So I realized that Apple really dropped the ball going for mega-control over font output in Apple apps… “Show Fonts” does anything but.
I mean, yeah, there’s a lot of options in there to tweak — but I think the problem is made worse by the number of things going on.
How about this? Ditch 90% of that UI (and I’m an amateur type snob, so this would represent a big loss of control for me here!). Try this: offer a selector for “Voice”. As in, y’know, “what voice do you want to convey this thought with?”
So you’re writing up a document and man, that sans-serif just ain’t conveying the emotion of what you’re trying to say… Maybe you need a little more snark? Maybe anger? How about a whimper. Those are things that you can achieve in type. It’s not hard — there are new styles being released all the time. It’s like a Photoshoppian “Layer Style” for your thoughts.
Now here’s one more UI brainstorm: start out with the voice option and in step 2, toss up the recommended voice style encircled by similar but slightly different type styles… to “hone your voice”. Click on one of the other styles and the “voice cloud” rotates and now uses that new style as its central axis. Actually, this is very much like how Quicksilver’s eye-gooey Constellation UI works.
Eh? Eh? Whaddya think?
Factory Joe 