. (...) If you still have an OS 9 copy of Fontographer, your only good reason for upgrading would be to get OS X compatibility or support for the euro symbol in your typefaces. Virtually no significant features have been added to this first release of the new Fontographer. Nevertheless, if you're a newcomer to font design or are simply looking for an alternative application, don't let that put you off. Fontographer may have been stuck in suspended animation for a decade, but it's still amazing how advanced the program remains after all this time; in fact, it lacks only a handful of the features found in the high-end FontLab Studio. (...) Aimed squarely at the mid-market, Fontographer is neither the most powerful nor the cheapest font design tool available. But it’s easy to use, is a decent learning tool in typography for those aiming for the high-end and is powerful enough for most applications. (...) An investment in Fontographer now is nothing to be ashamed of.”

Fontographer 4.7.2 Review by Rob Buckley, MacFormat (UK), issue 166, March 2006, page 94 (rated 3 out of 5)
“Back from the dead after a decade, Fontographer is here to help you create your own fonts. (...) Aimed at the intermediate user, Fontographer is somehow both simple to use and baffingly complex. (...) An excellent tool for the intermediate-level font designer, but the price is too high for the feature set.”

Older Fontographer Reviews

FontLab vs. Fontographer, MacUser UK, 11 Jan 2002

Font Flexibility with Macromedia Fontographer by Robin Williams, EyeWire

Review of FontLab 4 and Fontographer by Foster Coburn, Graphics Unleashed, Dec 2001 (rated 3 1/2 stars)

The Digital Dish: The Most Useful Program You Don't Have by Sandee Cohen, creativepro.com, Feb 2001
“What was the first Bézier drawing program for Macintosh computers? No, it wasn't Illustrator. Nor was it FreeHand. The answer is Fontographer, created by Altsys (now part of Macromedia) in 1985. That's two years before Adobe Illustrator and three years before FreeHand, and Fontographer likely played a role in inspiring at least the latter. (...) Fontographer has a key place in the early history of Macintosh graphics software.”

Hinting in FontLab and Fontographer, Nicholas Fabian, 20 March 2000

Macromedia Fontographer by Ivan Anthony Walsh, desktoppublishing.com, 1999
“Macromedia's Fontographer, the industry-standard for font design on the Macintosh and Windows, offers all the features necessary for font design and more. (...) Fontographer 4.1 will satisfy both the novice and experienced designer with its robust tools and excellent help files. (...) Fontographer remains the best in its field and has continued to improve with each release. For those captivated by font design, either professionally or for personal pleasure, Fontographer 4.1 offers the most extensive collection or features on the market today.”

Fontographer Review in HOW Magazine, Feb 1996 “Fontographer may be largely responsible for a creative burst of type design unmatched in hundreds of years.”