FontBook™ Typeface Compendium App Reviews

The app version is so much more usable than the hardcover edition, especially with the added features of the recent update. I especially like the new Use Case section. Getting this level of content and filtering of the Bible of typography is an incredible bargain. I refer to this app almost every workday.

First off, the app is useless. Where I thought I was paying $6 to be able to select and USE different fonts, that is NOT the case. To be honest, I dont care about the history of each font, I wanted to be able to USE them in a graphic design process. You do not have that ability with ought purchasing $30, $40, or $60 font packs. Rediculous. Second, you pay for the app to find out its not what you thought or need, and $6 for a useless app is just plain stupid in my book. Not happy about being stuck with this app now. Third, this block style display is a flat out PITA. Some displays are so small, you are forced to click on them JUST to get a decent look. Clean up that garbage. All in all, completely dissatisfied. Wish I could get my money back.

The app description clearly states you wont be able to use the font shown. This app is for designers, etc that want to explore fonts to use for a project. Someone designs these fonts, and to think you will get access to the hundreds of fonts shown is simply naive. If you are a graphic designer like me, then ignore the ignorant comments for this app. It is well worth the $6!

This app is great for looking up typefaces as inspiration for lettering projects. However, they NEED to update it with retina graphics, most of the small type looks HORRIBLE on the new iPad.

Great update that supports the retina screen. This app is great for browsing and searching fonts for design projects. The different ways of navigating through all the fonts really help to search for exactly what you are looking for, or browse for inspiration.

I wanted to wait to review until they upgraded to retina. Now that it is full resolution this app is great! Beautifully designed. lets you seamlessly explore and discover Font families. The only thing I wish it had was the ability to easily view the entire glyph set and up close. Otherwise this app is a must for the designer!

This app is rich in content and organized well, however the "box" display (as unique and visual as it is) hinders the font browsing experience. It can become taxing trying to view each font family in their tiny box and easy to overlook others. It would be great if you could choose between the box display and a list display, so you can get a better look at each specimen before you click.

If you like or use type at all, you have to buy this app. The search and compare features alone made a recent task of creating ten type palettes far easier than it would have been anywhere else. I had the previous printed FontBook, which I rarely used. This I use many times a week. The Retina upgrade is the icing on the cake.

Me being a natural typophiliac, I did not need any further convincing to buy this type-based app. Little did I know, this app would be too good to be true! I was so impressed i was actually compelled to express my excitement through writing my first ever rating/review. Fontbook is well worth whatever price its set. Its classification of type from genre, to time period, to foundry is unparalleled by any type resource Ive encountered. A must buy for graphic designers and typographic enthusiast!

I am a typophile and the fact that an app like this exists just makes me so happy. However, I am quite disappointed that fonts from my favorite font foundry is not listed in this app. Please add the Hoefler and Frere Jones foundry to this app as well as the Lost Type font foundry.

I did not realize I was paying $6 for an App to purchase the fonts!!! I thought I was purchasing fonts not a book to buy the fonts....I REGRET making this purchase!!! I had to rate this app a star to submit this review, otherwise, I wouldnt have given it any stars.

Previous versions of FontBook were sensational. This latest version 3.0 is full of bugs. Text samples dont display properly. Motion is steppy and full of jaggies. The last edition warranted 5 stars. 3.0 -- in its current form -- is a dud.

You tried reinventing the wheel and it didnt work. This tile format stinks. Im sorry, and I love FontShop, but it does. When you drill down into a class – Slab Serif > free/hybrid, for example – some font tiles are so TINY you cant really see them, while others are 5x larger. Really focus on that. Why, why, why is it like that? Some font names are truncated too. Huh? Do you see how the tiles are crippling? I see you changed from Rg to Rag – youre listening, but that didnt really do anything. Go back to the font specimen books of old and start from there. Think "the best font specimen book ever," not "cool font app." The tile approach makes this app less useful than the book itself. Steal the sideshow idea too. It would be nice to pick a class, sit back and watch it scroll through everything by itself, tapping pauses and allows you to save your favorites. 3.0 Not much else to say. I give up. This app will NOT be useful until the tiles are dead. I kept the last version installed just to get an alert when it was updated. Disappointing.

I dont know why people keeps complaining About this app I think its good. Its just what I needed and its only .99 cents

Lots of way to view - by designer, by year, by font type, you can edit the sample text, fun reference...

It crashes on "downloading news", I havent been able to try it for 10 seconds.

This app does let you browse through a lot of fonts. Unfortunately, the UI does essentially nothing to answer the question "How should I approach the task of browsing through a library of thousands of fonts?" The app is designed around size-mortised grids, much like many disk space auditing apps on PCs, with "size" apparently being defined as "number of fonts". Unfortunately, that means the UI presentation has little to do with any information you might actually be interested in as a font consumer (e.g., what fonts are similar to this one?) The basic premise of the app is ill-conceived.

Great job! This is awesome. The hard copy FontBook is one of my prized possessions. And now this app is too! Already discovering lots of new favorites. It makes exploring them so much fun. Search by year is sweeeeet, been waiting to be able to that somewhere forever. Thanks! One niggle: Ive always loved FontBooks "similar fonts" recommendations in the book. On cursory glance, I havent found it in the app. Perhaps implement it in an update if its not? Its a very helpful feature. :)

I love the different ways in which the fonts are grouped and organized. The "Usage" based search is especially useful for finding alternatives to particular typefaces, best choices for different applications (ie: web usage, small text) and sorting by time period (decade of release, or larger artistic movements). This app has crashed once while I attempted to mark a favorite font, but even the best apps crash from time to time, so Im not going to penalize them for that.

Its the perfect companion to any typography book at you are reading!