What are Fontographer's advantages

[stinkykong]

Many, many thanks to Fontlab, LTD for their work in developing font software.
I currently use Fontlab 5 Studio on the Mac, drawing in Illustrator and copying into Fontlab. I got the news about Fontagrapher 5 and downloaded the demo and poked around a bit.

I'm interested to hear from users of both Fontlab and Fontographer, what are the advantages that Fonographer offers over Fontlab/Illustrator users. I'll probably get Fontagrapher no matter what I hear although I'm not totally decided yet. But if I do, I still would like to know what Fontographer offers that I couldn't achieve just as well with the tools I currently use. 

I'm not a huge font creator and no expert at all. There are features in Fontlab that I don't know how to use and some I don't know even exist. Mainly, I use Fontlab to create music fonts, symbols, and an occasional text font with mainly ASCII characters.

Thanks to all for your information and opinions.

[David Bergsland]

Fontographer is a font design program for people who like to draw — especially drawing type. The interface is a joy to use. The auto spacing/kerning controls are very good. You'll still need FontLab to set up OpenType features and design templates for use in the FOG. To say the hand letterspacing interface is limited and very tedious to use is a vast understatement. FOG sounds like it would be perfect for your use.

[stinkykong]

Thank you for your input. I did purchase Fontographer and although I haven't spent a lot of time with it, I  have yet to see  a reason to use it over Fontlab. If I were accustomed to it, I could see wanting to stay with it. It's pretty to look at and not as geeky as Fontlab but coming from Fontlab first, I have mainly stuck with my familiar ground. But perhaps you either know what drawing tools are handy or know a source for that info. It's all good to know.

Again, thanks for your comment.

[David Bergsland]

It is mainly determined by your background and your work. If you are a graphic designer with a lot of background in FreeHand (especially) or Illustrator, Fontographer is much quicker and easier to use. The autospacing is good enough and you can work very freely and quickly.

However, I also became very accustomed to FontLab. I was surprised at the fun that returned when I returned toFontographer. FontLab was always work.

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