Current Problems/Inconsistencies in Font Lists + Suggested Solutions:
NUMBER OF FONTS SIMULTANEOUSLY DISPLAYED:
Premiere Pro (PP): 16 (too few!)
AE: 19 (too few!)
Photoshop: 40 (adequate)
Illustrator: auto-maximizing (displays as many fonts as screen supports, 50 on a 1920x1080 monitor)
*SOLUTION: Make all font lists auto-maximizing like Illustrator!
FONT PREVIEWS:
PP: Yes (6 user selected characters previewed next to font names)
AE: No previews
Photoshop: Yes ('Sample' displayed in each font, but too small for comfortable viewing)
Illustrator: Yes (Each font name is displayed in actual font, but this makes it inconvenient to know the name of 'Dingbat' fonts.)
*SOLUTION: Make all font lists display font names in left column, with 'Sample' displayed in the actual fonts to the right. When users select any text, replace 'Sample' with the first 1-30 selected characters for instant previewing in all available fonts (e.g. selecting the '&' character would display '&' in all available fonts for easy, instant comparison). Also make font lists resizable with a zoom bar at top of list to ensure comfortable viewing for everyone.
SCROLL BAR:
PP & AE: Yes
Photoshop: Yes (perfect size and color scheme for best visibility)
Illustrator: No (current scrolling method is frustratingly slow!)
SOLUTION: Add a Photoshop style scroll bar to each font list for best visibility/usability.
FONT SELECTING WITH ARROW KEYS:
PP & AE: Yes, by arrow-keying up/down in both the font fields and font lists
Photoshop & Illustrator: Only from the font fields. Highlighting fonts with the arrow keys in the font lists doesn't result in font visualizing.
SOLUTION: Allow PREVIEWING of fonts by arrow-keying up/down in font fields and font lists in all CS programs. I emphasize 'previewing' instead of 'selecting', since previewing fonts would avoid problem of unnecessary undos being created for each font visualized with the arrow keys. (Note: Arrow-scrolling through the font field in Photoshop's Options bar works as I suggest, by 'previewing' each font without creating unnecessary undos. Unfortunately, arrow-scrolling through the font field in Photoshop's Character panel does create useless "Set Character Style" History states for every visualized font. This kind of inconsistency even within a single program is crazy!)
CONCLUSION:
CS programs are all part of the same family, and should therefore behave as such with consistently intelligent tools. This includes font lists with a consistently intelligent design.
Please comment and share! Let's get these glaring font list inconsistencies finally fixed!