Shift vs Type Light

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.

Type Light is a free TrueType font editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It creates and modifies TTF fonts, including custom symbol and barcode fonts. Drawing tools make glyphs from straight lines and quadratic Bézier curves, with operations for combining or subtracting shapes. You can assign Unicode values or custom encodings to glyph slots and set horizontal metrics. Basic kerning tables and pair adjustments are supported. Metadata controls cover family name, style flags, copyright strings, and embedding permissions. The editor exports Windows-compatible TTF files that the product page says work in Office applications, Adobe products, and web browsers. No registration is required, and the free plan has no feature restrictions or trial period. Created fonts may be used commercially. Type Light does not provide OpenType features, variable fonts, or PostScript Type 1 support, and its undo history is limited.