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| 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. |
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