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| Dealing with Jumbled Fonts in Your Browser and E-mail Programs | | Date Created: 31 May, 2006, 06:29 PM |
One of the most common e-mail requests for help that I get from FontGeek.net readers is about font problems in what are normally considered non-graphic programs. Yes, I'm talking about your browsers and your e-mail applications, and while hardcore graphic artists don't usually consider this a high priority with regard to getting their jobs out the door or to the printer, who amongst us isn't annoyed when we can’t read our e-mail or look at a web page correctly? These are the kinds of problems for which we don't plan and for which we find difficulty getting support from the companies that make our graphic applications.
Let me clarify the problem. In your e-mail program (it could be Apple's Mail program or even Microsoft's Entourage) or your browser (usually Safari, FireFox or Explorer) you will sometime find that the text shows up garbled. The result is that you can't read it correctly, or that you have to increase the text size in those programs to read the site's content. |
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I've seen a lot of online posts about this, and they all seem to have one magic bullet to solve the problem. Unfortunately, one bullet may not do it. There are actually two distinct problems that can be perceived as the same thing, and several factors that can contribute to either of these two problems. Jumbled text could be a font cache problem, or it can be an incorrect font substitution problem. Troubleshooters usually know about one and not the other. With that in mind I'd like explain the two different problems and show you the troubleshooting steps you need to follow in order to alleviate these problems on your Mac.
Identify the problem
The first thing you need to do is to identify which problem you are having. You are either having a font cache issue or an incorrect font substitution problem.
These three images (below) show garbled text that I captured as screen shots from different websites using Safari. |
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If you look closely at them you'll see that there are some differences. The first, Sample 1, shows the unfamiliar characters overlapping each other. This is an example of font cache corruption.
The second example, Sample 2, shows the unfamiliar characters more evenly spaced. This example, although not readable, looks more orderly and evenly spaced. This is an example of an incorrect font substitution problem—in this case Times Phonetic is being incorrectly substituted for Times.
The third example, Sample 3, shows numbers and fractions. This is also an example of an incorrect font substitution—in this case Helvetica Fractions is being incorrectly used instead of Helvetica.
If the problem you're seeing looks like the first image go to the section below, which deals with Font Cache Problems. If the problem you're seeing looks like the second or third image go to the next section named Font Substitution Problems.
Dealing With Font Cache Problems
Font caches have become a real headache for Mac OS X users. They not only crop up in your browser and your e-mail applications but also in your graphic documents. When fonts are activated (either by a font manager or by placing them into one of OS X's Fonts folders) they are cached for use. Some of these font caches are handled by the OS and some of these font caches are handled by the applications themselves. In either case it is very easy for these cache files to become corrupt. |
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| If you're seeing examples similar to that just above, it is most likely caused by a corrupt font cache file. What appears to be happening with this particular problem is that incorrect or corrupted encoding information is being used when mapping the character codes as input by your keyboard to the glyphs they represent in the problematically cached font. |
 After using Smasher to clear your Mac OS font caches you will be forced to restart your computer. If after restarting your computer you’re still having problems with text displaying incorrectly in your browser or e-mail programs then you are most likely looking at an incorrect font substitution problem(s). |
Dealing With Incorrect Font Substitution Problems
What is a font substitution problem? It’s very simple: when a document or a webpage calls for a specific font and due to unavailability or inadequate font calls to the OS another font is chosen instead, an incorrect font substitution results. For the most part this isn’t the worst problem to have with a browser or your e-mail application. If a webpage calls for Arial and somehow Arial Narrow (another normal roman font) is used, you would still be able to read the text. Right? So what’s the big deal?
Here’s a very common scenario where an incorrect font substitution will cause a webpage to be completely unreadable. Let’s start with one of Apple’s web pages. If you go to Apple’s Hot News webpage and look at the source code from within Safari you will see, among other things, that Times and Times Roman are specified (see the screen shot below). |
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What the webpage is saying is that it wants the OS and/or active font manager to use these fonts when displaying this webpage. But the font call for these fonts isn’t all that specific. In other words the webpage isn’t asking for Times Regular or Times Roman Medium.
Note: That isn’t Apple’s fault: Web browsers and CSS Style Sheets aren’t set up to make those specific kinds of font calls the way Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress do.
The next part of this scenario involves the presence of a very common Times font called Times Phonetic. If you had Times-PhoneticAlternate or Times-PhoneticIPA present in either your font manager or in one of your various OS Fonts folders then this font could and often does get used instead of the normal Times font specified in a webpage. So what you would see instead of the text in Times would look like the text shown in the screen shot below. |
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| Another great example of this would be Helvetica. If you look at the CSS Style Sheets of MacFixit.com you will see that Helvetica is specified in certain parts of the site. This is just fine unless you have another very common Helvetica font present, one called Helvetica-Fraction. If you have Helvetica-Fraction or Helvetica-FractionBold present in either your font manager or in one of your various OS Fonts folders, then this font could, and often does, get used instead of the normal Helvetica font specified. So what you would see instead of the text in Helvetica would look like the text shown in the screen shot below. |
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| If you’re storing all of your fonts in one or more of your various Fonts folders then you’ll need to find these fonts, remove them, and restart your computer. Hunting the specific styles down and removing them may be a bit difficult but once you’ve done that you should be able to revisit these web pages and the problem should be resolved. |
 If you’re using a font manager finding and removing these kinds of fonts is much easier. Since I use FontAgent Pro I will show you how to go about this using this program.
1. Launch FontAgent Pro.
2. Sort all the fonts in the All Fonts pane by choosing Activated in the Filter by menu.
3. Scroll through your fonts until you find out if you have any Times-Phonetic or Helvetica-Fractions fonts present and active. |
| 4. Click on the Phonetic fonts to preview them and see if the preview corresponds to the font substitution problem you’re having in your e-mail application or browser. |
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| 5. Click on the Fraction fonts to preview them and see if the preview corresponds to the font substitution problem you’re having in your e-mail application or browser. |
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6. Switch the Filter by menu back to All Fonts and search for these Helvetica-Fraction fonts and Times-Phonetic fonts.
7. Deactivate those fonts.
8. Export those fonts into a safe place for backup (in FontAgent Pro using the Export Fonts option under the Files menu).
9. Then delete these fonts from FontAgent Pro.
You should now be able to revisit your web pages and/or open your problem e-mails to see if you’ve successfully resolved the problem.
It’s also important to note that there are some other common font style variations besides fractions and phonetic that can be incorrectly substituted in your browser or e-mail application. Fraction fonts can also be called expert fonts. Also alt (or alternate) font styles can cause incorrect font substitutions. So it might not be a bad idea to do a search for phonetic, fractions, expert, and/or alt in your font manager so you can avoid potential problems ahead of time.
You may find that you need the occasional fraction, expert, phonetic, or alt font in some of your graphic documents. When that happens re-load those fonts from the export you did (earlier in step # 8) and use them as necessary. But remember to remove them when you’re done so you don’t continue to have the same kinds of incorrect font substitutions in your browser or e-mail application. |
| Utility - Diablotin Updated | | Date Created: 24 May, 2006, 01:26 PM |
 Update Notice: This is an update of my original article about Diablotin, written by Stéphane Sudre, Diablotin has been updated and is now a Universal Binary System Preference pane. The links in this article and the system requirements have been updated in this article.
Utility Diablotin
One of the things that I have complained about in the past is the way that font management programs don't completely deal with the fonts in the Mac OS X's many Fonts folders. While some programs like Suitcase and FontAgent Pro (FAP does a pretty good job of managing some of the OS's Fonts folders) do try to manage some of these folders, they are all "skittish" about managing the fonts within the main System folder (Macintosh HD/System/Library/Fonts).
In their defense, there are some reasons why the companies who make font management software are reluctant to move or manage the fonts in the System. If you remove LucidiaGrande from the System's Font folder, for instance, your OS won't work any more. If you remove Helvetica you may have problems with programs like iChat or iCal. And there are even other programs that have been "hard coded" for some other fonts that will act up if you move/remove said fonts. |
 With that being said, there is still a need to be able to remove or "turn off" some of the fonts in that Fonts folder (as well as the other Fonts folders). In the past you had to navigate to that Fonts folder (Macintosh HD/System/Library/Fonts), authenticate as administrative user, and then remove those fonts. I have done this numerous times. But now there's a better way.
I came across Diablotin, written by Stéphane Sudre, while looking for something that would allow me to see and disable all of my start-up items (not shown in the Start Up items in the Accounts Preference Pane in the System Preferences). And for this task, this little Preference Pane works great. According to Stéphane, that's where this little piece of freeware got it's name. Start Up items are often called daemons. Diablotin means little devil or imp in French. But I digress... |
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| After I installed this little Preference Pane, I noticed that it had, among other things, a place where you can turn off (and then back on) fonts in the Fonts folder in the three Library folders -- including the one in the System. Diablotin allows a user immediate access to the fonts in the Library's Fonts folder (Macintosh HD/Library/Fonts) and the User's Fonts folder (Macintosh HD/Users//Library/Fonts). You have to authenticate only once to turn fonts off and on in the System's Fonts folder (Macintosh HD/System/Library/Fonts). |
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| Fonts turned off in Diablotin are moved into folders named "Fonts (Disabled)" in their respective Library folders. Diablotin can then see the fonts in these folders so that they can be turned on again from the Diablotin window. |
 There are a couple of other cool things about the way that Diablotin handles fonts. First, it shows you that LucidiaGrande is in the System's Fonts folder, but it won't let you turn it off. This is a great precaution that Stéphane wrote into the program.
The other really useful thing that Diablotin does is to show you a preview of the selected font so you can see what you're turning on and off. If you've been confused about which fonts are foreign language fonts and you'd just as soon not have your font menus cluttered up with foreign language fonts that you won't be using anyway, this is a great feature to help you preview and then turn those fonts off. |
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You will see below that I have given Diablotin a rating of 5 out of 5. This is the first time I have given this rating to any piece of software I have reviewed on Font Geek. But given the fact that it does all that it does so well and the fact that this is Freeware, I had a hard time finding fault with it at all.
Kudos Stéphane! |
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Software Developer.................................Stéphane Sudre
Current Version........................................v.1.3
Type of Software......................................Freeware (208 Kb)
System Requirements...............................OS 10.2.8 or higher
Intel Development....................................Universal Binary
Type of Utility...........................................Libraries Items Manager
Font Geek Rating......................................5 out of 5 |
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Comparison: Diablotin is reminiscent of an Extension manager for all kinds of things in the three Library folders. And I have found it extremely useful for more than just managing the various Libraries' fonts. Although some font managers will manage the fonts, this is the only utility that I know of that acts like a manual extension manager for the fonts. So right now this great little Preference Pane is in a class by itself.
Additional Notes:
There is a "ReadMe" document included with the downloaded software that will give you the installation instructions. I recommend that you read it prior to using the software.
Coming Soon... For more information about the best way to use Diablotin, please refer to my upcoming article, "Optimizing the Fonts on Your Mac" in the Font Management section of Font Geek, where I will use multiple pieces of software (including Diablotin) and some of my own font management strategies to show you how get to the most from the fonts on your Mac while avoiding some of the problems. |
| CreativeTechs Font Manager Shoot Out | | Date Created: 29 Apr, 2006, 06:31 PM |
The article is very comprehensive and includes some QuickTime movies that show the installation process of each of these programs as well as a look at each of the interfaces. Craig has also done a good job of looking past the basic propaganda from these companies and has given some very solid conclusions about what is good and not so good about each one of these products – something that I have not often seen in some of the more mainstream sites.
Here is the press release from CreativeTechs and the links to this special report… |
 CreativeTechs QuickTips #92
Week of April 24, 2006
Special Report: CreativeTechs Font Manager Shoot Out.
"What is the best font manager for Mac OS X?"
We get that question a lot. Which led us to create this special report. We'll put today's four major font management utilities through a series of head-to-head comparisons. If you work with fonts in Mac OS X take a look, because we haven't been able to find a breakdown like this anywhere else:
http://www.creativetechs.com/tips/fontmanagement/
This is more than an isolated software review. In this report we'll compare these four major font managers on three key criteria:
- Installation and Setup
- Interface
- Auto-Activation
We'll share what we like and don't like about each utility. More importantly we'll give you an opportunity to see for yourself. We've created almost an hour of QuickTime video clips showing these different font managers in action.
I hope you find this a useful resource.
Craig Swanson
PS. If you know any other creative professionals who might find this head-to-head comparison handy, please forward this email on to them. We'll get back to our normal tips format next week.
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As the product manager for Insider Software I have been reluctant to publish an article like this. Even though I agree with about 90% this article and many of Craig's comparative takes on these programs I think that what I would say on this subject would probably be considers suspect. So I really appreciate Craig’s efforts and I plan to continue to link to the CreativeTechs site so that this resource can be found by any reader that comes through FontGeek.net. |
| Insider Software Releases FontAgent Pro 3.2 | | Date Created: 06 Apr, 2006, 01:46 AM |
| Insider Software announced the release of a new version of FontAgent Pro today -- FontAgent Pro 3.2 which is completely compatible with network home directories. |
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 New Architecture Offers Automatic System Detection and Self-Optimization
April 6, 2006 [Los Gatos, Calif] – Insider Software announced today the immediate availability of FontAgent® Pro version 3.2, which combines new database technology with the industry’s premier implementation of network home directory architecture. Insider has attained performance gains that offer nearly a threefold performance advantage in import operations over competing products, while also exhibiting substantial performance increases in other critical operations.
Network Home Directory Functionality Provides Users with Greater Mobility
Network home directory support conveys substantial benefits to users of font management software. Sometimes called a “mobile account”, home directories are stored on a server, so a user can log into any computer, where they will be presented with their familiar customized desktop environment, including all personal files, application preferences and font libraries and sets. All changes are stored to the home directory, which makes backing up that information much simpler. This solution is also ideal for computer labs where user access from multiple locations is desirable. It is essential, however, to prevent users from making unauthorized changes to other computers, and FontAgent Pro’s security features make unauthorized modification virtually impossible. |
Automatic Performance Optimization Boosts Performance
FontAgent Pro has accomplished its substantial performance gains by developing auto-optimization technology that analyzes the system and automatically adjusts the database access logic to maximize efficiency. FontAgent Pro ensures that all user files are stored within the home directory and then optimizes the database to minimize data access requests, unlike other applications that may scatter files across several locations causing performance to suffer.
“It’s freakin’ fast…there’s no lag,” said beta tester Matthew Foust of Black Design. “FontAgent Pro is the way to go,” he added. |
About FontAgent Pro
FontAgent Pro, designed for creative professionals, provides a complete font management system that integrates diagnostics, repair, font selection, font book creation, and design tools in a single powerful, yet simple application. It is the only product to offer such modern features as multiple font libraries, cascading sets for job and project management, and a Font Player that provides interactive real-time font selection tools.
FontAgent Pro also offers unique administrative tools with its ability to secure workstations, permitting modifications to libraries and sets only if approved by the administrator. Multiple startup sets can be configured and fonts can be auto-activated even without launching FontAgent Pro. Powerful live searching and extensive filtering provide additional power and flexibility.
Download Instructions
Users can download the newest FontAgent Pro update from the Insider Software website at http://www.insidersoftware.com/downloads
System Requirements
FontAgent Pro 3.2 requires Mac OS X version 10.3 or higher and 10 MB of disk space.
Pricing and Availability
FontAgent Pro 3.2 has a suggested retail price of $99.95. FontAgent Pro Workgroup Edition with serverless font-sharing is priced at $129.95.
The FontAgent Pro 3.2 upgrade is free to registered users of FontAgent Pro 3.0 or later. Users owning licenses of earlier versions of FontAgent Pro can upgrade to Version 3.2 Standard Edition for $49.95 US, and Workgroup Edition upgrades are $64.95 US.
About Insider Software
Founded in 1994, Insider Software makes products that streamline the creative process.
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
FontAgent is a registered trademark, and FontAgent Pro, Font Player, Font Compare, Insider, and the Insider logo are trademarks of Insider Software. Other products mentioned are trademarks of their respective owners. |
| OKFont v.2 - Updated Utility to Fix Font Permissions | | Date Created: 06 Feb, 2006, 05:09 PM |
 From Scott Stoel
OKFont v.1 had been updated. OKFont v.2 is now avaliable for download. This new version not only fixes the permissions for fonts but is able to be run from a commnd line in the Terminal for users on OS 10.4.x.
Let me tell you a bit about how OKFont v.2 works and why it's so usefull...
If you ask most graphic artists about their Mac OS X problems they will more than likely tell you that they either have font problems or permission problems. What you may not know is that occasionally permission issues come together with your fonts to give you a new set of problems from the combination. |
Fellow Font Geek and AppleScripter Scott Stoel set out to provide a solution. And with his specialized desktop AppleScript, OKFont (v.2) he's done it.
The purpose of OKFont is to quickly unlock and change the permissions of font files (and only font files) so that they are easily accessible for all programs and users on your system.
OKFont instructions...
It's a very simple script and it's very easy to use. Follow these instructions for best use...
1. Download OKFont, expand the zipped archive file and double-click on the disk image to mount it on the desktop. |
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| 2. Once the disk image is open drag the OKFont script to your desktop or anywhere you want it to live on your system. A suggested method of operation is to put OKFont or an alias of OKFont on the Desktop so it is always easily accessible. |
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3. Drag any folder containing the files (or just the files) you want to unlock and change permissions on onto the icon.
Warning: DO NOT drag your entire hard drive onto OKFont. There are fonts in the various Library folders that do not have normal user permissions on purpose. Changing those permissions may cause problems.
4. A dialog box will appear asking you if you are sure you want to change the permissions for these fonts. If you are sure, click the OK button. |
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5. Wait for OKFont to go through and change the permissions and unlock the fonts you've dragged onto it. If you have a large bunch of fonts this may take awhile.
Note: OKFont is best suited for small sets of fonts, but will change the permissions on your whole font library if you want it to. Be advised that unlocking and changing permissions on thousands of font files can take some time. For example, a folder of fonts containing 2560 font files nested in 496 file folders totaling 102.4 megabytes took 129 seconds to process on a Dual 867 Processor G4 Power Macintosh. While OKFont is running, its icon will display in the dock with the program active indicator below it as shown below: |
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| 6. When OKFont is finished changing the permissions and unlocking your fonts you will be notified by another dialog box. If you click on the No Thanks button you will quit the program. If you click on the FontGeek button it will take you back to this page. |
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Using OKFont v.2 from the Terminal
As I said above the new feature in this version of OKFont (v.2) is that it allows users to run OKFont by command line from the Terminal. To run OKFont from the command line in the terminal (works on OS X 10.4 and greater only) you call the utility in the following manner:
1. Drag a copy of OKFont to your Applications folder or some other folder that you can specify in the command line.
2. Launch the Terminal application (from Applications / Utilities folder).
3. Type in osascript /Applications/OKFont.app /Fonts/RaYGUN/
Note: In the example above OKFont located in the Applications folder on the startup drive. The fonts I want processed are in a folder called RaYGUN in a folder called Fonts on my startup drive. To work correctly, you need to have the full path to the folder or files to be processed by OKFont. You can only process one file or one folder at a time, but OKFont will unlock and change the permissions of all the font files included within a folder.
4. When OKFont is done running this message will appear in the terminal:
Your fonts have been unlocked and the permissions have been changed.
Below is a screen shot of an example transaction in the terminal window: |
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| OKFont can be deployed over a network and run using ssh. |
A few cool things about OKFont...
There are a few things that I really like about this script. Obviously I like that it's free. And I like that it's not memory intensive. But more impressive is that it unlocks and changes the permissions of only font files, not any of the other files dragged onto the application. This is particularly helpful in a prepress environment where as a part of preparing a job, the user can drag the whole job folder onto the AppleScript and be assured that only the font permissions will be changed, while other files will remain unchanged.
It's also important to understand that different foundries will offer the files with different default permissions. OKFont unlocks (if needed) and changes them all to:
-- Owner: rwx
-- Group: rwx
-- Everyone: rwx |
 How I use OKFont...
By now you should all know that I use FontAgent Pro from Insider Software for font management. And any of you who have imported fonts into FontAgent Pro know that it "weeds out" duplicate, corrupt, and incomplete font files/resources. After using FontAgent Pro for a while and considering permission issues with other kinds of files, I began to wonder if fonts with permission issues may be diagnosed by FontAgent Pro as corrupt or incomplete because the fonts in question had permission issues and/or were locked. So I decided to run some tests.... |
| I took one of my 26 MB test fonts folders and made two copies on my desktop. I ran one of these folders through OKFont and I left one as is. Here were my results when I imported these fonts into FontAgent Pro into two different libraries... |
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From the 26 MB font folder that I didn't run through OKFont...
... FontAgent Pro imported 212 fonts.
From the 26 MB font folder that I did run through OKFont...
... FontAgent Pro imported 269 fonts.
So by fixing the permissions and making sure that everything was unlocked, I got 22% more fonts imported into FontAgent Pro from my test font collection..
Now I'm sure that if I import other font collections that I may or may not get the same results. It would depend on the permission problems that the fonts had prior to fixing them. But since I usually don't know the permissions of every font prior to importing them into FontAgent Pro, my thought here is why wouldn't I run them through OKFont before hand?
System requirements...
Any Macintosh with System Version 10.3 or higher with Apple Script. The script should work on earlier versions of OS X but it has only been tested on 10.3 and 10.4. The command line function of OKFont v.2 only work on OS 10.4.x. |
Disclaimer...
Scott Stoel, SuperCustomized.com and/or FontGeek.net cannot be held responsible for damage to computer, any loss of data or liability that may occur from the use of OKFont. Parents, legal guardians or caregivers of minor children are responsible for the children's use of OKFont v.2. The script is offered as is with no support or guarantee, but please feel free to contact the author at scott@fontgeek.net with any questions or suggestions. |
- Resources > OKFont v.2 - Updated Utility to Fix Font Permissions
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| Fontographer Now Available for OS X | | Date Created: 29 Nov, 2005, 12:12 AM |
| FontLab announced today the availability of a new OS X version of the most well known and poplular Macintosh font editor, Fontographer 4.7. |
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Here's the press release....
First Mac OS X-compatible version of the popular font editor
For Immediate Release
Monday, November 28, 2005
Contact: Ted Harrison
Fontlab Ltd.
Tel: +1 (509) 272-3260
info@fontlab.com |
 Port Angeles, WA, USA – November 28, 2005. Fontlab Ltd. announced today the release of Fontographer 4.7, the first Mac OS X-compatible version of the popular font editor.
What was the first Bézier drawing program for Macintosh computers? Fontographer, created by Altsys in 1985 and later developed by Macromedia. This font editor played a key role in the development of digital font technology by bringing type designer to the desk of an individual designer. Easy-to-learn and straightforward, Fontographer remained the favorite font creation tool for many typographers, graphic designers and some professional type designers. |
| In 1996, Macromedia released Fontographer 4.1.4 for Mac, the last official version of Fontographer for the Macintosh platform. The development of the product went on hold. In May 2005, Fontlab Ltd. acquired Fontographer from Macromedia and made the promise to its users to fix the most crucial bugs and make the product compatible with Mac OS X. |
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Six months later, Fontlab Ltd. is proud to announce that the promise given to our customers has been fulfilled. Fontographer 4.7 is the first Fontographer ever to run natively in Mac OS X. It also brings some necessary changes such as:
• support for the Euro character,
• updated encodings,
• copy-paste compatibility with new Illustrator and Freehand versions,
as well as numerous bug fixes. |
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Ted Harrison, President of Fontlab Ltd. explains:
“With our TypeTool product we have a font editor for beginners, hobbyists and students. FontLab Studio and AsiaFont Studio are our high-end products with a certain degree of technical complexity, aimed at professional type designers. Fontographer fills the gap between those products – a font editor for graphic designers and desktop publishers, powerful enough for real-world typography but without all the bells and whistles of our high-end products.”
Jim Gallagher (“Der FontMeister”), who had served as Fontographer’s Senior Support Engineer for eight years and is now Customer Support Manager at Fontlab Ltd., enthusiastically adds:
“The rebirth of Fontographer is no longer a myth! The FontLab team has brought Fontographer into the OS X world. The bug fixes alone are worth the upgrade. Fontographer is back. Keep the faith!”
Fontographer 4.7 is available for Mac OS X only and retails at US$349. Users of Fontographer 4.x can upgrade at US$99, upgrades for older Fontographer users and TypeTool users are also available. Fontographer 4.1.5 is still the current version for Windows.
There is also a demo download of Fontographer 4,7 avliable on the FontLab website.
All products from Fontlab Ltd. carry a 60-day satisfaction guarantee.
Visit the FontLab online at http://www.fontlab.com/
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| About Fontlab Ltd. |
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Fontlab Ltd. has stayed at the forefront of digital font management by remaining devoted to developing font editors and typography products. Their full line of products is dedicated to solving the most complex typography issues. These products include: AsiaFont Studio™, BitFonter™, FogLamp™, FontLab™, Fontographer™, ScanFont™, TypeTool™, TransType™, FontFlasher™, FONmaker™, SigMaker™ and CompoCompiler™. More information on all Fontlab products can be seen at www.fontlab.com.
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As I have said earlier, I've been waiting for this version. I've been keeping an OS 9 bootable system alive and kicking just so I could use Fontographer 4.1.4 which doesn't run all that well in Classic.
I've only had a short time to work with it, but so far so good. I'll be eagerly awaiting more updates in the future. |
| Talking Type with Robin Williams | | Date Created: 17 Nov, 2005, 10:34 PM |
| Interview with Robin Williams by Benjamin Levisay |
 I started FontGeek.net as a place where Mac OS X font issues could be discussed and solutions to those issues could be given to the graphics community. And I think we’ve managed to do that, more or less. As the readership has grown, we’ve gotten more and more requests for design and content about typography. Since I’m not a designer, I haven’t pursued that kind of content as vigorously as I have some other kinds of solution based articles. But I am interested in serving my readership.
With that in mind, I started thinking about type, design, and the influential people in that world. It was hard for me not to immediately think of one of my heros in the world of type and design; the noted author Robin Williams. It was a fairly large step for me when I e-mailed Ms. Williams and asked her if she’d consent to doing an interview for FontGeek.net. To my surprise and delight, she graciously said yes. And so I’m pleased to share the following conversation with a woman who I’m sure has forgotten more about typography than I will probably ever know. |
Benjamin: Thank you so much for doing this interview. I have to tell you that I have always admired and appreciated your work. My father, David Xenakis introduced me to The Mac is Not a Typewriter and A Blip in the Continuum when I worked for him at his magazine (Knitter's Magazine). These books gave me my first true appreciation of type and typography. Since then I have purchased several other books you've written -- including The Non-Designer's Type Book, The little iMac Book, The Robin Williams Mac OS X Book: Jaguar Edition, and How to Boss Your Fonts Around. I've enjoyed them all.
As I said when I e-mailed you... FontGeek.net which started as a Fonts / Mac OS X help site, is growing. And I'd like to expand the content toward typography and design. And whenever I think about typography and design, I think of your wonderful books.
Welcome. |
 Robin Williams: Benjamin, thank you -- I'm honored that you thought of me.
Benjamin: I've been on your site <http://www.ratz.com> and it lists all of your work as well as showing your family. After looking at the volume of work you've done and continue to do... the first question I would like to ask is... "How do you find the time?"
Robin Williams: Ha! I work from 8 a.m. until midnight seven days a week for months on end. It's really boring. I've been trying to find time to clean my office for twenty years now. |
 Benjamin: I'd like to ask you about the very first book of yours that I was ever introduced to. The Mac is not a Typewriter an important work. It's the perfect transition book between word processing and page layout. And it is still as relevant today as it was when it was first published in 1989. Is it true that this was a self published book? How did you come about doing this book?
Robin Williams: Yes, I did self-publish that book, right after I self-published The Little Mac Book. Ten publishers had turned me down so I did it myself, and now they've sold close to two million copies. I'm now working on a book that's not in the computer field at all and running into the same problem (being turned down for publication), so I'll probably have to self-publish once again.
Benjamin: What’s that book about? |
Robin Williams: It’s about a woman who wrote work attributed to William Shakespeare. You can learn more about this at http://www.marysidney.com
Benjamin: As you read through The Mac is not a Typewriter, there are some very simple rules for using type... Which of those do you think are the most important?
Robin Williams: Don't use typewriter quote marks!!!!!!! I am aghast at the million-dollar ads I see in magazines or on television where typewriter quotes and apostrophes are used. How do designers get to the positions of being hired to create million-dollar ads and don't know how to create real apostrophes???????
And put the apostrophes in the right places. I know, we're designers, not grammarians, but we are setting the type ourselves and we need to know that stuff. It makes me crazy that so few people know where to put the apostrophes in something like "Cookies ’n’ cream" when they're going to put it on the label of eight billion ice cream cartons!!!!
Sorry. I get a little worked up about that.
Benjamin: Is this the book (The Mac is not a Typewriter ) that you think you are best known for? Do you plan to update it with concepts like Optical kerning in the Adobe products? |
 Robin Williams: Optical kerning (vs. metrical kerning) is in The Non-Designer's Type Book, which relies more on using a page layout application. The Mac is not a typewriter has only concepts that anyone on any word processor should know.
Benjamin: Do you use Optical kerning in all of your work?
Robin Williams: No. I like Optical kerning, and it does have it’s place. Combining different fonts or using fonts that aren’t constructed all that well (fonts that don’t have a lot of kerning pairs) is usually the reason that I’ll use Optical kerning.
Benjamin: As well as for numbers, which most typographers don’t build kerning pairs for... Speaking of Adobe products, I understand that you've recently written an article in Layers Magazine billed as “...how to master the art of Typography using Adobe InDesign” in Layers Magazine. I haven't read it yet. Can you tell us a bit about it?
Robin Williams: Actually, the article is specifically about the letter-spacing features in InDesign -- the differences between auto kerning, pair kerns, optical and metrical kerning, tracking, justification spacing and its attendant letter-spacing, etc., and when and why to use each one. I've included this article in the update of The Non-Designer's Type Book which is now on the shelves. |
 Benjamin: Let's jump back a bit to the second book of yours that I was exposed to. A Blip in the Continuum (published in 1995) is one of my favorites. It's just plain fun. How did you get interested in de-constructive fonts?
Robin Williams: I realized that with desktop publishing and the new (at the time) programs in which anyone could design fonts that this was the first time on the planet, the first time in the history of human beings, that typography was in the hands of the masses. Really -- this had never happened before. And it was fascinating to see what we did with that power -- the lawlessness, the experimentation, the rule breaking, the pure joy of making our own letters for READING. And then it was fascinating to see the reaction of the good ol' boys of typography and their articles ranting about how terrible this all was and then to see how these radical typefaces infiltrated themselves into our lives and aren't even very surprising now. It's like a microcosmic example of how humans react to everything -- if it's new or alien, it's scary and bad, then we get used to it and even start to accept and embrace it. Typography as life. ;-)
Benjamin: As I understand it, that book is now out of print.
Robin Williams: Yes. I think that’s right.
Benjamin: The Non-Designer's Type Book (published in 1998) is also a great resource. This book has a very different approach to type than The Mac is not a Typewriter but there are some similarities. Can you tell me about that?
Robin Williams: The Mac is not a typewriter is for anyone typing in any program, even the most basic word processor. The Non-Designer's Type Book (second edition on the stands right now) explains guidelines for more professional type. Many of the features mentioned in the book can only be accomplished in a page layout application. Despite the title, it's pretty clear by the work I see in magazines and posters and annual reports and television ads that there are huge numbers of professional designers who need that book. ;-) |
 Benjamin: I have to thank you for The Little iMac Book (first published in 1998). I've been into Macs for years. So when my wife got her very own first iMac and my mother got an iMac it was more or less assumed that I would simply teach them what to do. But teaching family isn't like teaching other people. You tend to wear on each other's nerves. You're book saved me from that. I bought my wife The Little iMac Book. She read it cover to cover and then passed it along to my mom. The help desk calls were really minimal. Do you get other "Thank yous" from your readers with similar stories?
Robin Williams: Apparently I've saved a number of marriages. ;-) |
 Benjamin: I didn't switch to OS X until after Jaguar came out. And about the time that I switched there was a brand new book out on the market... The Robin Williams Mac OS X Book: Jaguar Edition (published in 2003). Like all of your books... this one was just beautiful. Not only was it informative but it was so well designed. Did you do the design for this one yourself?
Robin Williams: I research, write, design, lay out, index, and create the table of contents for every book. My editor edits on hard copy along the way (and I choose whether or not to make those changes), so by the time I finish a book it's ready for press and the finished book appears on my doorstep three weeks later. The Tiger book I did at the request of Apple went from me to Peachpit for a quick check to the press and was in stores twelve days later. Because I do the production along the way, I was able to have the only Tiger book on the shelves the day Tiger shipped.
Benjamin: I also read at the end of the book that you did the entire thing without Microsoft Word -- which is unusual for writing books. Can you tell me about the process and what lead up to producing this book in such an unusual way?
Robin Williams: I keep a Microsoft-free environment.
I have to write the books directly on the InDesign page because I firmly believe that how it looks on the page is just as important as what it says, as far as understanding the material. Someday I'd like to write a little book about how to present technical information so it can be understood. |
 Benjamin: In 1997 you wrote, what I think, was the very first guide to font management called... How to Boss Your Fonts Around. I'm very much aware of just what a large subject this is... full of variations and conditional solutions. I can see how it could easily be 2 or 3 times as large. How did you tackle choosing what to write and what not to write?
Robin Williams: I tend to write the books I want to have. I wanted a book that explained how to manage all my fonts and there wasn't one so I wrote it. ;-) I get the impression that people often think I write these books because I already know all that stuff, but actually I know a little, then I research and test and find out the rest of it as I write the book. It's the process of writing the book that turns me into the expert -- not the other way around. I've often wished I would write a book on FileMaker Pro just so I could justify taking the time to learn it myself. Or at least teach a class.
Benjamin: Besides all of the good information about the various fonts in that book, you did a comparison of the various font managers. At the time I think I remembered that you were a FontReserve user yourself -- which I thought was odd because ATM Deluxe was still available at that time. Do you still use and advocate Font Reserve?
Robin Williams: Actually, I was never a big Font Reserve user. It bothers me when a program takes control of the management of my fonts and puts them in different places and adds folders, etc. I do recommend apps like that for people who don't want to deal with managing and organizing and cleaning up their own fonts, but personally I want to control the process myself. So I always did use and love ATM Deluxe, but of course I can't use it on OS X. I'm still looking for the perfect font management app.
Benjamin: Are you planning to update that book for OS X users?
Robin Williams: NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I wish someone else would, though!! How about YOU, Benjamin?!
For those FontGeek.net readers who are interested in the outcome of this question, please stay tuned...
Benjamin: Are you working on any books now? Are any of them font related?
Robin Williams: I just updated The Non-Designer's Type Book to second edition. But as I mentioned earlier, I've got a non-computer book I want to get to press and that's going to take priority over everything else for the next few months.
Benjamin: I know that you are heavily involved in your own area... speaking and teaching. What else is on your lecturing agenda in the coming months?
Robin Williams: Speaking about and teaching Shakespeare, actually. And about the woman who I think wrote the works attributed to the man named William Shakespeare. That's what my next book is about. And the book will have lovely typography. ;-)
Benjamin: If you had to give a young (or even an experienced) designer three tips about using type in their work what would they be?
Robin Williams: Read The Mac is not a typewriter. Read The Non-Designer's Type Book. Use InDesign (it far surpasses Quark in its typographic possibilities, although InDesign did pick up a couple of bad Quark type features that I wish they'd fix).
Benjamin: If you had to give an IT or a Mac guy three tips about managing fonts on an OS X computer, what would they be?
Robin Williams: ay chihuahua. Well, I assume IT guys don't have eight thousand fonts like you or I do, yes? If you're not a font freak, Font Book is probably just fine. Once you start collecting fonts, you do need a font manager like Suitcase or Font Agent Pro.
Benjamin: What do you consider to be the worst problem either in type use or font management that you see? And do you have any comments about that?
Robin Williams: Those are two completely different issues.
Font management: Messy organization, fonts in folders all over the place, several font families with the same name but from different vendors, fonts with the same names but different formats, storing too many useless files with your fonts, etc.
Font use: Too much Helvetica/Arial and Times. Let go. Move on. And that nasty Sand font [is that what it's called? I long ago deleted it from my computer but I see it all the time].
Benjamin: What do you consider to be the biggest gain that technology has brought to either typography, type use, or font management? And do you have any comments about that? |
 Robin Williams: OpenType fonts are a big deal. And InDesign -- I love the way that InDesign handles type. As for font management, I’m still looking for a good solution there. What do you use?
Benjamin: I use FontAgent Pro. I know that given my position at Insider Software, my own preferences could be considered suspect, but I was a big fan of FontAgent Pro well before I was working at Insider.
Robin Williams: We should talk more about that another time...
Benjamin: Thank you so much for your time. This has been a real treat for me.
Robin Williams: Me too, Benjamin! Thank you!! |
| Review - Smasher 1.0 | | Date Created: 27 Oct, 2005, 03:00 PM |
By Scott Stoel
Preface by Benjamin Levisay
The font faithful already know a bit about Smasher, Insider Software’s newest offering to the font community. I’ve been meaning to get an article up on FontGeek.net about this new utility, but every time I sit down to write it I seem to trip over my own knowledge of what Smasher is and what it will eventually be. You see, as product manager for this product, my head is stuck in the documentation, the positioning copy and the other verbiage related to the release of this new software into the market place. That is to say... I know it too well to do a good job being either brief or objective. That’s why I was thrilled when fellow Font Geek Scott Stoel offered to do a review of Smasher. Scott is not only a talented “font guy” but also a Font Reserve user and someone who would use a utility like Smasher in his prepress workflow. Thanks Scott.
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Smasher bridges gap left by other Font Managers
There are several software packages from companies like Extensis, Alsoft and Insider Software out there that help Mac users manage their fonts. Each one of the offerings has different strengths and capabilities and are suited for different types of workflows. Most times people think that these products alone will solve their font problems (See "The Truth about Font Management"), but they actually do very little to help people get to the true root of the problem, which is most people's font collections are a mess to begin with. |
 This leads us to the latest release from Insider Software (maker of FontAgent Pro), Smasher. This utility bridges the gap left open by traditional font management programs. It helps you head off font problems by preparing the fonts on your Mac for your font manager.
The first thing Smasher does for you is help you verify your fonts. The interface is friendly and easy to understand. |
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To add fonts to Smasher you can click the Add button at the upper left hand of the toolbar, or you can do as I did, simply drag and drop the fonts you want smashed onto the window.
Now what does Insider mean by "Smashed" fonts? One of the main problems in organizing fonts, especially for font management newbies, is the confusion that results from the nature of Postscript Fonts. Postscript fonts have one suitcase (or screen font) file, but often have several "outline fonts" to go with that suitcase. In OS 9 you were able to open suitcase files and see exactly what fonts were going to be included in the typeface, but with OS X that ability is gone. Smasher takes care of that for you. It takes your PostScript fonts and breaks them down (or smashes them) to the FOND, or Family level. |
| For example I have the font Franklin Gothic. There are six font suitcases files and five outline files. Below is what the set looks like in the Finder. |
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| I drag the folder onto the Smasher window and click Smash. Smasher alerts me that one font family is lacking an outline font and allows for the option to save a report. |
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| The program "smashes" the font, that is takes the font information for each family and puts it in an individual folder, named after the font family, in the directory of your choosing. Below is the way Franklin Gothic looks in the finder after Smasher has done it's work. |
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There are many benefits to "smashing" your fonts beyond organization and verification. Smasher saves system resources by allowing you to activate one family of a font rather than the whole typeface. It simplifies font menus and allows you to make more streamlined sets in your font management program.
Another feature of Smasher is the ability to preview your fonts. By clicking the Preview button, the Preview pane appears at the bottom of the window, and allows you to view the selected font from 9 to 96 points. |
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| Smasher also gives you the ability to view information about your fonts. By selecting a font, you can view the path to the original file, the creation date, the owner username and the permissions of the font in the Properties window. |
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Smasher also works very quickly. I was able to import a 104 MB folder of fonts and smash them in less than 45 seconds on my Dual 867 G4. The folder was relatively clean, or so I thought, because all of the fonts in it were licensed. It turned out I had dozens of fonts that were missing outline files.
Smasher also converts OSX .dfonts into true type fonts. This is important if you need to use .dfonts in OS 9, because pre OSX Macs can't use .dfonts.
While Smasher offers organizational and verification services, it also offers a solution for one of the most annoying problems that plague OS X, and that is corrupt font caches. While there are utilities that clean your System Caches (see the article about Font Finagler) Smasher will clean the Microsoft, Adobe and Quark Caches for you as well. |
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If you clean your system font caches, Smasher will require you to reboot your computer. I use Smasher's cache cleaning before every reboot, just as a part of my healthy Mac routine.
The biggest surprise, however, with Smasher, is it's amazing documentation. I earlier mentioned that Smasher was great for font newbies. The documentation for Smasher from the help files to the user manual is a best practices guide and primer on OSX fonts issues rolled into one. It explains font formats, font issues, and has an extensive glossary. If you want to brush up on your font knowledge or are just getting into font management, spend some time with the Smasher manual and Help files and you will have the knowledge to tackle most any font issue and speak Fontgeek with the best of us. |
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Over all, Smasher fills a long vacant need in Mac font management. For anyone who has a lot of fonts, and needs to organize them quickly, or had to deal with fonts issues, this program is a must. The demo version alone is worth the download. Insider, as a bonus, allows users to use the demo version of Smasher to clear the OS font caches and preview fonts, all for free.
If there were one feature I would like to add to Smasher it would be scriptibility. I can imagine Smasher being a great part of an automated prepress workflow, beyond it's troubleshooting and organizational capabilities.
In conclusion I give Smasher four stars out of five on the Font Geek scale. It solves many font issues untouched by other font managers and makes organizing your fonts easier. |
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Software Developer........................................Insider Software
Current Version...............................................v 1
License Type.....................................................Commercial
Full Version Price............................................$ 49.95
FAP User’s Price..............................................$ 24.95
System Requirements.....................................Mac OS X 10.3 or higher
Type of Software.............................................font diagnostic utility
Font Geek Rating............................................4 out of 5 |
| The Font Geek saved us! | | Date Created: 26 Oct, 2005, 12:32 PM |
 "Ever since we upgraded our five-workstation shop to OSX, everyone suffered with our snarled up font library. Starting a new project or opening up an archived file ate up countless unbillable hours and caused much hair-pulling. The Font Geek saved us! His patience and his vast knowledge of all things font-related helped us eliminate literally all of our font woes. Around here, it's unanimous -- Benjamin Levisay is a miracle-worker."
-- Beth and Amy, Escott Associates Communication and Design, Malibu, CA |
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