Review - MacWare’s FontLibrary

You can hear this review on Surfbit's Macreviewcast #120.

I have a particular affection for fonts. Back in 1987 I first learned the word "Fonts" when I leaned over a funny looking little beige computer in my college computer lab that said "Hello" when you turned it on. Granted that was a long time ago but the truth is the first thing that really impressed me on the Mac was the way that I could change the screen type. I'm sure I abused this newfound freedom turning in several papers with what could have only been called a font explosion. Does anyone else remember the original "San Francisco" font that bordered on anarchy?


So it was with this nostalgia that I installed the FontLibrary Library from MacWare. This package includes some 600 fonts in several categories including refined, classic, designer and creative. In addition to truetype, it also comes with the fonts in OpenType format. The FontLibrary fonts are licensed for commercial use in printed materials and electronic mediums.

You can manage them in Font Book but I liked the included Mac FontManager better which allows you to see all available and installed fonts and move them as you please. Not only does this let you put some of the new fonts on, it also lets you take the existing ones you don't use off.

This package really gives you just about anything you could ever need in terms of fonts. I've become a bit more subtle since those early days but occasionally have a need for something unique and this package has it for everyone but the most demanding. It retails for about $50 online.