What do you think about Fontself as of today in 2023?

Cristóbal Alarcón
Cristóbal Alarcón Posts: 78
edited January 2023 in Type Design Software
I'm tempted to design a typeface of my own, but FontForge is intimidating and feels clunky to use, I can't afford FontLab, and I don't have a Mac for Glyphs.
Is Fontself a good type design software as of today, 2023? Or does it lack something that could be important in regards to type design?
Is it a good alternative for newcomers? I'm already 140% familiarized with Illustrator; hence, that's why it's so enticing for me.
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  • Cristóbal Henestrosa
    Cristóbal Henestrosa Posts: 75
    edited January 2023
    Hi. I am a Glyphs user approximately since 2016 but one year ago, when I was looking for a type design software for my Domestika course (sorry for the self-promotion!), I decided to use Fontself because it is for PC and Mac, and because it is certainly very easy to learn. Please note that the objective of the course is to digitize your own handwriting and convert it into a font, and Fontself was perfect for the task because it solves many problems for you (it includes an autospacing button, for example) so you don’t need to worry about technicalities such as UPM or even Unicode if you don’t want to. In that sense, I highly recommend it. However, I’d say it is ideal for that kind of use, i. e., students and people wishing to make their first attempts in the field, not for the class of demanding work I’d solve with Glyphs or Fontlab. In short, it is a very good option if you want to understand the basics, and most likely it will satisfy your requirements while you are learning, but be aware that, if you persist in type design, sooner o later you must migrate to some other, more robust software.

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