In the past, we’ve mentioned some free online tools that help you identify a font from a sample, such as www.linotype.com/fontidentifier.html, www.identifont.com, and the WhatTheFont feature at www.MyFonts.com (which also has a free iPhone app!).

Here’s another: www.whatfontis.com. One nice feature is that you can tell it to list only free fonts, commercial fonts, or both. Also useful: it provides a long list of alternate fonts, so if you have a font you like, but want a slightly different one, you may find an acceptable option in the list of results.

Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson is the editorial director of PlanetQuark.com, and the editor and publisher of Design Tools Monthly. He’s also the author of the QuarkXPress 8 and QuarkXPress 7 training titles at Lynda.com, as well as the training videos Quark includes in the box with QuarkXPress 7 . In addition, Jay writes regularly for Macworld and Photoshop User magazines and speaks at industry events.