With dropToInDesign you can automatically create multiple typeface specimens: Drop one or more fonts onto the app. The script builds a specimen file for every font and opens it for you in InDesign.
- The fonts don’t have to be installed (at least if you use InDesign CS5 or later).
- You can edit the InDesign Template for your needs to create your own branded specimens.
- You find the template file inside the app (Right click on the app, Show package contents: Contents -> Resources -> template_specimen.idml)
- You can add custom placeholder-variables in your template. (See dev notes below)
- You can duplicate the app, rename it and edit every template specimen for certain needs.
- Please keep in mind: Currently you have to assign a non-standard font with a style other than regular to a textbox (story) in InDesign. Otherwise the box won’t be recognized (and replaced with your dropped font).
This is currently the first version. If you have feature requests, just drop us a line!
- Adobe InDesign CS5+
- MacOSX (If you want to use the standalone version of SpecimenDropper)
If you want to have more control (like adding placeholder-variables), you should work with the uncompiled version. You can run the script via commandline and add one or more fonts as attributes. Example:
python dropToInDesign.py user/test/desktop/FiraSans-Bold.otf user/test/desktop/FiraSans-Bold.otf
With variables you can add dynamic content to your template specimens.
These are the preset variables in your template:
{{timestamp}}-> Current date and time{{familyname}}-> Name of the font family{{style}}-> Name of the font style{{filename}}-> Filename of the font{{headline}}-> "alphabet-type.com"
You can add custom variables in dropToInDesign.py inside the placeholders dictionary. See the code-comments for further information.
- fontTools (Get it here: https://github.com/behdad/fonttools/)