Font Book Is Crap

wicky · #1 September 23rd, 2005, 09:13 AM

I've just upgraded my system at work... I'm now the proud driver of a Dual G5 running a fully updated Tiger, Adobe CS2 and most other design apps.

Here's my problem.... FONT BOOK IS CRAP!!!!

I was using Suitcase in Panther, which worked great. However, Suitcase and Adobe CS2 (which we're changing over to at work) in Tiger apparently is a bit of a non starter.

So, given that FONT BOOK IS CRAP, how does one effectively manage fonts in Tiger (ie. preview the fonts & install specific font sets for a particular job, but not carry them in memory the rest of the time)?

Any ideas?

ElDiabloConCaca · #2 September 23rd, 2005, 01:27 PM

Extensis just released updated plugins for InDesign CS2 that work with Suitcase X11 and FontReserve.

And yes, FontBook has a ways to go until it's a viable font management solution.

**fryke** · #3 September 24th, 2005, 04:06 AM

The trouble with the others (Suitcase FontReserve etc.) is that they're often incompatible with newer versions of OS X and/or Adobe applications. It's a drag. I wish Apple 'simply' made something out of FontBook.

Lt Major Burns · #4 September 24th, 2005, 06:31 AM

you can disable all the fonts in font book, you can then still browse through them, and activate them if you want them... isn't this what you want?

or do they still sit in memory when disabled? personlly, i don't like MacOS font management at all.

elander · #5 September 24th, 2005, 08:33 AM

Try out FontexplorerX from Linotype, it's free and looks like "iTunes for fonts". You can keep you fonts wherever you want, preview fonts you haven't installed, and also buy fonts directly (from Linotype of course). It's a "final candidate", but I haven't heard any complaints about it from any of my friends, colleagues or customers yet.

http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX

wicky · #6 September 28th, 2005, 06:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lt Major Burns

you can disable all the fonts in font book, you can then still browse through them, and activate them if you want them... isn't this what you want?

Yes... but I need it to work correctly, not crash my machine, not be completely random, and above all not be CRAP. It is such a Micky Mouse piece of software, and of NO use what so ever. Personally, I can't believe that Apple would let something like this out the door.

Fryke's right, Apple really should sort this out, and not depend on 3rd party developers. Font management has always been a fundamental part of the way designers work, and to not have a professional solution in place is utterly ridiculous!

Saying that.... Adobe, bring back ATM .... Please, please, please!!

**fryke** · #7 September 28th, 2005, 07:29 AM

Now we're getting to the bottom of it: ATM. When Apple started shipping OS X (Public Beta, Cheetah...), Adobe decided they wouldn't create ATM and ATM Deluxe for Mac OS X. And this started a whole desaster. I guess Apple thought the problem would be solved by others filling the gap - and to a certain extent, it was. But for a long, long time, Apple didn't _have_ to care about font management, because there were a couple of really good tools for this. So all _they_ did was very simple font handling. Suddenly they noticed that things didn't work like they should and that designers were pi**d off by the way fonts did work (or how they didn't, actually) in OS X - which kept a lot of people in OS 9. So they created Font Book. I mean: It's not a bad thought to do it, the interface is not _that_ bad, but it's FAR from perfect font handling. (Crashing et al shouldn't happen, of course, anyway...)

I really hope Apple hires a couple of designers that look over the shoulders of those who're in charge for the next FontBook version. I hope they have at least 20 people working hard on this one. And the designers should slap the programmers whenever they simply don't get it.

... But I _guess_ Apple's still handling this as a stepchild. And I wouldn't wait for Adobe here, sadly.

wicky · #8 September 28th, 2005, 08:11 AM

Well said that man!!!

Ok, so I have got Suitcase XI to run on my machine without InDesign bugging out, but sadly the other computers in the studio are still having a few issue's. Does anyone have a URL where I can get an uninstall for Suitcase? I've just googled it, but sadly no joy.