Rain has been falling outside my window for the last few days. This makes it very easy for me to hunker down in front of the computer and do some writing. I’m ask about a specific topic very often. While I’ve written about it in the past, I’m working on the most comprehensive tutorial I’ve ever written on the subject. Yes, I’m about to revisit the topic of font management. If you want to read a tutorial written more than a decade ago, you can go to The Last Word in Font Management.
The most frustrating aspect of this subject to me is that I can document what users should do to keep their fonts under control, but the users all put off the task for a later day. So I can only ask you to block off some time in the near future to get your fonts under control. Once you’ve got them under control, it is much easier to keep them under control.
Before I put the finishing touches on this tutorial (already more than 30 pages), I want to make sure I’ve covered everything that you want to know on the subject. Please leave a comment on this post with the things you want to see covered. Please, please, please do not e-mail them to me! When you e-mail things, I’m the only one to see them and I want all of you to be involved in the discussion so that I can create the tutorial that you all want to see.
Font Management. (Hey, I finally figured out how to leave a comment!…not really intuitive)
Such a “dreary plodding” topic…like housework, something to be put off for as long as possible and then perhaps just a bit longer…maybe after my next nap. But as you point out, so worthwhile in the midst of the hunt for just the right one! And then there is that irksome message regarding the need for that certain post script 1 or 2 fonts embedded in imported AI, Photoshop, or.dxf, .dwg. .eps, .ps or ESRI shape files. So frustrating not to have it or know where to get it…
Accordingly, I could use a system that organizes fonts by type, e.g. TT, ps1, ps2, etc. and then as script, san serif and serif within each category. Sometimes it’s a “I’ll know it when I see it” thing and I yearn for a search dialog wherein I can input descriptive language such as “old English” old German” “Medieval” “Illuminated” “High Tech” “Humorous” “Architectural” “Engineering” “Script” “Block” “Hollow” “Common” “Popular” “Book Publishing” “Magazine Publishing” “Banner Styles” “Western” “Sophisticated” “My Own Custom” and of course the category that doesn’t come to mind but will be the one I need tomorrow. The search function should also include an option for locating a font out on the internet for purchase/download by type and name…asking too much?
Finally, I want the ability to reorded the display of whichever font list I am in by alphabetical order and by date the font was added to the computer…much like windows explorer does for libraries, folders, and files. Sometimes I can’t remember the font name but have an idea about when it was added. It would be great to be able to easily “park /unload” fonts I rarely use in a separate customizable location and still be able to see them just my mousing over the font name and then reload/install the fonts as needed…making everything run faster while maintaining maximum functionality.
So, maybe some “smart person” can create the perfect font manager ap that runs under Windows and includes macro scripts that accomplish all these things and more…..That would be worth my time and money…cheers, Mark G.
I got a private e-mail from a user saying they see no way to comment on this post. Honestly, I have no idea how to help make it more obvious. Maybe users see something completely different on this page than what I see. You see see a box at the bottom of the page where you can enter a comment…just as I’ve done with this comment.
Mark, you’ve described some great features for a font management tool. I’m working on writing a tutorial on font management. So it is difficult for me to write a tutorial for a tool that doesn’t exist. Thanks for your input and I’m sure there is something in there I can use.
Well…”sometimes” I guilty of talking before thinking things through…many of my wishes are already addressed in Font Navigator as described in the article: http://www.unleash.com/articles/fonts/fontmanage.html I have Draw X5 but use X3 because of some weird conflict with my configuration of Win7Pro that causes Draw to crash while Photopaint works fine…never time to do the housecleaning….gotta crank out the product!!…
Mark, you are correct that some of your desired features are included in Font Navigator and that’s what I want to make sure I document. As for your crashing, I’d be shocked if you truly have a conflict between Windows 7 and CorelDRAW X5. More likely there is a driver conflict, a bad workspace in CorelDRAW or some other little thing causing the conflict. I personally use CorelDRAW X5 on Windows 7 Pro and I have no idea when I last had a crash it was so long ago.
Foster, I’m sure you are correct that my problem most likely resides in some driver conflict…I have a collection of printers and scanners that automatically download and update drives periodically as well as too many software applications… I have a virtual drive that runs XP, and X5 32bit runs fine there…It’s just the 64bit version on Win7. Some day I will just have to try and sort it all out…when my system isn’t backing up the 132,000 files that live on this hard drive… ;)… regards..and enjoy the weather there in AZ…
There is no 64-bit version of CorelDRAW X5 and I don’t recommend anyone using the 64-bit versions of CorelDRAW X6 or X7 as they provide no useful benefits over the 32-bit versions and actually have fewer features.
Is there a way to find out which fonts are necessary for Windows. I have in the past deleted certain fonts and had it really screw up how some programs display (text no longer fits, some things have weird symbols. etc.).
Gerry, I’ll definitely cover the most important fonts that need to be installed for Windows to function properly. I’ll also talk about backing them all up before deleting so you have them should you need them.
If you haven’t planned to already, I would like to see a side by side comparison of available font management software, as well as the pluses and minuses of each. Preferably a “real world usability” critique, not a just a list of specs and descriptions provided by the software manufacturer.
The problem with POST A COMMENT is you type the comment then the silly form tries to sign you in, then you are back at the blank form.
Ken, just so you know we have ZERO control over this. It is all Google’s doing. Our only choice is to allow commenting or not allow commenting.
Then when you do try to comment using a Ipad it seems to publish when hitting the correction key as just happened.
Maybe you could mention in your text.
Ken
Ken, once again we have ZERO control over this. I wish I could give you a place to complain to Google since it is their form.
Ken, do I need to include “commenting help” in every single blog post? If I create a page with that information, I can pretty much guarantee it would be ignored. We provide a lot of help information on our site for a variety of tasks and yet we constantly get questions about those exact tasks. In your specific case, you are having some issues on an iPad. We don’t have iPads and have no desire to purchase one just to provide help. So we likely couldn’t provide information that would be most useful for your situation.
Google does have a page on this at https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/42399?hl=en&ref_topic=12456 where you can learn more about leaving comments. Unfortunately their guide is pretty light on content.
Back to Fonts -and typing from my PC while Bitstream Font Manager has been pretty good it always used to have the issue it would install a ps font in preference to a tt font, I haven’t checked for a while, it would be nice if it would install the Open Type font first though.
Another issue would be, is their a automated way of verifying fonts are not corrupted?
Then the issue of removing duplicates, this goes on the assumption the later font is the preferred font or at least the one Bitstream will install first by preference. Anyway it could be nice to delete the 5 deep in fonts as seems to happen with different versions and sources of font files, even if they are not installed they are taking up space on the hard drive..
Anyway the PC also has the same issue with Googles Comments, it seems best to preview before typing to ensure you are logged in as even hitting preview will cause you to loose whats typed when you are not yet logged in.
Font Navigator does not “prefer” any flavor of fonts. It installs the font you choose. If you are specifically talking about automatic installation when a font is missing when opening a CorelDRAW, then it is the first font discovered by Font Navigator that is used. Part of the solution is not to have multiple formats of the same font and part is the way the catalog is built. Those issues are discussed in the tutorial. As for the commenting system, I can’t stress enough that there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.