[Timo]

OK here's some newbie-type questions:

I recently bought a printer large enough to drive down the street...anyway, it came with a CD Bitstream collection of fonts — standard stuff, from what I can tell. But there's the rub. I can't really tell anything by opening the numerous folders with each font and double-clicking; that tells me nothing about how they'll look printed.

I seem to remember there being a program that prints samples of each font. What I'm looking for is an automated way to compare fonts printed on my new laser printer.

Bonus question: since ATM isn't going on to X (do I got that right?), what are people using to organize their fonts? Suitcase?

Any pent-up font-management diatribes that y'all have ready to launch would be much appreciated.


T

[WakaWakaWaka]

I'll do my best to spare you the diatribe...its getting long in my crusty old age (I'm over thirty).

Bitstream has a fine collection of fonts. Be aware that they often nearly copy other fonts and change the name to avoid trademarks. This can be a bit confusing if you are accustomed to other font collections. (btw, "re-interpreting" a font from a different company/designer is an age old practice that goes back to at least Gutenberg.

There are many programs for viewing and printing fonts. Some free, some shareware and some come bundled with other programs. Do a search at www.versiontracker.com and you'll find plenty to try out. Most are fairly small downloads.

The two font managers that are moving to OSX for sure are Suitcase and Font Reserve. Both are capable and both have frustrating limitations. Font reserve is more powerful but a bit buggy and its bundled font menu sucks IMO. Suitcase has a cleaner UI, is less buggy but lacks many of the nifty slice-n-dice features of Font Reserve. Suitcase's Font Menu thingy is quite nice. Neither program allows multiple layers of organisation in the font menu (the usual source of my diatribe). I believe both have downloadable demo versions. See their sites.

Waka

[ 07-19-2001: Message edited by: WakaWakaWaka ]

[Timo]

[mr. burns]Excellent! Now I can take over the world![/mr. burns]

Thank you. T

[maclove]

try out Suitecase 9 Desktop Edition it's ok little buggy but it does the work. It can let you preview the font's. Good luck...

[art jrk]

Originally posted by Timo:
<STRONG>OK here's some newbie-type questions:

Bonus question: since ATM isn't going on to X (do I got that right?), what are people using to organize their fonts? Suitcase?

T</STRONG>

Pardon my ignorance, but what is this about ATM and OSX? I haven't looked much into X since professionally I need to wait for the software to catch up. I'll go scan the OSX forums if someone could direct me where to look.

[Timo]

There's an article about it here.

[slipjack]

Adobe OS X support is still woefully behind... here's hoping we will have a full suite of programs by next year!