This week we were pleased to see that our friends at Design by Front ushered Typecast, a browser-based tool for designing Web pages with Web fonts, into public beta. We've been big fans of Typecast since its introduction into private beta one year ago. With a beautifully and thoughtfully constructed UI, Typecast is a joy to use. More importantly, the application succeeds in its mission of making Web fonts easier to use.

Typecast allows users to position and manipulate live text directly within the browser. This provides a more accurate preview of how text will appear when part of a website. It also simplifies the design workflow by reducing dependencies on static images when creating website mockups. Users can select Web fonts from several services including Fonts.com Web Fonts for use in their designs.

One of our favorite aspects is the ability to incorporate some of the typographic finer points that have typically been reserved for print design. Web designers can make adjustments to kerning, line spacing, coloring and shadowing or insert OpenType features such as ligatures and small caps with ease.

Typecast is free to use while in beta. We encourage you to give it a shot. The Typecast team is looking for feedback, so be sure to let them know what you think.

Johnathan Zsittnik is the eCommerce Marketing Manager at Monotype Imaging. Johnathan holds both a bachelor's degree in marketing and a master's degree in business administration from Bentley University.