OS X managing fonts.

boi

boi

official breaker of macs.
well, i've got a few adobe font collections, and they're all catagorized in their sub-folders. in order to install fonts in X, they have to be directly in the library/fonts folder, right? so do i have to manually copy all the fonts over? ewww, there are thousands x_x...

how do you people manage your fonts on X?

later-
Oo boi o.
 
apparently suicase 10 from xtensis is releasing a total font management solution for X soon. I have not seen reserve from Corel, and do not know what it's capabilities are, but it too is another solution. Then there is also a guy doing a shareware app, i think you can find a link to his "light" version on versiontracker.
 
My friend is a beta tester for extensis and he has been using suitcase X beta for a while now and he says adobe is so flippin stupid, he says suitcase rocks and 20 times better than ATM, I can't wait one less adobe app to install!
 
Well, maybe so, but I think PHOTOSHOP and GoLive rox. But yes, they're lame for not wanting to port ATM (which was not a perfect product anyway, though) to OS X. However, Suitcase is freakin' expensive! $90+ for a font utility!?

Se la vie.
 
OSX has the auto anti-aliasing for fonts built into it right? that's the only reason i used atm in 9. i actually prefer suitcase in 9 to atm. call me crazy
^_^
 
For me, there is one critical reason to use a font management program:

AUTOMATIC FONT ACTIVATION!!!

And I'm not talking about this bogus "startup" sets crap, I'm talking about the font manager being smart enough to turn fonts on if the file needs them. Currently ATM does this in OS 9 and Suitcase does not (actually, I don't have the latest Suitcase, but my understanding is that it does not do this as effectively or universally as ATM).

As for OS X, to my knowledge (correct me if I'm wrong) fonts are NOT activated on a need basis, but rather they are simply on or off. This is totally lame. I don't want to have 200 fonts on or off al the time. I'm a designer for crying out loud. After looking at Extensis's site, it's unclear as to how the autoactivation feature will be implemented in X.

Right now under OS 9, ATM is capable enough to turn fonts on as they are needed when a file is opened in any application. Additionally, if I decide I want to turn on a new font or fonts, I don't have to quit the application. I just pop over to ATM Deluxe and turn it on.

I have not had the same success with Suitcase (but I don't have Suitcase 10, so I don't know if it's gotten better).

Bottom line, whomever makes the next great font manager, don't make me turn on fonts if the application requests them or points out that they are missing or unavailable. You obviously know they're missing, you just told me, so go find them in my Suitcase and turn them on dumbass! Sheesh. How long is it going to take for these programmers to get this right?

To me, interface issues aside, ATM Deluxe under OS 9 is exactly how a font manager should work. Turn em on when needed and/or allow em to be turned on at any other time without disruption in work. Way cool. Have I said enough different ways?
 
Yes, but what about Font menu management? Is TypeTool going to make an OSX version? Are we stuck with the lame floating font menu forever?
 
Since OS X uses modern memory management, fonts being "just on or off" is not at all lame.

In OS 9, all fonts placed in the Fonts folder had to be loaded into memory at startup, using up precious memory. Utilities that were able to activate and de-activate font sets were designed to work around this.

Since OS X allocates memory on the fly, such techniques are uneccessary. If an application needs a particular font, it loads it. Otherwise they just sit there, using up disk space but not memory.

What is annoying is that OS X does not support sub-folders or aliases in Fonts folder. I hope Apple rectifies this, IMO, sub-folders placed inside a Fonts folder should automatically become "collections."
 
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