Posts Tagged ‘macbookpro’
Fontcase App
I’ve been using Fontcase for a few weeks now and thought I would write up a quick review.
I heard about this lovely little app when Elliot Jay Stocks sent out a tweet mentioning that he was trialing it. As I do with most of the links Elliot provides, I clicked on it with great expectation. Immediately, I loved what was infront of me but because at that present time I didn’t have a Mac, I decided to make a mental note of it. The basic idea behind Fontcase, is that it lets you use tags and smart collections to manage your fonts, making it easier to quickly enable and disable fonts by sets and usage.
A few weeks later, I was in the position where I had enough money to buy my MacBook Pro, and immediately downloaded the trial version. Due to my notebook being a new purchase I hadn’t got everything set up the same as I had on my previous machine, and as such I wasn’t going to be able to test the application to it’s full potential.
To ease myself into the world of fontcase, I decided to visit a few of my favourite font websites and install a few of my more commonly used downloads into the application to test out some of the features that are offered.
Importing/adding/deleting your fonts proved to be a very easy operation, by simply dragging and dropping them into the fontcase window they automatically become added to your library within the fontcase system. Once the fonts have been added, users can then browse through them in a visual gallery type layout. The image above shows what your library will look like, with fonts being encapsulated in their own box, showing an example of that font. However, that’s not all, users can also test fonts in pretend sentences to see their overall look and appearance. Fonts can also be exported in .pdf format to show clients what the end product will look like by once again dragging and dropping the font from the application to the users desktop.
Another brilliant features incorporated within fontcase is the ability to turn your fonts on and off. In most font applications, once a font is installed it is ‘turned on’ until it is deleted. However, as I have already mentioned, fontcase allows users to store all of their fonts within the application and then allow users to turn off they fonts they have no need for at that present moment. The option to turn off a font is as simple as flicking a switch. This is an incredibly useful option as it can save alot of hassle, particularly when browsing for a specific font.
As I have already mentioned, I am still relativly new to the fontcase application but from the small amount of functions I have utilised so far I can already tell that this is going to be an incredible useful piece of kit. Everything from the application itself down to the logo have been crafted with alot of love and care. If you’re looking for a piece of software dealing in font management for Macs I thoroughly recommend this one. If you have any hints, tips or shortcuts for this piece of software please feel free to leave a comment documenting them because I would love to find out more.
Software On Your Mac
Well, it’s looking increasingly likely I’ll be buying a notebook before the month is out and as such I’m looking to gain some user opinion on what software everyone out there uses. To start myself off I’ll be downloading/purchasing the following
I’m also be looking to purchase Microsoft Office and the Adobe Suite. However, funds will be a bit low after I’ve bought the Mac and software above, so if you have any suggestions I’ll gladly listen.
I’ve recently seen Pixelmator and thought that might be worth a shot at temporarily replacing my beloved fireworks until I can afford it. Has anyone used this before? Or have any other image editors for the Mac which you prefer?
I’m also looking for a Mac alternative for phpmyadmin.
Apple Notebooks 08
Today at 6pm (GMT) Apple announced their latest line-up of notebooks. Unlike other blogs I’m not going to post stats about them, I’m going to go off on a little rant because if the truth be known, I’m not really sure what to think about them. Please note I am by no means an Apple notebook expert, that is where you lot come in.
Unfortunately I’ve never owned a laptop before, let alone an Apple laptop, so I had been eagerly anticipating this refresh for quite sometime. In fact, it has been just over two years since the thought first crossed my mind about buying a Macbook Pro. But due to University studies I always put the purchase off.
Since early summer ’08 the rumour mill had been rife about supposed launch dates and as the pencilled date of October 14th drew ever closer the rumours gained in momentum, with mock-ups and ‘supposed sources’ being leaked every few days. With each new source, my excitement grew like that of a little boy awaiting Christmas.
For the majority of late morning and early afternoon, I was emailing Jon Hicks asking about his current set-up. Not because I haven’t researched the matter, far from it, I wanted to find out what the professionals use, the people I look up to for inspiration. After our conversation I was pretty much set on a 17” matte option but as it would later transpire this would not be feasible.
As I sat watching the coverage from engadget I thought back to all the wonderful rumours I had heard over the last few months, particularly those of the last few weeks. Perhaps I got my hopes up? Perhaps I was expecting too much?
- No update, thus far, on the 17″ option.
- No matte option for screen.
- The black border, from iMac and Air has been introduced.
- Chicklet keys have been introduced.
- Making both the MacBook and Pro similar in terms of aesthetics and technical spec.
I always assumed I would plump for the 17” matte option but now that this is no longer available I’m facing a problem. Would I really miss a matte option if I have never used it, especially on a Mac laptop? Even though the screen is glossy, will it be that noticeable and the hindrance that everyone is making it out to be, especially those in the design community?
I know that I don’t have many readers as of yet but for the few of you out there, what options will you be going for when you head off to your local Apple store?
