Font Preview in CC & CC 2014

[MrToM]

Previewing and selecting fonts in Photoshop has never been a slick affair at the best of times and for me Adobe's latest 'upgrade' just makes the whole process even more annoying.

I'd rather place my wedding tackle in the mouth of a lion whilst flicking his love spuds with a wet towel.

This is a stupid question really, but is there a better way to preview and select fonts in Photoshop?

I've tried the trial of TypeDNA and whilst the standalone app is pretty good I couldn't get the PS plug-in to work.
Extension manager installed it OK but for some reason it doesn't show up as an extension in PS....neither in CC nor CC 2014.
The Type DNA website doesn't appear to have anything on troubleshooting despite being crammed full of info, although I may just have missed it.

So what does every one else use/do?
Am I alone in being annoyed by Adobes latest 'Font Preview upgrade'?
Has anyone else tried TypeDNA and got the plug-in to work in either CC or CC 2014?

...Or should I just forget it and keep flicking the lions pods?

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[IamSam]

I like to Type in my text in the document, open my character panel, highlight the font name, then use the directional arrows to preview the font live.

 

[MrToM]

Thanks Sam....

Yeah thats what I do but I find I have to use the menu bar dropdown...

...the new 'improved' list in CC now previews the font on HOVER, rather than select.....which is extremely annoying as as soon as you move away from clicking the dropdown you instinctively move across the list...changing the font as you do.......annoying to say the least.

Further to that, I keep the Character panel visible all the time, not necessarily open but visible, and its near the bottom of the workspace. When the font list is opened the list moves up the screen to accommodate more fonts...great...good idea....but the bottom goes off screen so you can never scroll to the bottom of the list.

The only way I have found to get round that is to make the whole PS UI smaller, then open the dropdown list (which then puts the bottom of the list at the bottom of the screen), and then scroll down to what I want.

Its just a mess.

Also, there is still no way to 'organise' the fonts into groups....something which TypeDNA does do....if only the plug-in would work!

[soapbox]

It wouldn't be soooo bad if the fonts didn't change when you hover over them.....its a good idea but not really thought through enough to be practical....typical Adobe...."lets cram in more features that don't work properly to the existing ones that don't work properly" attitude.

[/soapbox]

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[ALB68]

I was sooo happy when Adobe came out and spoke about the new font preview. In a word..it sucks. I gave up on it and got me a standalone font previewer. I am constantly trying to find similar fonts to what my printers send me and it is just simply more expeditious for me to do it this way. Another peeve I have with Adobe and Photoshop is viewing glyph s with fonts I have purchased. You can use them in Illustrator but if there is a way in PS I wish someone would point me to it. My two cents worth.

 

[MrToM]

Many thanks Larry, much appreciated, for a moment there I thought I was way out on my own.

So which 'Standalone Font Previewer' are you using?

TypeDNA is very good but I've only managed to get it working as a plug-in for CS6...CC is still a no-go...which is a right shame because you do get quite a lot of bang for your buck.

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[ALB68]

Tom, I use this thing..it works pretty good and it's Freeware http://www.ampsoft.net/utilities/FontViewer.php

Many thanks Larry, much appreciated, for a moment there I thought I was way out on my own.

So which 'Standalone Font Previewer' are you using?

TypeDNA is very good but I've only managed to get it working as a plug-in for CS6...CC is still a no-go...which is a right shame because you do get quite a lot of bang for your buck.

Regards.
MrTom.