Ergonis Software has released PopChar X 6.0, an update of the company's tool for dealing with fonts and special characters. With the new version, the app has evolved from a plain character picker to a font utility that lets you take a new look at fonts from a designer's perspective.

You can see a font preview, check out what a given text fragment looks like in a certain font, and print font sheets. Based on a a streamlined user interface, the new "Font Preview" feature gives an impression of a selected font by showing representative characters and a selectable piece of text in multiple font sizes.

In addition, the new "Sample Text" feature shows what the font looks like when applied to typical text fragments. Various predefined samples can be selected and users can customize their own sample text. A slider lets you view the text samples in various font sizes. Both the "Font Preview" and the "Sample Text" views can be printed.

PopChar X 6.0 also supports Unicode 6.1, the latest release of the Unicode Standard, which adds characters to support additional languages of China, other Asian countries, and Africa. What's more, the app has been improved to offer compatibility with Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, as well as with third-party applications like Adobe Illustrator CS3 to CS6.

Many internal enhancements lead to improved speed, faster startup, and less background activity, according to the folks at Ergonis Software. Visit Ergonis Software's website (www.ergonis.com/) to view the list of further improvements and enhancements contained in this release and to download a trial copy.

PopChar X 6.0 requires OS X 10.5.8 or newer. The upgrade to PopChar 6 is free for all customers who purchased a license of PopChar X on or after June 1, 2011. Other users of a previous PopChar X license may upgrade for approximately US$19 for a single license license.