6 January 2009

Update — Fontcase & FontExplorer X Pro

As soon as I got excited about Fontcase, Linotype swooped down and released FontExplorer X Pro (verson 2.0). It has a way better app icon. It’s a little different this time, though, because it’s no longer free. It’s $39 until the end of February, and then jumps to $79. To be clear, I have no problem with paying for good software.

The Pro version cleans up some details of the interface that 1.2.3 left out. I mean, they finally cleaned it up (that icon included). I couldn’t complain about it before because it was free. There’s also a bunch of other technical details that probably matter, but I don’t care because it’s just not as exciting as Fontcase makes looking at my fonts. Plus, as good of an idea (and business move) the integrated Linotype store is, I just don’t care about it. I don’t use it.

Here’s FontExplorer X Pro:

And here are some different views in Fontcase that I really like:

Font management is more for me than just organizing and turning my fonts on and off. I also use it for browsing and making decisions about what typeface to use in my work. With that in mind, Fontcase is way on top.

I know I’m judging the book by its cover (or maybe its title page), so you can take it or leave it. I think, though, time has come nigh to pick one and stick with it. I’ll look at FontExplorer X Pro a bit more, and perhaps I should look again at Suitcase Fusion while I’m at it. But, hopefully Bohemian Coding will be done with their Fontcase app soon so I can make a better decision.

Update — Things

I bought it. I’ve gone back and forth with Basecamp, which was just too much for just me; Backpack, which is nice, but I need offline access — and Packrat didn’t really suit me; and other systems (word documents, pen and paper, etc). Things is easy to use and has a flexible enough structure that I can just dump whatever I need to do in it. And, if ever I give myself over to an iMobile device, I can take Things with me.

Update — LittleSnapper & Yojimbo

I started archiving websites in Yojimbo and deleted LittleSnapper. Yojimbo’s preservation of the markup/css/etc is really great. If LittleSnapper archived like Yojimbo and retained its iPhoto-like viewing, it’d be a winner. A humongous winner. And then I’d definitely pay their asking price.

Addition — Picasa

Picasa for Mac. Why’d they make this? We have iPhoto and their exporter. Picasa looks more like a Linux app than a Mac app. It works more like Adobe Bridge than iPhoto. I don’t know what to think of this. It is pretty fast, though. I’m sure someone will like it.