Some of you may be familiar with idiotproofed.com, a web-based proofing tool I made with Very Cool Studio in 2018. I have been building Font Proof on and off for a few years since (link at the bottom of this post). It’s a native macOS proofing app, and is now stable enough to share.
For Glyphs users: it watches your Glyphs file and updates when you save. Edit a point, change spacing, or toggle a feature, and the proof updates. No exporting and re-importing.
You also work on the actual PDF the whole time, not a separate preview. Swap a font, change spacing, or add a section, and the PDF updates.
Some notable features:
• Proof types: waterfalls, glyph grids, columns and rows, style comparisons, basic text, and markup annotation
• Inline font mixing: auto mode distributes styles across running text by weighted probability; manual mode lets you tag exact ranges with specific styles
• Linked text files: point a .txt, .rtf, or .md at any section or grid cell, and the proof updates when you edit the file
• Templates: built-in section templates (pangrams, spacing tests, kerning pairs, diacritics for 26 languages) and proof templates that save sections, fonts, settings, and page size, so you can drop a new font into a proof you already built
• Markup: freeze a PDF snapshot and annotate it with a freehand pen and text notes, with adjustable colors and stroke widths, saved inside the proof file
Pricing: $100, one time. No subscription, no seats, all updates included. There is a 14-day free trial with no card required, and you buy the license inside the app. Students can email me for a discount (email is on the site)
Requires macOS 15 or later. Direct download. If you try it and something feels off or missing, would love to hear from you.
