The new version 5 of Monotype's FontExplorer X Pro font management software for Mac OS X has some pretty nifty enhancements. Like what? A Font Tile View, something that’s been requested by customers so they can see attractive font previews composed of limited character sets, for one.
The Font Tile View is helpful for customers evaluating type based on a few select characters they have in mind. Also new are plug-ins for QuarkXPress 2015 and several Creative Cloud 2015 applications, which provide auto-activation and integration of several fonts stores to make purchasing and installing fonts even easier.
FontExplorer X Pro 5.0 also supports the latest Unicode standard, opening access to a lot more emoji and additional multilingual glyphs. The app’s feature set includes a variety of tools for font discovery and organization as well as activation controls that ensure fonts are active only when needed. This speeds the creative workflow by minimizing the list of options in font menus to just the essentials; it also helps your Mac to run more efficiently.
Besides the Font Tile View, other usability enhancements in FontExplorer X Pro include:
° Welcome Tour: The FontExplorer X Pro experience now starts with a welcome tour that provides an overview of the most important features and those that are new with version 5.
° Online Help: New online help allows customers to access answers to common support questions at any time.
° A revamped user interface: FontExplorer X Pro 5 takes design queues from the minimalistic changes introduced by Apple with Mac OS X Yosemite. New and clear icons, updated background colors, a reorganized toolbar, dark mode support and other changes throughout the app enhance FontExplorer X Pro 5’s usability and harmonize it with Mac OS X.
New connectivity allow you to go more places directly within FontExplorer X Pro. New font store integrations provide numerous font shopping options for customers that want to purchase and install type in FontExplorer X, thus preserving their creative workflow.
Connection to the new FontExplorer X Server 2 product allows users to bring in the latest in font management functionality for design groups including features that enable collaboration and access control. New connectivity features include:
° MyFonts.com, FontShop.com and Monotype Membership font stores directly within FontExplorer X Pro. Fonts can now be purchased from these stores, downloaded, installed and activated all without leaving FontExplorer X Pro, eliminating the break in workflow that occurs when customers need to exit the creative process to acquire type. Controls allow font purchases to be automatically organized into sets or automatically activated if desired.
° FontExplorer X Server 2 connection: FontExplorer X Pro 5 can connect to the new FontExplorer X Server 2 (available as a separate product) as a client.
FontExplorer X Pro 5 is available for the Mac OS X platform from http://www.fontexplorerx.com. The product is available for US$99 to new customers. Users of previous versions can upgrade their software license for $49. Users who purchased version 4.x on April 1, 2015, or later will receive a free software license upgrade to version 5.
