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Tiger: Font Management


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View Poll Results: What Font Management App do you prefer?
Extensis Suitcase X1 2 7.41%
Extensis Font Reserve 0 0%
Alsoft Master Juggler 0 0%
Insider Software FontAgent Pro 1 3.70%
Apple Font Book 17 62.96%
Other (mention in your reply) 1 3.70%
None 6 22.22%
Voters: 27. You may not vote on this poll

Tiger: Font Management
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2005-11-26, 16:49

Doing a search of the forums yielded nothing recent on the topic of font management software in OS X 10.4 ("Tiger"), hence this thread.

By now I imagine that a great number of you graphic designers out there have switched over to Tiger, so I'm looking for your opinions on font management apps that are currently available for the Macintosh (ie, Suitcase, Font Reserve, Apple's built-in Font Book, etc.)

I've used both Suitcase and Font Reserve over the years and although they're BOTH now owned by Extensis I want the word on the skreet about these apps.

Beyond the poll, toss in your comments about the specifics of your apps. Here are a few things to discuss:

What kind of environment are you using your font manager in and how many fonts are you using?

Does your font manager play nice with page layout software via plug-ins?

What features makes yours better than the competition?

(Luca, if I leave any options out of this poll please jump in there and add it!)

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2005-11-26, 16:57

FontExplorer X deserves a mention.
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PKIDelirium
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Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2005-11-26, 17:26

I don't use any. The only think I use fonts in is Photoshop for graphics use, and ImageReady to stamp photos.
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ast3r3x
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2005-11-26, 18:39

I put Extensis X1 just because it's the only one I use...and have been using since I added a whole bunch of fonts to my computer. I went from several hundred to several thousand and fontbook doesn't seem to be able to handle that. Extensis however can, so I am just going through and getting rid of all the fonts I don't want, and then I'm going to make sets of serif, sans-serif, script, gothic...and then a couple more specialty font groups.

To be honest, I am just trying out Suitcase, and I am not really sure how to use it...not sure I get what it does, I am just using it for oraganization. Not sure what Active or not means. I have too many fonts though, half of them I think are ugly and will never use, so I need to get rid of them.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2005-11-27, 00:28

Chucker, thanks for mentioning the Linotype product. I've downloaded that one and am trying it out now.

ast3r3x, the "active" designation means that you can turn fonts on and off, meaning that they can be unavailable at times to keep you from loading in all "several thousand" fonts every time you boot up. You can create font sets that are activated only if specified applications (or documents) are running (or open), really big for people in output.

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
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chucker
 
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2005-11-27, 03:35

Quote:
Originally Posted by drewprops
Chucker, thanks for mentioning the Linotype product. I've downloaded that one and am trying it out now.
You're welcome. I never downloaded it myself but I hear good things about it.

Quote:
ast3r3x, the "active" designation means that you can turn fonts on and off, meaning that they can be unavailable at times to keep you from loading in all "several thousand" fonts every time you boot up. You can create font sets that are activated only if specified applications (or documents) are running (or open), really big for people in output.
Yes. It's a huge RAM saver to have only the fonts you really need activated, especially when you're into layout/typography/etc. and deal with thousands of different fonts.
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ast3r3x
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2005-11-27, 09:09

Well I think I've decided I like Linotype FontExplorer better than Extensis. Have to look around FE more to see if I can check for duplicate fonts.

As far as the active thing goes, that is what I figured, but I wasn't sure that was possible...but I'm going through my 20k (most seem to be messed up...I guess maybe windows fonts) fonts and trying to delete ones I can't use (messed up or ugly) and organize them. This is going to take forever
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2005-11-27, 10:29

Yeah, run away from those "2,000 Awesome Font" discs in the bargain tub at Office Despot - there are 1,984 fonts that look exactly the same: butt ugly.

I do have to say that I'm a tiny bit trepidatious about investing my time in the Linotype (free) product because I worry about their commitment to stand behind the application over the long haul - though it would seem that they, more than anyone, have a huge stake in the font-using community. The way that they've folded their product offerings into FontExplorer is smart business, like Font Reserve's linkage to MyFont.com in the old version of that app. I do ultimately expect for FontExplorer to become buyware.

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
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ast3r3x
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2005-11-27, 11:52

Yeah, I just downloaded a bunch, but I've thrown all but ~2000 away because they are either unusable (PC) or ugly. I prefer clean fonts like Myriad Pro, BeoSans, Gill Sans, anyways. I guess I'm a sans-serif type guy
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ast3r3x
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2005-11-27, 12:18

The biggest problem I have is that I see fonts that I will never use, but because I can imagine what it would be used for (even though I will never use it for that...I am not a designer) I feel like I should keep it...just in case. Frustrating.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2005-11-29, 10:20

I've just noticed that the LinoType FontExplorer won't "stay" in my Dock. If I restart the machine it goes away. Hang on, just noticed the same thing has happened with some Adobe apps. This might mean I need to repair permissions.....

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
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Reid
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Minneapolis, MN
 
2005-11-30, 17:17

What ever happened to good 'ol Key Caps?

I don't really need font management, but I frequently need to know how to get at a special character or two. I can never remember how to type the damn "TM" symbol, and now it seems my only solution is to Google it. FontBook has a fracked-up character map thingly, but it's "insert character" command never works for me when I need it... maybe it requires a Cocoa app to work?
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ast3r3x
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2005-11-30, 17:22

System Preferences -> International -> Input Menu (tab) ->Keyboard Viewer (checkbox)
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Reid
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Minneapolis, MN
 
2005-11-30, 17:26

Oh, well THAT'S easily discoverable.

I'll give it a try, thanks.
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BlueRabbit
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA
 
2005-11-30, 20:12

You could also use something like KeyViewer, which is an Applescript program that does the exact same thing, except less complicatedly.
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dviant
Lord of the Spoiler
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Lost
 
2005-12-02, 09:56

So are a lot of designers out there just using the Font Book then? I've been using it at work, but am slowly finding I need more and more fonts activated as we delve into new work. Should I be concerned about how many fonts I have open via Font Book? Is it simply a matter of usable ram (plus app startup time) or are there other reasons I should think about a more robust font manager?

Shhhh, I can't see!
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intlplby
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
 
2005-12-02, 13:50

i like suitcase (i haven't voted yet) but since i moved and i am taking a year off from a lot of artistic pursuits i haven't done jack all with font management......

i liked suitcase... it is far more powerful than fontbook..... my big complaint is that i HATE waiting for it to book when restarting the computer.... huge pain in the ass if you have lots of pics.... the fact that it can load files just for specific programs or files is nice..... when you got a shit ton of fonts you have to get beyond fontbook...... i reckon i would have no legitimate complaints if i were using a g5, but unfortunately i am on a g4
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Reid
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Minneapolis, MN
 
2005-12-02, 14:35

Well, KeyViewer does the job, but I think I'll stick with having that American flag in my menu bar for now. Not only does it get me my Key Caps replacement, but it also shows that I'm patriotic!
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2005-12-02, 14:46

fwiw, I've amassed about about 37 bazillion fonts over the decades, and I use Suitcase. Yes, it fucks up boot time beyond any reasonable expectation. Yes, it loses it's memory every now and then...turning everything a 'Font Not Found' scenario. Yes, it hangs at restart and sometimes even cancels out the logging-out process. Yes, it's buggy as hell...and yes, it's the only suitable font manager I know of for those of us with a ton of job-specific fonts.

Some savvy developers could make a killing developing a *good* font manager for OSX.

So it goes.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2005-12-02, 15:05

Like 709, I too have about 294 trazillion fonts. I've used FontAgent Pro exclusively for over three years now. I love it.

It's the closest thing I've seen since my beloved ATM Deluxe, which, sadly, never made the leap over to OS X.

Auto opening and closing, a clean, intuitive interface, great organization and some useful capabilities and features...and, best of all, no-brainer simplicity.

Nothing but good things to say...it's never given me a single problem.

http://www.insidersoftware.com/FA_pro_osx.php
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2005-12-02, 15:15

No shit, huh? I too loved the deceased ATM Deluxe....why Adobe didn't see fit to keep developing it is beyond me.

I'll have to give this FAP a look. Thanks.

So it goes.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2005-12-02, 18:03

I'll look at that as well, though I have to say that this beta version of Linotype FontExplorer is awfully nifty and seems quite nimble.
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intlplby
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Join Date: Dec 2004
 
2005-12-02, 20:43

709 keep me posted on what you think of FontAgent Pro

a question i have about suitcase - can i install it for only one user....... i.e. can i make a second login just for graphic design stuff, so i only need to suffer the problems when i have to do work and not when i just browse the internet
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intlplby
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Join Date: Dec 2004
 
2005-12-02, 20:50

709 keep me posted on what you think of FontAgent Pro

a question i have about suitcase - can i install it for only one user....... i.e. can i make a second login just for graphic design stuff, so i only need to suffer the problems when i have to do work and not when i just browse the internet
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