could someone explain what you use a font mangement program for. Do you need to open it in addition to opening say illustrator or Quark?
fred
Eggles
02-04-2005, 05:21 PM
Font management programs are used to keep fonts under control. Too many active fonts on a computer (at least on a PC) can cause havoc with some programs - font lists go out of whack (listed non-alphabetically), fonts become unavailable - as well as cause slowdowns and even crashes. What a font management program does is temporarily deactivate fonts - they are still installed on the computer, they just are not available for use until you open the font manager and activate them.
Most FMs allow you to group font families so the whole family (bold, italics, heavy, condensed, etc versions) can be activated in one step. You can also group the fonts used for a particular client/publication so the whole lot can be activated prior to starting a new project. FMs also allow you to view fonts on screen, so if you set up font groups based on styles (e.g. decorative fonts, extended serif fonts, condensed sans serif fonts, etc etc) you can quickly browse through the group and choose and activate an appropriate font prior to starting a project. A font can be a member of many different groups.
>>Do you need to open it in addition to opening say illustrator or Quark?<<
Activation of fonts should be done before launching whatever program you are going to use them in, otherwise they may not be recognised. This means you need to be organised prior to starting a project about which fonts you will want to use. Of course it is still possible to add other fonts later, but it usually means you must quit the program you are working in first, then relaunch once the fonts have been activated.
So how many active fonts are too many? It depends on the platform, the OS version and the program you are using them in. But I usually try to keep to around 200-300 active fonts although I have 1000s installed on the computer.
ron matt
04-05-2005, 08:47 AM
Mac OS X has a great font management feature, once you figure it out. Quark as well as most other apps work
from the system fonts that are in windows/fonts.This is on a PC of course. You can manage them manually by keeping them in folders and putting only what you want in the windows font folder and removing them when you no longer need them.
But who has time to do that? Thus we have font management software. ATM is a good one as is Typograf.