Was wondering if anyone in here might have the time and patience to tell me how to properly download and use new fonts in desktop publishing applications on my iMac.

There are lots of websites with free Mac fonts. I "click to download", then drag the ensuing desktop icon into my system folder as directed. But when I open up an application, the font isn't listed there. What am I doing wrong?

As may be apparent from the question, I suffer from severe computer illiteracy, so any replies would have to spell things out in as simplistic a manner as possible (type reeeeel slooooow........)

Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask such questions, and many thanks for your time.

Sue

Well, I could be wrong about this, but you may need a type manager program like ATM Deluxe (Adobe Type Manager Deluxe). ATM is a program that keeps track of all of your fonts, and allows you to choose which ones will be available when you hit the "fonts" menu in the program your using. This program is very useful when you have thousands of fonts, and you don't want to scroll through all of them every time you request a font in a program.
-andy

[mac freak]

Make sure the fonts end up in the "Fonts" folder within the System Folder. If they are simply in the System Folder, of course they will not be used.

Oh, and you ARE decompressing the files you download with Stuffit Expander (from www.aladdinsys.com ), right? Generally, files on the internet are compressed and must be decompressed, resulting in a folder with the file in it. Do the files you download end in ".sit" or ".bin" or basically any file extension? If so, then they are compressed.

You should already have Stuffit Expander on your hard drive; search for it with Sherlock. Launch it, go to File --> Expand, and select the downloaded file. Then, in the resulting folder, move the file with the font icon (it's obvious) to the Fonts folder in the System Folder.

Maybe I'm overestimating your computer illiteracy here; but I hope I helped!

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Be Happy.

[Indigo Boy]

In most cases, I believe, you need to restart your computer after installing the fontt in order for it to show up in your font menu. At least that is my recollection... Hope that helps!

[mac freak]

No, restarting isn't necessary... at least not for me on 9.0.4.

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Be Happy.

Its not required that you restart the computer after installing the fonts, but if a program is running, then you install fonts, that program will not recognize the fonts until it has been quit and started again. The contents of the fonts folder is loaded on startup, so new fonts will not be available to currently running applications. if that makes sence.

Most likely, they are still compressed. Use stuffit to decompress, then drag the individual files, not the folder they are in onto your closed system folder and drop...should be put into the fonts folder if done correctly.

[dbogdan]

Adding to the above suggestions, which are all correct, I would also consider getting Adobe Type Manager, and a font management utility for your system if you plan on utilizing a bunch of fonts over time. ATM will help display your fonts to their highest potential, and a font management utility will help you "tame" your font listings for you...

I personally highly recommend Font Reserve 2.5 for a font management utility. I use it at home and at work I use Suitcase 9. Both are similar in that they allow you to form "sets" of fonts which you can turn off and on at will, thereby not tying up too much system memory (resource). Without one of these Font Management Utilities, once you get a whole bunch of fonts into your system the "traditional" way (by having your system put them into the fonts folder), you'll start to see your "About this Mac" window showing your Mac OS size growing and growing . Your system will also slow down a bit at startup and during regular processing as it has a lot of font names to keep up with. You'll also reach a point somewhere down the line where your font list is so huge that it's unmanageable and near impossible to find the font you want in reasonable period of time. Both Suitcase and Font Reserve have methods to help you manage your font listings as well. They also both have demo versions available for download. The two things I like about Font Reserve over Suitcase is that 1) the program copies the fonts to a "vault," outside of your system, and checks for corruption before it allows you to use it or add it to your listings, and; 2) It has a built-in plug in for Quark Xpress and Adobe Illustrator that allows you to collect the fonts in a particular job for output to a service bureau. If you use either of these programs and send jobs out for high resolution output to a service bureau, this latter feature is a godsend, saving much time and hassle. Otherwise, both Suitcase and Font Reserve function basically the same and are a great addition to your system if you plan on using a variety of fonts over a period of time. They both also have built-in to the program, the means to print out type samples for all your typefaces, which is great for developing a type-specimen booklets...

The important thing, as stated above, is to "decompress" your fonts after they've been downloaded and before you put them into your system's fonts folder. Also, make sure you've got ATM (Adobe Type Manager) running to ensure accurate and smooth display of your fonts. Thirdly, and possibly most importantly, **make a backup of all your fonts on a regular basis** in case your system goes south of something "untoward" should happen to your system. If you plan on collecting "lots" of fonts, as I have, you'll find a program such as Font Reserve or Suitcase to be invaluable in helping you gain access to them in a reasonable and rational manner...

Let us know how thing are going from time to time in your quest to add fonts to your OS!

Happying New Year!

[dbogdan]

On the "must restart" issue: If you're running a system before Mac OS9, and you use the "traditional" method of putting fonts into your font folder, then you *must* restart your Mac before they are recognized. In OS9 and higher, you simply need to restart your application in order to have them show up in the application's font menu. By using either Font Manager or Suitcase, (and assuming you're running OS9 or higher) you can have access to your fonts as soon as you activate them without having to restart your application or the computer. That's another benefit of having these Font Management Utilities...

[andi*pandi]

Simplest solution for mytosis:

I'm betting you have unstuffed the font folders, since that's pretty much automatically done by netscape/i.e. upon download. I'm also betting you dragged the whole folder into the system>fonts folder. However, you should know the system>fonts folder doesn't "see" things inside it if they are in folders. You have to pull the CONTENTS into the sys>fonts.

ie. this won't work:

System Folder>
Fonts Folder>
Garamond Folder>
Garamond Bold
Garamond italic
etc.
Weiss Folder>
Weiss Bold
Weiss Book
etc.

but this will:
ie. this won't work:

System Folder>
Fonts Folder>
Garamond Bold
Garamond italic
Weiss Bold
Weiss Book
etc.

So yes, you will have naked fonts loose in there, mingling, difficult to sort, see, etc. Not usually a problem unless you've got 30 fonts, if so, get ATM deluxe or Suitcase.

[Jeff75]

About Adobe Type Manager - I have ATM Deluxe 4.5.2 because OS9 requires it. The earlier version won't work with it. ATM Deluxe is supposed to handle fonts like Suitcase does in addition to properly displaying fonts on the screen. I have yet to get the "Suitcase" functionality to work ever since I upgraded to 4.5.2 along with OS 9.0.4.

Anyone else have this issue?

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- Jeff

Just wanted to thank you all... I am now happily and easily adding fonts, thanks to your advice.

I do seem to need to restart before I can use them. Am not yet using any font managing system (I only added about 6 that I really liked), but I will certainly do so in the future. Again, thanks to your advice, I now have a better idea which kind to choose.

Sue