System Fonts that take over!

[Mikie]

Hi all. I am turning to macosx.com for help on an issue that boggles me intensely.

I have experienced a problem where certain applications and web pages have begun to use a particular font that's not a basic system font. It's a handwritten/graffiti type font that seems to magically appear out of nowhere, and makes the text practically illegible.

The first time i experienced it--it took me a while to figure out that somewhere in my font book--there was a corrupted font. At least i thought that was the issue...So i removed that font and the system was working as it should. But i just recently purchased Ilife 09--and after installation, It seems that the bad font is back with a vengeance.

i have removed/deactivated the few handwritten/graffiti fonts i had--but the fonts are still there, still plaguing my everyday computing tasks.

Its hard to explain, but i've attached two images that show where these fonts are appearing and how it looks.

has anyone experienced this? thank you all in advance!

-M

[Satcomer]

Download the free donationware maintenance application Yasu (Yet Another System Utility) and delete the font cache. This should help.

[Mikie]

Hey Satcomer--thanks for the reply.

I downloaded YASU and gave it a go but clearing the system font cache (and local font cache and user font cache, even) didn't solve the problem.

What's weird is how random it occurs. Not all email messages or parts of web pages are afflicted by this.

This current thread page is fine--but look how the "support topics" page appears (see attached).

very weird...

[Satcomer]

OK. Just one question, have you open Safari's preferences and select in the preferences "Appearance" and seen the Standard Font as Times 16 & the Courier 13?

[Mikie]

Hey Sat:

I have verified that the fonts weren't changed in Safari preferences (and why did apple decide that a majority of fonts across the system can be changed by the browser preferences! >.< ) and i even changed them and then changed them back to their defaults. Still nothing.

Is there a way to disable all fonts aside from system fonts in one fell swoop? I kinda feel like my only alternative at this point is to just start arbitrarily turning fonts off.

[fryke]

Usually, the problem arises if you have your own version of Helvetica Neue installed. But yes, start turning fonts off. Are you using a separate font handler or do you use the system's Font Book?

[Mikie]

hey there Fryke,

I haven't used anything other than Font book. I am working on a G5 that i've used for design/web development so it is a repository, for a whole bunch of fonts, that's been collecting for at least 4 years. I initially wondered if maybe the fonts have become corrupted.

I have Helvetica Neue but i can't disable it using Font Book (most likely because it identifies the font as a system font) So i'm not sure what to do about that font if it is in fact the culprit.

[Mikie]

Satcomer/Fryke/(and anyone else reading in on this):

I think i figured it out. I was going through each font, checkin' its style, and also validating it when i ran into a "Jungle" font that had a major error. I didn't get a chance to get a screenshot of the error as I reacted with haste and removed that font instantly. But I do recall it showing me something like "jungle/arial" Which would explain why most pages/apps that would use Arial as a default, would be pulling in that eye-strain of a font.

Not sure how that works out (where Jungle font could replace Arial font), but this was the font that I removed before and now everything is legible again!

t'was a very interesting debacle with this crazy font stuff. Thanks you guys for the time and input!

-M