Managing fonts on the Mac
MacAndy
Just curious to find out from a number of Mac users how confident they
are about managing the fonts on their Macs.
A client of mine installed CS4 recently, after having CS3 on their
system, and everything font-wise seemed to have gone haywire for them.
Within a few minutes - referring to an outline I had created a number
of years ago after joining an agency that was experiencing major font
issues but no-one had been able to sort out - I was able to help this
client too.
I'm curious how many other Mac users are in the boat - and perhaps I
can help and also learn a bit more myself in the meantime.
I have contacted Apple, Adobe, Linotype and Extensis numerous times
over the past 10 years [since the advent of OS X on the Mac] and I can
tell you you won't get a concise answer from any of them. Extensis has
come close in their help but I think for reasons of licensing and
agreements between Apple and these vendors it prevents each of them
telling you what you can do - primarily because the first thing you
should do is remove many of the fonts the OS installs. Most graphic
designers, especially those who deal in print, cannot stand many of the
default fonts and certainly should not use them in prepress situations.
Now, of course, you can't even remove Helvetica because the system
"requires" it.
I have a comprehensive outline for MacOS X font management that I had
developed at a studio I worked at years ago that I am now expanding
with this additional information - I will have the updates ready by the
end of this week.
If anyone is interested, please send $5USD via PayPal to
publisher-at-beatlology-dot-com [my hobby account] and I will e-mail
the PDF outline to you.
My credentials, in case you're wondering...
I have been an instructor in graphic design since 1990 at a community
college, both part-time and full-time, in Toronto, ON, Canada, as well
as having worked as an IT manager for a creative design studio managing
an office of 12-14 Mac systems for several years and continue to work
freelance as well as supporting a number of creative design clients
with their design, digital production and software/systems
installations and training.
Matti Vuori
notmy...@notmydomain.com:
> Most graphic designers, especially those who deal in print, cannot
> stand many of the default fonts and certainly should not use them in
> prepress situations.
>
> Now, of course, you can't even remove Helvetica because the system
> "requires" it.
This is terrible! Of course anyone who works in prepress situations would
want to remove Helvetica immediately!
pensive hamster
>
> I have a comprehensive outline for MacOS X font management that I had
> developed at a studio I worked at years ago that I am now expanding
> with this additional information - I will have the updates ready by the
> end of this week.
>
'comprehensive outline' - isn't that a contradiction in terms?
Pensive Hamster
pensive hamster
> developed at a studio I worked at years ago that I am now expanding
> with this additional information - I will have the updates ready by the
> end of this week.
>
Dasman
In case anyone is interested in getting this PDF outline, you might
want to wait a bit? I sent the $5.00 in a couple of days ago and
haven't seen a thing yet. Have emailed him also but have not received
any reply. Hope he's gonna be above-board with this offer he's
selling!!!!!!
MacAndy
I just checked my Paypal account and see your payment from Dec. 16 but
do not appear to have received the email notification - not sure why.
I am doing a few more updates this weekend so you will have it early
next week.
Would appreciate you posting any feedback you have on it here in this
forum - just so you know things are above board! ;-)
Thanks!
MacAndy
In article
<1eb736e9-6e1e-4ef8...@g23g2000vbr.googlegroups.com>,
Jono
> In case anyone is interested in getting this PDF outline, you might
> want to wait a bit? I sent the $5.00 in a couple of days ago and
> haven't seen a thing yet. Have emailed him also but have not received
> any reply. Hope he's gonna be above-board with this offer he's
> selling!!!!!!
I believe any info you need has already been addressed in free
documents available from both Apple and Adobe.
Not to mention the many blog posts and websites available on the
subject.
Dasman
Hey Jono
Thanks for the input. I realize those sites have much info about this
subject. I have read a lot so far but thought that $5.00 is very
little to invest in an outline that hopefully would save me a few
hours trying to create on my own by combining all the different
sources of data available. Extensis.com has a lot of info about font
structuring also. Even with all the data available, I find there are
still some problems with my configuration of the 20 Macs we use here
and every now and again, we still wind up with a file that won't PDF
correctly on one of the machines but will on another using the same
fonts so I figure I can never learn enough about this issue. Maybe
someone else's point of view will open my eyes to something I've been
missing. Thanks again....
Mike Russell
> $5.00 is very
> little to invest in an outline
OTOH, there is a cultural tradition of offering free advice here. Even
five dollars seems a little steep, particularly since your pdf does not
seem to be in a finished form yet.
--
Mike Russell - http://www.curvemeister.com
MacAndy
I understand your apprehension with regards to assuming it is not
finished, it was in fact being updated as I pointed out, from an
outline I have had for several years now and has helped many of my
associates and clients over the year. As a consultant I take pride in
my workmanship and get paid good money for helping those who otherwise
do not want to tackle the nitty-gritty of system maintenance.
I agree that both Adobe and Extensis have provided detailed technical
documentation on font management... I kept falling asleep while reading
them, boring as hell. And, as I pointed out, I am sure that due to
licensing issues, Adobe and Extensis won't tell you what Apple doesn't
want you know.
My approach is straight-forward and novel as those who have purchased
it will find out, and, it also has built-in redundancy so you can work
your way out if there is any issue with your particular setup.
Anyhoos, the outline has now been updated and I have just sent the
first few out - many thanks to those of you who purchased the outline
and I look forward to your feedback either directly or here in this
forum.
MacAndy
In article <zzgoczzh3q35$.d...@mike.curvemeister.com>, Mike Russell
Denis Fitzgibbon
Most of our work is done in Indesign, we have a shortcut in the dock
to the fonts folder which makes it easy to copy and remove fonts as
needed.
We have tried different font managers and do not like any of them.
A major part of our work is to supply PDFs to newspapers and
magazines, many of them have old rips and they only accept PDF1.3, no
CID fonts etc and we found that especially in illustrator having the
fonts in the application eliminated cid fonts issues.
Regards
Denis
MacAndy
Yes, it is clear that Adobe would love to control all of your fonts in
this way, and manually managing your fonts certainly does work.
I too manage a lot of projects in a PDFX workflow and do not have font
issues any longer. I also no longer have issues in my Adobe CS4 apps
which was my main reason for looking into this further - specifically,
Helvetica and Times not showing up correctly in InDesign which drove me
nuts.
However, I have been using Suitcase flawlessly since I reinvestigated
the font management issue and updated my outline I used years ago when
OS X first came out.
It starts with a bit of manual management and when you see how the
fonts are reworked on your system, regardless of what font management
utility you use, you will find most if not all of your font issues
disappear.
Thanks!
In article <cN2dnVPoePNmSznW...@westnet.com.au>, Denis
MacAndy
commonly-used font regardless of platform and/or application being
used. In fact, some applications require some form of Helvetica be
installed in order to operate.
Now, if you meant to say "designers should not use Helvetica" you might
be a little more believable - there are certainly more interesting
fonts that can be used.
However, don't underestimate Helvetica and its myriad [that's pun BTW]
of variations that exist.
MacAndy
In article <Xns9CE26D795345B...@195.197.54.114>, Matti