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Provides: An infinite level of control and variations for ornamenting text
Developer: Strider Software
Minimum Requirements: PowerPC running Mac OS X v10.4.11 or Intel Mac running Mac OS X v10.5.8
Retail Price: $199.95 for disk or $179.95 for download, $99.95 for upgrade from any previous version, $74.95 for student upgrade
Availability: Out now

After a nine year absence and a promise that a Mac OS X version would be out "soon," Strider Software has finally released TypeStyler for Mac OS X. This vector program that can stylize text like Photoshop—but with significantly more potential for customization—is once again back on my computer. The new TypeStyler has significantly more features, but it also has a curious amount of limitations and/or gaps; features are either missing or only partially there. Trust me, though; despite the holes here and there, this is an application I've truly missed.

TypeStyler 2 was one of the first "for fun" programs I ever purchased back in 1989. Just watching all of the nifty things one could do with text was all I needed to spend some money (that I certainly didn't have much at the time) all because it looked fun, creative, and, well, just wow. It wasn't until 2001 that TypeStyler 3 came out. I did a review on it in Applelinks and you can read that review here. If it seemed like ages, it should have as that was over 10 years between versions. As such, it makes the 9 years between version 3 and the finally released version X a short stroll in the park. The difference however, is that ever since we've not been able to run Classic on OS X (since Tiger), we've (I've) been TypeStyler-less. The drought is over, having fun with text is back. Keep in mind though that while TypeStyler is fun, it's also a serious type design application and a serious contender for anyone who needs to create creative and artistic output.

When one first looks at some of the art created by TypeStyler, it seems like it shouldn't be such a big deal because you can do many of the text art dynamics with Photoshop and any number of similar programs. The thing that makes TypeStyler special is that it is (1) a vector program, and (2) there is so many variations and potential beyond just emboss, shadows, and so many other artistic flourishes that if you do not watch out, time will be sucked out of you like when you go to the web for a quick look at YouTube.

Much of the general look and feel of TypeStyler will be comfort food for those of us who have waited for the long promised release. The general tool panel, the menus, the work region, etc. are all pretty much as they were. You can still create text and alter the text up and down the wazoo as well as vector shapes. But there is so much more to play with now, your "design-self" will have a great workout.

The first thing you see that you know things are different is when you bring up the "New Document" window as shown below. You can always with a standard page, but you can also setup for a poster, Banner, 3D models and even some Video options as well. If you need to set the size of the document, then do so (up to 10 x 10 feet) and you are good to go.

If you plan on taking any images from TS into another application and wish for any embossing or shading to match the intended document, here is where you need to set the background color as shown below.

Currently, TypeStyler is limited to RGB, and when you import it into Photoshop it will receive your defaulted color space. If you wish to convert to another color space and/or work in CMYK, export the image into Photoshop and “Convert to profile...” in the Edit menu. Soon, in an upcoming update, TypeStyler will let you export to either RGB or CMYK just as it did in TypeStyler 3. Meanwhile, one "workaround" is to use the appropriate colors from the Color Panel, but it will still be an RGB color space document until you convert it in Photoshop.

As before, you enter text in a separate text box, not directly on the page. While the text is in the box you can change the font and the size, but the size is at best only a starter because once on the screen you can stretch grow handles to change the size to whatever you want. In fact one of the things that is wonderful about TypeStyler is that you have complete access to pretty much anything while you are working with various windows and other toolbars open. If you compare this to (say) Adobe Photoshop, if you have a filter open and need to change to a different layer, you have to close the Filter window, change the layer, reopen the Filter and complete what you were trying to do.

Once your text is on the page, the fun begins. As shown below, you can change the font at any time, change the style, and change the distortions on the style as quickly as you can grab the tools. The biggest limitation is that not all operations can be undone by Command-z and sometimes you just have to think about what you did to back up.

If you are very certain that you will not be needing to edit your text, and you wish to alter individual letters, you can always "Create Outlines" of the text and then the text become simple vector objects that can all be altered individually as you need or chose.

You can get ideas of what to do by using the pre-made styles from the Style Library and/or use the Style Workshop to create original styles or alter previously made ones. In the image below, I've clicked on the "Stars & Stripes" style in the Style Library and you can see some of the dynamics in the Style Workshop window which is lying over the Style Library (perhaps I'm trying to get too much in this one image?).

Layers are handled in a window called the Objects Palette and as in any application with layers, you can drag the items up or down in the Objects Palette so that objects on top appear above objects further down. From the Objects Palette one can also control Transparency. [Note: in the image below, the checkbox on the top two layers is checked indicating that I can move both objects (the vector triangle and the text) at the same time. If I were to un-check one of them than I could move one and not the other.]

Notice in the Styles Workshop Palette two images up, over the flag image there is a "Custom" button? If you click on that, a side sheet opens on the right side showing the full range of custom fills one can do. In the four tabs: Classic, iPhoto, Shader, and Legacy, once can choose a phenomenal range of options. As the name implies, if you have any images in iPhoto, you can access them via the iPhoto tab. If you do not use iPhoto and still want to use images on your computer, you can drag the images directly into the Image Well (the region where the American flag is seen).

And, needless to say, you can alter images as well. As shown below in a "before" (on top) and an "after" (below), I took a simple photo of some chillies on a cutting board and with a few clicks I was able to make a creative swirl of color. In the very beginning of this review I made reference to some missing dynamics, this feature is one of those instances as the ability to alter an image only works if you have an image to alter. If you have (for example) a color and/or a shader image and try to do anything with these tools, nothing happens. The fact that you can't do anything is not the issue, the issue is that these tools should be grayed-out to indicate that they are not currently operational based on what you have selected and/or available. But they are not grayed out and they appear to be in fine, ready to use working order. Also note that while you can Reset the entire group of settings, if you only want to reset specified settings, you can't. In addition there is no numerical window for the image's rotation. If you wish to repeat a specific rotation on other images, you have to wing it by eye.

A surprising amount of typesetting capabilities and features are available in TypeStyler. As shown below, you have control on letting spacing as a whole (from here) but if you want to do letter-by-letter kerning, you do need to slip back into the text fill-in box. This is one example where working directly on the page as opposed to the text box would be an asset. The Layout tab provides leading control (space between text lines) as well as text spacing and space between paragraphs. Typography lets you control such elements as All Caps, Small Caps, Super- & Sub-scripting, justification, etc. Fill Series lets you vary things such as text color by letter and how often that color repeats. Lastly, the Wacky tab provides a collection of pre-made text variations beyond what is available in the standard distortion options. Anyone for "Wavy Gravy #1?"

Once you've finished your document you can either save it as a TypeStyler document or you can export it directly as a Photoshop, PDF, Illustrator, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, PICT, or GIF image. Let me focus on two of these for a moment because there are some interesting dynamics between them: If you export the image as a Photoshop document, you will capture all the nuances that the TypeStyler image has but it will rasterize the document (e.g., you will lose the ability to edit the exported document). If you save the item as an Illustrator document, you will retain the ability to edit the document in Illustrator (it retains it's vector heritage) but it will lose almost all of it's visual styling because Illustrator doesn't support or do (for example) embossing and other such styling in AI. In each of these, when you export, all of the layers will be maintained. When you export into Photoshop, if you have any shadows, they will now have their own layer. If you export the image as PDF, it will be rasterized just as a Photoshop image (albeit with a single layer) but you can open the PDF directly in AI for any subsequent work in Illustrator.

One problem I did discover is that if you have an image that was created in AI and brought into TypeStyler. If you import the image it will appear OK but you cannot round-trip the image back to AI. If you copy and paste the AI image into TypeStyler, the image is rasterized and will not have any anti-aliasing so it will appear very pixilated.

Simply, working in TS and other applications has some limitations that may require experimentation to overcome. However, if you create in TS and export out as a psd or TIFF image, knowing that any alterations will mean you have to return to TS for those alterations, is probably the safest and best practice.

However, more and more can be done within TypeStyler obviating the need for using other applications. For example, if you recall from the very first image, starting a new document means you can set up a document for boxes, bags, flyers, posters, you name it. Obviously art-text is only part of any of these, you also need text. So TypeStyler lets you enter text onto your page in a fashion that is sort of similar to creating the art-text as shown below.

From the Tool palette, you mousedown on the Body Text icon and select the outside contours that you want on the page. The text frame can have all of the dynamics of styling as would any other object on a TypeStyler document (e.g., grab the handles to alter the shape and/or size of the object) but in addition the text will simply word wrap the changing shape as you'd want. Some of these do need some fine-tuning such as the red "Heart" in the center of the image. Note how when the item is first created you have a box around the object with a blue-purple shade and the text has a blue shade showing it's active and ready for you to enter new text within. The problem is that you can't change the color that shows the text is active and on items such as the red heart, bright yellow text against a light blue background is painful too look at. The yellow text looks fine against the red items, when you click off the image so that it's not selected, but when it's selected, fagetaboutit. Either Strider Software needs to let the user select an alternate contrasting color for selected text or some sort of automatic contrasting color option.

You can change the general shape of these objects, e.g., make an object narrower/wider, shorter/taller but one big limitation of the body text is that once you've place your body text container on a page, you cannot alter the shape of the container to something else from the body text tool. That is, if you selected the triangle as I've done above and later wish to use a diamond shape, you can't simply select what you have, use the tool to select what you want and you are done. Rather, you need to copy your text, select a different shape, drag out the shape, paste your text and then refine as needed.

Meanwhile, you've selected your Body Text, you've created your art text, and now you want to see what the whole "package" is going to look like. That's when you select the Visualizer. Below I'm showing a view of both the Visualizer and the working screen region showing my objects and how they look on a "Bag." Mousing down on the object, you can rotate and move the bag's view around so you can see how it looks from any angle. At any time you can also select the cone, torus, can, or any other object to view the item.

One of the "tricky" parts of using the Visualizer is that when (for example) you select the bag, what you may not see or be aware of is that on your canvas is now an outline of the parts of the bag including cut and fold marks. If your art is not within the confines of the bag, it will appear "off" the bag. What you do need to do is to drag your art pieces onto where ever on the bag you want them to be located. If they are half-off the bag on the screen, they will appear half-off the bag in the Visualizer because they are not set in the proper place. What you need to do is to push aside the Visualizer a moment, drag your art to where you want it generally located on the bag, and then fine-tune appearance in the Visualizer.

One interesting limitation with TypeStyler is that while you do have Control-Click contextual menus, right-clicking doesn't do anything. I did not know that one had to code that feature/dynamic into an application. I just assumed that if you had one, you had the other. Who knew? Nonetheless, I've been told by David Strider that this will be hooked up sometime in the future. Hopefully the sooner the better.

Despite all of the wonderful and creative improvements in TS, it's sad to see that the Alignment tool is still arcane and cumbersome. [Rather than simple icons to click on, the user has to select from the horizontal or vertical drop-down menu "No Change, align right, align centers, distribute midpoints," etc.] There's time and places for dropdown menus but this is one that calls for icons to click on.

Despite the limitations, it's a delight to see TypeStyler back on my computer. For anyone who wants to play with type because it's fun, or if their job is to create artistic and creative designs that includes text, you'd be making a mistake to pass on TypeStyler. The new features are a pleasure to use and can bring out artistic design and creativity within you that you may have dropped because it was too hard otherwise.

Like most reviews of deep applications, this one scratches the surface of what can be done. Strider software provides a TWO MONTH free time to use TypeStyler in any way you want before you have to make a choice. There is no embossed "TRIAL" appearing on things you print or look at on the screen. There are no restrictions in use. Download the trial, play with it for up to two months, and try to create what you did in TypeStyler in any other application. Sadly, a lot you will be doing is hacking as the manual is still not available for release. Hopefully soon.

In short, despite the various complaints and limitations, TypeStyler is still (and always has been) the best type styler around. Nonetheless, because of the surprising number of features and dynamics that are not working at all or not working as one would expect it's very hard to point at TypeStyler and say it's completely ready to go. The lack of a manual is also part of the problem.

On the other hand, the output for TypeStyler is ready to go and since it's a reasonably easy program to hack through, it's not as if the program is not ready for prime time: it is, well mostly. Nonetheless, with a two full month trial time, there's plenty of time for anyone to download the program try it out and after two months, see if you can (or want to) get by without TypeStyler. It's not perfect now, but it's pretty darn good.

___________ Gary Coyne has been a scientific glassblower for over 30 years. He's been using Macs since 1985 (his first was a fat Mac) and has been writing reviews of Mac software and hardware since 1995.