FontLab News

For better fonts

Hello, FontLab 8.2!

Design and edit OpenType, variable, web and color fonts

FontLab 8.2 is an integrated font editor for Mac and Windows that helps you create fonts from start to finish, from a simple design to a complex project, and brings a spark of magic into type design. 

FontLab 7.2.0.7644 and macOS 12.3 Monterey

On 11 March 2022, we published FontLab 7.2.0.7649. Unfortunately, we discovered a problem in this version: when you open some fonts, FontLab sets the fill of the glyphs transparent. We’re now re-releasing version 7.2.0.7644 for both Mac and Windows. This is the same version as was available before 11 March. It does not have this problem, but does bring compatibility with macOS 12.3.

Introducing FontLab 7: The pro font editor, evolved.

FontLab 7 is a major upgrade to FontLab VI. FontLab VI was long in the making. We shipped the first public preview version in 2015, premiered the app in 2017, and we tirelessly kept making it better. You’ve seen some of these improvements in the free updates that we have published since the premiere. But we’ve also been working on a more comprehensive upgrade. So after a super-busy summer and autumn, we’re proud to present FontLab 7, the follow-up to FontLab VI

FontLab Studio 5, Fontographer 5 and TypeTool 3 on macOS 10.15 Catalina

[Edit: Updated on Match 20, 2020 with info about FontLab 7 and with videos and info about CrossOver 19]
Apple released macOS 10.15 Catalina on October 7, 2019. This version of macOS only runs apps that are 64-bit, and removes the ability to run 32-bit Mac apps. This means that you cannot natively run our classic font apps on macOS Catalina: FontLab Studio 5, Fontographer 5, TypeTool 3 and BitFonter 3. In this blog post, we’re discussing options that you have if you’d like to use Catalina.

DTL OTMaster 7.9 available now

The technical OpenType editor DTL OTMaster developed by Dutch Type Library (DTL) and URW Type Foundry is now available in version 7.9. The new version brings support for variable OpenType fonts, an all-new Proofing Tool for printing and creating PDF specimens, and many detailed improvements.

Color fonts. Overview of the proposals for color extensions of the OpenType font format.

Although Fontlab Ltd. debuted the Photofont technology some 8 years ago, the typographic community did not show much interest for multi-color fonts or typography. In 2013, it changed. Actually, this started a few years ago with Apple introducing the color emoji font into iOS, and then Mac OS10.7. Now, all major industry players (Apple, Adobe, Mozilla, Google and Microsoft) have proposed their formats, which aim to extend the OpenType font format by the ability of including color glyph information. The proposals differ in many aspects. Below is a discussion of the proposals along with some personal comments.