Prototypo vs Shift

Prototypo is an online app for designing typefaces from four parametric starting points: Prototypo Fell, Prototypo Grotesk, Prototypo Elzevir, and Spectral. Its controls cover more than thirty characteristics, including thickness, aperture, and roundness, with separate adjustments for serif details. Users can change individual letters or groups of letters, then export fonts in OTF format for installation on macOS, Windows, or Linux, or display them in a browser. A Chrome extension previews font changes on websites, and fonts can be sent to Glyphr Studio for further editing. Prototypo supports the Latin Extended 3 glyph set, but has no cursive templates and does not let users import their own fonts to modify. The maker says exported fonts use a CC0 license, permitting commercial use without permission. The free plan has limited parameter range and one week of support; Pro is $8.25 per month and Team is $49.96 per month. The FAQ lists a free trial and requires an up-to-date Chrome, Firefox, or Opera browser.

Shift is a free, open-source desktop font editor for designing variable fonts on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Version 0.1.1 is the first alpha release, and the maker says workflows and document details may change. The editor draws and edits straight and cubic curves, shapes, points, handles, side bearings, and advance width. Shape operations include moving, resizing, rotating, flipping, aligning, distributing, union, intersect, and subtract on closed contours. Users can inspect and edit variable-font axes, sources, mappings, style labels, and named instances. The glyph catalog uses Hyperglot language data to indicate required characters for selected languages and scripts. Shift opens `.shift` documents and inspects TTF, OTF, UFO, Designspace, Glyphs, and Glyphspackage sources. TTF and OTF files are view-only previews. Editable `.shift` files can be saved and TrueType fonts exported. Text proofing and complete spacing and kerning workflows are not yet available.