Monotype Imaging Holdings (www.monotype.com) -- a provider of typefaces, technology and expertise for creative applications and consumer devices -- has announced the commercial launch of its Typecast application, a browser-based tool for designing Web pages with Web fonts. It launches commercially after a year and a half in private and public beta programs.


Web designers are able to combine, compare and style Web fonts without performing screen captures in third-party applications or through hand coding. Users can visually style text directly within the browser. As designers work, Typecast software generates production-ready HTML and CSS code behind the scenes. When designers are ready to start building their sites, they can export that HTML and CSS, plus generate embedded code that will serve their project’s typefaces to their site.
 
Designers can set styles such as font size, line spacing and coloring, and also apply OpenType features such as ligatures, small caps, fractions, lining and old style figures, and swash characters. Designers are able to try fonts on real, full-length project content, not just short snippets. Using side-by-side comparison and testing, designers can see at a glance what’s working and what’s not. Styles can be adjusted across entire projects.
 
The Typecast application is available at four subscription levels, each with monthly, yearly and tri-yearly billing options. Prices start at US$29 per month for an individual plan, and all plans include a free standard subscription to Fonts.com Web Fonts worth $10 per month, enabling Typecast subscribers to use more than 20,000 Web fonts on their live sites.

The Typecast application is available as a free trial for 14 days. It allows designers to experiment with fonts from Typekit, Fontdeck, Webtype and Google Web Fonts as well as Monotype’s Fonts.com Web Fonts.