Sadly, blogs that focus on graphic design usually don't haves much to offer us prepress folks, especially us system administrators. They tend to focus on web design at the expense of design for offset printing, which has its own set of tricks and rules. I mean, when is the last time you read a graphic design blog that wrote about Pantone colours issues or prepping a file for packaging?
Anyhow, l found an exception to the rule: Smashing Magazine has reviewed 25 font managers and I suggest you go and bookmark the article. Nice piece of work.
Have a great weekend
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Wow, as a prepress operator, i haven’t had a good old-fashioned font manager debate in a long time! Nowadays, we are close to 100% PDF, so it just isn’t an issue for us anymore.
That being said, this used to be a popular topic for me, because I have tried so many different ones in the past, and really hated them all (with the exception of my old OS9 Suitcase back in the day). Finally one day i just flat stopped buying and using font management software altogether, and whattya know? I have never had a font management problem again. Now i understand that situations in design houses are likely different than the experiences we have in a fast turnaround prepress department, and that some font software has tools and WYSIWYG previews of fonts that designers may find helpful, but, for the life of me, i cannot and never have been able to understand what a font management package brings tot he table for a prepress department. I haven’t used one in probably 6 years (since giving up on finding a stable one for OSX), and i can’t remember the last time I had a font conflict.
Simply put, I cleared out all fonts from Library -> Fonts folder, also from User -> Library -> Fonts. Empty them right out. Then, in the System -> Library -> Fonts folder, I only keep the base fonts necessary for basic functions of my machine. This includes Courier, Geneva, Helvetica, Keyboard, LastResort, LucidaGrande and Monaco. In regards to Courier and Helvetica, i got rid of the dfont versions and replaced the with the screen and printer font versions from my adobe type library.
Once i had that under control, i made a shortcut of the Library -> Fonts folder on my desktop, and simply drag and drop fonts for different jobs in there as needed, and remove them when it is time to work on my next job, and drag in the next set. It is so simple and quick and easy, the rest has been history. So long Suitcase! Nice meeting you Font Agent Pro!
This is no new idea that I came up with, i stole it from another user who had posted it on a prepress users forum way back then, but it worked so well i bring it up every time i see this debate pop up. I have found that a lot of users are very protective of their font software, and don’t like hearing that they may not need one at all, but I have used it at 2 different high-volume prepress departments, and it has worked like a dream.
Sorry to hijack your blog DJ, but I do love talking font management, and I just don’t get to that often anymore!
cr