Project Management

20 online topography tools for web designers

By // March 31, 2011, 4:53 AM PST

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  • abcTajpu 1.6.5 Firefox Plugin

    With this add-on, when you are typing in Firefox or Thunderbird, you can easily type accented words, international characters, or symbols, just by right-clicking for a context menu. You can also define your own hotkeys for frequently used characters or symbols.

  • Baseline Rhythm Calculator

    Baseline Rhythm Calculator generates CSS from a base font size and line height in px entered by the user. Just type in the base font size and base line height, hit the “calculate” button, and the whole page will change according to your input. When you are satisfied, grab the auto-generated CSS code.

  • Better CSS Font Stacks

    These are great font stacks for your CSS style sheets that you can download all-in-one in a 22 page PDF (13.1MB) document.

  • BitFontMaker

    This is an online bitmap font editor for both Windows and Mac that allows you to create bit-mapped fonts on the fly. Edit the baseline font then give it a name and copyright, then click the “Create Font” button and your *.ttf file is created.

  • Cool Text

    Cool Text is a FREE graphics generator for web pages and anywhere else you need an impressive logo without a lot of design work.  Simply choose what kind of image you would like. Then fill out a form and you'll have your own custom image created on the fly.

  • Copy Plain Text

    Have you ever copied something to or from Firefox, IE, or Office documents and been annoyed that the text formatting (bold, font size, etc) came with it? Don't you wish you could just copy the text itself, without having to copy it, paste it into notepad, and then copy it again? This extension gives you an option to copy text without the formatting. You can even set it to trim extra space in and around the copied text

  • CSS Type Set, Letter Press for the Digital Age

    CSS Type Set allows you to visually and interactively style text and it generates the CSS. Create Your CSS style sheet online without knowing any coding. CSS Type Set is a hands-on typography tool that allows designers and developers to interactively test and learn how to style their Web content.

  • CSS Typeset Matrix and code generator

    Web-Typography Tool: CSS-Typeset Matrix and code generator is a matrix table that presents font sizes with both symmetrical and asymmetrical margins for various base font sizes -- in pixel and em units. It also generates the source code on the fly, and is created by Jan Quickels.

  • CSSTXT : Creates A Style

    CSS TXT is a style generator for text and advanced properties include sliding bars for styling. No need to know coding as it generates a CSS file.

  • CSSType – Web Safe Typography on Screen for Pixel Perfectionists

    CSSType lets you preview and modify text with this online application. It allows modifying text, font, color, size, background, word-spacing, padding, line height, text indent, lettering spacing, and text align. Finally you can get and generate CSS output for use.

  • Em based layouts - Vertical rhythm calculator

    This tool converts pixel values to em values depending on the font size of the text. You can also set margins and paddings automatically, depending on the line height you’ve defined. Once installed on the PC it runs on Adobe AIR runtime, and both can be found on the web site.

  • EM Calculator

    Em Calculator is a small JavaScript tool which helps making scalable and accessible CSS design. It converts size in pixels to relative em units, which are based on a text size.

  • Facelift Image Replacement (or FLIR, pronounced fleer)

    Facelift Image Replacement (or FLIR, pronounced fleer) is an image replacement script that dynamically generates image representations of text on your web page in fonts that otherwise might not be visible to your visitors. The generated image will be automatically inserted into your web page via JavaScript and visible to all modern browsers.  The free download is available from the web site.

  • Flipping Typical

    Flipping Typical allows you to enter text and then preview it in many different fonts at one time. Flipping typical is a way to explore the popular typefaces you have on your computer. If you want to see another font that’s not there – just click the font name in the black bar at the top of the screen, type in the name of a font, it will become the main font and will be remembered. You can also change the sample text from “flipping typical” to anything you wish, as I have done with the text “Web topography."

  • Font Burner

    Font Burner is a website enhancement tool that makes it easy for you to add new fonts to your website. Its archive of fonts work universally in all browsers and on all computers. By adding a simple block of code to your web pages you can try out any of the hundreds of font at Font Burner.

  • Font Finder

    Font Finder is another Firefox plug in that allows a user to analyze the font information of any element on the page, as shown here.

  • Font Picker

    This simple tool shows you all the fonts installed on your computer and helps you choose which one is most suitable for a particular project,

  • Font Tester

    Font Tester is a free online font comparison tool. It allows you to easily preview and compare different fonts side by side with various CSS font styles applied to them. It is very useful for web developers who are looking for just the right font/style/color to use in their pages. To use it all you have to do is simply enter the text you would like to preview, modify the various CSS properties until you find a style you like, and then click on the “Get CSS Code” button to generate all the necessary CSS code to reproduce those styles in your webpage.

  • Fontifier

    Fontifier lets you use your own handwriting for the text you write on your computer. It turns a scanned sample of your handwriting into a handwriting font that you can use in your word processor or graphics program.

  • Fontstruct

    FontStruct lets you quickly and easily create fonts constructed out of geometrical shapes, which are arranged in a grid pattern, like tiles or bricks. FontStruct is a free font-building tool by FontShop. Once you’re done building, FontStruct generates high-quality TrueType fonts, ready to use in any Mac or Windows application.

abcTajpu 1.6.5 Firefox Plugin

With this add-on, when you are typing in Firefox or Thunderbird, you can easily type accented words, international characters, or symbols, just by right-clicking for a context menu. You can also define your own hotkeys for frequently used characters or symbols.

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By Ryan Boudreaux

Ryan has performed in a broad range of technology support roles for electric-generation utilities, including nuclear power plants, and for the telecommunications industry. He has worked in web development for the restaurant industry and the Federal g...