Is there any such thing?

e.g. software that I can feed a TIFF of text using a particular font,
where the software will then spit out what it thinks the font's name
is?

I'm sure any seasoned designer can pick out fonts on sight, but as
someone who is increasing his typographic literacy ever so slowly, I
wonder if there's a software tool that could help.

It would be nice to be able to look at a font, think "Dang that's a
nice font I could use in project X", run it through a program, and get
a good idea of what the font is, or a similar match.

Aside from browsing through the Adobe Type Library dead tree book, are
there any tools that can help identify fonts?

Thanks.

<dananrg@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142590270.236552.191530@j33g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

Hunter Elliott wrote:

That's probably one of the most cited resources in this newsgroup.

D

"Drew" <whoisthatmaskedman@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:qdFSf.39800$915.16689@southeast.rr.com...
unfortunately, yes - it's not like that sort of things is difficult to look
for in a search engine.

Hunter Elliott wrote:

I don't see the harm done. Those folks at myfonts.com have good products.

D

Thanks Drew and Hunter. Color me thrilled. I fed it a font from a
low-res image of a book cover on Amazon.com, and it accurately
identified the font.

As someone who takes personal offense at poor font choices, and takes
delight in elegant font choices, and is always wondering about fonts I
see out in the world, I know I'm going to be using that web site a lot.
I have several friends who are full-time designers. It's funny - one
webmaster I know for a large organization has a policy - if a web page
uses comic sans, he immediately shuts it down. A bit harsh, but
hilarious and Just as well. Evidently he takes even more offense than I
do over typographic abominations. :-)

Sorry if that site was listed in the FAQ for this group. I need to take
a look at the FAQ first.

In article <1142759044.225674.64900@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
<dananrg@yahoo.com> wrote:

There's actually a HUGE ban Comic Sans movement. Well, I can't say for
sure how "big" it is, but I *DO* hope they succed!! ( ;
http://bancomicsans.com/home.html

Too many of my non-designer friends LOVE Comic Sans and use it to the
point of abuse and sheer horror (on my part). I blame MicroShaft - they
include it with PowerPoint, Word, etc. Bastards!!

The sad thing is that if it hadn't been abused so badly by the
novice/DTP groups, it could have been an upstanding member of the
typographic family. Even the dorkiest fonts have their place and uses!
( ;

--
C Pierce
Creative Veritas
principal/designer
http://www.creativeveritas.com
*(Coming 2-1-2006)*
850 532 0835

"Drew" <whoisthatmaskedman@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:GhKSf.39839$915.3801@southeast.rr.com...
I wasn't faulting myfonts.com at all - they have a good site. I was
commenting that it wouldn't have been difficult to find their site by
looking in a good search engine.

In article <UKzTf.2269$4L1.1576@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com> , Hunter
Elliott <nospam@gatewaycity.com> wrote:

Well, personally speaking, I'm not sure I would know what words to use,
myself. "Font identifier" comes to mind, though . . .

--
C Pierce
Creative Veritas
principal/designer
http://www.creativeveritas.com
*(Coming 2-1-2006)*
850 532 0835

"Connie Pierce" <info@pierceillus.com> wrote in message
news:200320061305004504%info@pierceillus.com...
doing a search on google for "what font is this", WhatTheFont comes up
third. Pretty logical to me.