Goudy Font not previewing

[evildan]

In our creative department, we've been having font problems.

So, being the instigator of large projects, I took on the responsibility to get everyone on ONE font set throughout the department.

I have spent about 24 working hours sifting through the machines, eliminating redundant fonts and finally creating one master font set.

All of the fonts in the master font set were tested using Font Doctor... and appear to be okay. The process was a bit rocky, as I soon discovered that some System / Library / Fonts needed to be in place for Mail.app & Safari to work properly.... but after that all seems to be working out well.

I even upgraded the entire department to Suitcase X1, which helped with the testing of new fonts.

The problem is that Goudy (and only Goudy) seems to be previewing properly on some machines and not others.

This is the same version of Goudy, same version of the OS, same version of Suitcase and same version of the same fonts in the following folders:

Library / Fonts
--empty--

~/Library / Fonts
--empty--

System / Library / Fonts
Helvetica.dfont
Keyboard.dfont
LastResort.dfont
LucidaGrande.dfont
Monaco.dfont
Symbol.dfont
Times.dfont

/System Folder/Fonts/
charcoal
geneva
monaco

Everything is consistent as far as I can tell, but for some reason Machine A won't properly preview the same font the Machine B does.

I'm using the same version font (v. 001.004) and the same font ID (14944) but one previews correctly the other does not. (see attachments).

Any idea what this is? I don't think it's an Suitcase issue, as the problem seems to exist outside Suitcase. I must admit, I'm a bit confused as to what to do next. I don't want to "break" Goudy on the machines it's working on, but I also need to test the idea that something isn't working properly.

The source of the actual font is the same, (we purchased an Adobe font CD-ROM which was used for Machine A and Machine B).

Restarting and fixing permission have been done... any other ideas?

 

[gdekadt]

Mmm, just rooting around and I have been reminded that the copy of Goudy Old Style I have on my system came from the Microsoft Office suite, as opposed to the Adobe versions of Goudy (incl _Sans _Heavyface _Handtooled). Is there a chance your users have a conflict between the PostScript (I assume) Adobe font and the TrueType MS Office one? Another potential issue - what app were you using to preview the fonts with - looks like FontBook to me - and that gave me a headache when I tried it out (back when it was fresh)...

 

[evildan]

After an exhaustive search I finally got my answer. I figured I'd save some poor sap the same search by posting my findings.

It seems that OSX (and XP) have a Font database cache file that can become corrupt.

Some symptoms include:
- Wrong font being displayed in Mail.app and Safari.app
- Incorrect renderings of certain fonts
- Fonts not loading properly in Extensis Suitcase (any version)

The fix is pretty simple.

1) Go here: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22795
2) download the Font Cache Cleaner utility application
3) Install and run

The application does what it says... it purges the font cache file. Once clear, your fonts should display properly.

 

[evildan]

Just to answer you questions, I made sure there were no duplicate fonts on any of the systems. So there was no font conflict happening between Goudy and some other version of Goudy. The problem seemed as if the font itself was the problem, but coming from the original CD-ROM eliminated the font as the culprit. It seemed to be more of a computer problem, as the font sets were exactly the same (even pulled from the same source) as the ones with the problem as those without.

In the end the utility Font Cache Cleaner fixed the problem.

 

[gdekadt]

There you go. Thanks for setting me straight. The cache issue had fallen off my radar. I've used DeepSix in the past to clear out AdobeFnt files - another set of font caches to look out for. I still suffer from SuitcaseX1 having trouble with font previews on a fairly regular basis - but the workaround is simple (remove and re-load the affected font into Suitcase). I'll be interested to see if this little beauty [Font Cache Cleaner] can sort these out. Great icon too.

 

[Natobasso]

Fonts have always been problematic, and now more so with Suitcase X1 and OS X fonts. I have even noticed that Microsoft Office Suite tries to font manage and gets tangled up with Suitcase trying to "Optimize Font Menu Performance".

An office that tried using Suitcase Server Suite and Quark 6 had some serious font problems: Nothing would print!

I have to say I appreciate the versiontracker.com link, it's been a great help.

Also, Font Doctor doesn't do much except corrupt fonts as far as I can tell. I agree with one poster here; just deactivate and reactivate the font in your suitcase.