Fontographer 4.1

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the price - Outdated, clunky, poor performer
Review: I think it's important for anyone considering buying this program to know that this program hasn't been updated since 1995. I have been trying to use this program in conjunction with Illustrator 10 and I've had a myriad of problems. I have found it very difficult to import EPS files created in Illustrator 10. "Cut and paste" (the recommended method for importing vector data) doesn't seem to work at all. After hours of experimentation I finally figured out how to import an EPS created in Illustrator 10 (save the file as an Illustrator 5.0 document with no preview image, as a postscript version 2, and without any thumbnail) but then I couldn't get it to export a properly working font. Every time I use the font and then try to save the file in Illustrator or generate a PDF from InDesign I get a warning that states that the font can't be embedded due to be protected, even though the font permissions are set to give full access to any user. I researched the problem and found that there is a Microsoft extension module that can be installed to permit additional control over font permissions, and it apparently has solved this problem for a few people running Windows ME, but I cannot get it to work on XP. I am a huge fan of Macromedia's Flash, and I am deeply disappointed to see such a crappy product being sold for $349! Macromedia very recently lowered the price to around $300, but it's still far too much to pay for a ten-year-old program that fails to deliver on its intended purpose. I would strongly encourage anyone considering this program to look elsewhere for a product to meet their need. This product is too outdated to be of much use to modern designers.

Rating:
Summary: Very good tool, but not easy to hand
Review: This release has been tremendously improved and therefore remains the most suitable tool for specialists. Unluckily, the documentation is too poor and no further handbook is available in the market. It also undergoes more crashes than the previous release: this is probably intended to avoid that dangerous fonts (i.e., with major or minor shortcomings, such as point overlappings) be loaded in word processors. Therefore some defective fonts are better handled with the older release.