whatthefont.com is helpful...
They can be if it's a font sold by MyFonts.com.
You're a genius Tiki! Thanks!
Fred, do you have a program to sort/search your fonts? What is it? I desperately need something to help manage my fonts.
I use a combination of a font identification program named FontExpert and a font previewing/management application named TypoGraf. I also co-authored and published the first application (FontFinder) ever developed that identified unknown type from a printed sample in 1994. We were also the North American master distributor for FontExpert for a couple of years until Digital Art Solutions won their contract. FontFinder is no longer on the market and neither is FontExpert.
The reason for this may surprise you. Simply put, sign makers, printers, designers did not feel the need existed sufficiently to purchase a license for either. In fact, the professional forensic document examiners community bought more licenses for FontFinder than did the sign making and print industries combined even though the application received excellent reviews from both Publish and Sign Business magazines and was well advertised and presented at the NESA Expo (now ISA) in 1994. Among our customers were the FBI, the Secret Service, the National Security Agency, the Dept. of Defense and lots of crime labs and independent forensic document examiners. It was accurate enough to tell the difference between Adobe's version of Goudy Old Style and 11 other foundry's versions.
The sign guys and gals looked at it and basically said "ho hum" or "it isn't easy enough" and did not buy. When we came to market with FontExpert, it was deja vu all over again even though the application was much more comprehensive and user friendly. The folks who have pretty much a daily need to identify type did not buy. At this point the publishers of FontExpert have moved on and a great tool is gone.
But if you do a search for a post by me using FontExpert as your keyword, I have explained how I identify type in some detail. It isn't all that hard but it also takes some willingness to study type design and learn its history and classification nomenclature to even begin to do it efficiently.
If you care to delve into some of the basics of type,
here's a link to a page on my main website that may be of some help. Be sure to follow the links on the page to some additional information and some one line showings of 5000 typefaces with some basic classification applied to them.
And always remember that he who dies with the most fonts, wins.