🚀 go-pugleaf

G'day all,
Most of the font managers available for Windows (XP) seem to base their font-management on sorting the fonts alphabetically by name. Logical enough, but while my visual memory is fairly good at remembering the shapes and overall effect of typefaces, I can't often recall what the associated font was actually called ! ;-) If I want to find, say, a period English Blackletter face for a certain project, then a list of the font names doesn't help me enormously. And it's time-wasting to page through the list of fonts, waiting to spot the one(s) I'm looking for.

I'm currently using Font Navigator (which used to be Bitstream's but now seems to be distributed only by Corel), which allows for the creation of custom sub-lists, so the fonts can be sorted into groups based on style of the faces. So in my search for a Blackletter, then I only have to page through the Blackletter sub-list. (I understand most other font managers also have this feature.)

When I'm starting a project, I may know what kind of "look" I want, but how do I find the font that's going to give me that, among the list of alphabetical names, without having to do a long and manual serial scan through all the faces ? I've tried to use the generalised typeface classification schemas, but they seem more based on the historical development of the shapes and printing customs, and that doesn't necessarily relate to their modern usage as design elements and the mood they convey in a completed layout. (I know, a fairly sweeping statement; there may be a whole book on typographic design right there ! I'm obviously short of the knowledge to write it, but maybe one day ...) In addition, each classification group seems so broad that I find it doesn't usefully narrow down the search.

My question: can anyone offer me recommendations, please, for a schema that they find helps them fairly easily locate at least the *type* or *style* or *mood* of face they want ? Are people willing to give examples for how they sort their own fonts ?

And while I'm asking, if anyone has a favourite font manager (for Windows) that offers additional features to make this kind of thing easier, I'd be grateful to hear about that as well.

I know I've been a bit wordy here. Sorry. I wasn't sure that I'd expressed myself clearly enough, possibly because I'm feeling out of my depth on this subject.

In any case, any help you can offer is very much appreciated, folks.

d�rachdan,
Bran