Ready to start designing your own type? Here are a few options:
FontLab pretty much runs the professional type design show these days, with FontLab Studio and a revived Fontographer. FontLab is a little difficult to get to grips with, but offers advanced OpenType editing that the cheaper and easier to get to grips with Fontographer lacks.
If you're just getting started and do not need more advanced typographical features, try FontLab's cheaper little brother, TypeTool. All for Mac & Windows.
FontForge is a scary program, mostly down to its olde worlde interface - on a Mac it runs under X11 - and its deeply technical nature. Not for the faint of heart, but if you're making your own fonts, you're pretty ruffty-tuffty anyhow, right? Would it help to know it's completely free? For Macs, Windows and Linux.
DTL FontMaster is a series of utilities that costs over 2000€. It makes fonts using telepathy, and cures MRSA. Well at that price it better. There is a free version for Windows and Mac OS Classic.
neat at no cost
Milton Friedman was wrong - there is such a thing as a free lunch:
Linotype FontExplorer X is a great little font manager that even does auto-activation of typefaces. Read the manual first though, or your fonts may play hide and seek. For Mac.
Inkscape is an opensource vector illustration package. It can come in useful for autotracing graphics etc, or if you can't quite afford a commerical package. For Mac (under X11), Windows and Linux.
Combine PDF is a handy little utility that allows you to stitch multiple PDF files together, reorder pages and other neat stuff. For Mac.
Scribus is a suprisingly advanced DTP package with advanced PDF export controls. A little ropey on the Mac, but worth a go on Windows and Linux. Opensource, so don't expect its interface to be like Indesign.
Gimpshop is a version of the opensource GIMP editor that has been reworked to closely resemble Adobe Photoshop in its menu structure.There are plenty of educational sites, blogs and news sites out there. Some of the opinions and writings featured on them are written by people far more serious and intellectually rigourous than us. And some of them are crap. Here's what we recommend, in no particular order:
Typophile is a collaborative typographic project, best known for its lively forums. Lurk, then dive in.
Typographica is
a type blog with news and commentary, edited by Stephen
Coles
and Joshua Lurie-Terrell. Its been
a bit quiet recently, but so have we. Certain to revive soon.
MS Typo News brings you type news compiled by Microsoft's Typography division.
Fontzone is a pay-to-read typography site - it does have a free web feed.
FontFeed comes from FontShop, and features news, tips and tutorials, usually gently steered towards FontShop products. Not the busiest of blogs - at the time they were averaging 3 posts a month - but good nether the less. Contributors include Stephen Coles and Yves Peters.
Notes on type design - a great introduction to typeface design. The guides work through the actual processes of type design, rather than acting as a tutorial in font founding software itself.
Type Basics from Underware is a stylish series of annotated sketches that gives particularly good advice on type design. Available in English, German and Spanish.
Chank Howto is a quick and dirty introduction to creating traced fonts such as handwriting fonts. If the two sites above were too indepth or serious for you, this might be better. It is a little out of date, but software principles can be transferred with a little thought and observation. Appropriate if you're dipping your toes for fun.