It would be great if a text field is added to the top of the typefaces menu, so you can type your own text to preview your fonts in, instead of the word 'sample'.
It would be very helpful to me if the drop-down menu for fonts allowed me to select the word (or even better, words) that I want to see the font in. (Instead of the word "sample").
All the websites that sell fonts allow the user to enter their own text to preview the font in a way closer to the intended use. This also lets you know in advance if a font includes special characters you might want, such as a fancy ampersand.
For example: when making Christmas cards, it would be helpful to see how the words "Merry Christmas" preview in each particular font. Or if making a poster or circular for a particular company or event, to see those words. Or to enter the name of the person for whom an event is planned.
I realize that it is possible to enter the text, then highlight it, then have it change live on the document as you scroll down your fonts, but it would be even better to start out with a likely candidate from the get go.
Face it. 'Sample' is a poor example. Let the user to define what he wants to see as sample text when choosing a font. And even better, allow him to store 3 choices and edit each one if necessary. He might want one with capitalized vowels, or vowels and consonants, or capitalized consonants or any mix, then, once set, he can choose one of the three he's defined, or redefine one that he's set. 'Sample' is lame.
Now that the Type -> Match Font feature has been released, this recommendation for changing the "Sample" text is very important. ...although it would still be useful in the original area of suggestion, when choosing a font for typing a new block of text.
The sample font size on the current Match Font tool makes it a challenge to compare the available fonts to the original font, and with few or no common letters, it becomes even more challenging.
In the example below, the lower-case letter "m" is the only overlap between "Rooms" and "Sample." Viewing the recommended Typekit fonts in the image above, there appear to be none that are similar.
Allowing a user to arbitrarily change the preview text would potentially slow Photoshop down considerably, because we would need to re-render that text in every font on your machine.
Do you have a suggestion for a better default word?
Also, are you familiar with the instant font preview we added in June 2014? With a type layer selected, you can scroll through you list of fonts and the on-canvas preview changes in real-time. This allows you to "try out" a number of different fonts with your own text, and in the context of your document.
«potentially slow Photoshop down considerably, because we would need to re-render that text in every font on your machine» That is OK, as that is expected and expected to happen once. There can't be 'universal' word, as this may depend of user language. I.e. I would like sample text to contain English word, Russian word and a zero (to check if it has dot or slash inside)
I'm Ok also with the slow down, I care more about being able to identify the font which is what you need in the first place if using the option "Match font". You can have the right font and choose a different one just because you couldn't compare the right characters.
I would need to see more than 6 characters in the word "Sample", ideally, the alphabet and numbers. The quick brown fox... you know.
Also, maybe presenting the results in small groups would be an idea. Let's show the 5 more similar fonts and then, the next five, or the next 10.
The most unique letters in a font would be most helpful. Lower-case a,g,e,d Uppercase A,G,I, E numerals 1,2,6,9,7. I agree, I'll take the speed hit. Waiting a bit for a useful function is far more valuable than the alternative.
You've clearly never even opened photoshop. While you're trying to audition fonts, the font dropdown covers up the artboard so you can't see anything. BRILLIANT. Only worthless. Thanks for nothing.
One year later the topic just sinked in the board and we still have to find out which font is it judging by the sample "Sample". Isn't that great? I dismissed this feature and kept using third party services like...
illustrator now does it blazingly fast, shows you the entire font list with any word you're currently typing as the sample text. Proving it doesn't need to be slow. So, the illustrator team found a way. Go talk to them! 🙂
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