Comments on: What’s The Deal On Font Auto Activation?

By: tim

tim — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:27:28 +0000

almaink wrote
“There is no such thing a PC fonts anymore per-say. True Type fonts works on both platforms since OSX. Type ones work with InDesign, just drop them into the InDesign fonts folder. And of course Open Type is also cross platform.”

Yes, in a perfect world where a designer using a Windows OS doesn’t have access to hundreds of cutesy fonts downloaded for free from the internet then you really don’t need any additional font tools in your toolbox. However, I have to work with software other than InDesign and I have to be able to provide solutions to problems that arise to keep the job moving forward. That is why I use Transtype as one of my tools.
It’s a prepress thing.

By: Bob Levine

Bob Levine — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:11:09 +0000

Actually fonts are almost a non-issue on Windows. Just install them and you’re good to go…almost.

The almost here is for Vista users. There’s a problem with some Type 1 fonts not showing up in InDesign even though they’ve been properly installed. It may only be a 64 bit problem. I don’t remember off hand.

Of course, opentype is the way to go but almost all of my type 1 fonts came with CorelDRAW which also supplies TrueType versions so that’s my workaround.

It’s auto-activation that’s a “problem.” The last Windows O/S that allowed it was Windows ME. NT based Windows systems do not allow it. Windows users have simply learned to live without it.

@dreamspeaker. I don’t know where you read that but whoever wrote it was is horribly misinformed. OpenType is indeed totally crossplatform.

By: Dreamspeaker

Dreamspeaker — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:14:26 +0000

Fonts sure get everyone going don’t they?

Anyway, my question is, are OTF really cross platform. I have read several articles where they say that even though they are suppose to be, that they don’t always work that way and that there are only a few fonts that are actually reliable in this regard.

Is that true? I work on a PC as little as possible. so I don’t really know.

Just curious, so don’t get mad and hit me.

By: almaink

almaink — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:27:51 +0000

“Another great tool for your toolbox is TransType. It will convert all those pesky PC fonts to Mac format so you can work all your jobs on a Mac where they belong.:)”

There is no such thing a PC fonts anymore per-say. True Type fonts works on both platforms since OSX. Type ones work with InDesign, just drop them into the InDesign fonts folder. And of course Open Type is also cross platform.

By: tim

tim — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:25:07 +0000

I have worked in electronic prepress for about 25 years now and have never been able to completely depend on the auto activation feature in any of the font managers I’ve ever used. That is until I started using FontAgent Pro. This is a fantastic font manager. Granted I always activate the fonts sent by the client. But as is often the case with fonts from clients they don’t always provide all the fonts needed to produce their job for them. That’s where auto activation shines with FAP. Or if I have problems with the fonts provided I will deactivate them and let FAP take over. It has never disappointed. If a font is displaying incorrectly I will immediately deactivate the font and let FAP choose for me and if the font resides in my database the issue is resolved.

Another great tool for your toolbox is TransType. It will convert all those pesky PC fonts to Mac format so you can work all your jobs on a Mac where they belong.:)

Mac OS X 10.5.4

By: lauren

lauren — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:32:11 +0000

I am also a self-font activator. Something about the control of it makes me happy, I suppose. That, and the fact that the auto-activate doesn’t always work properly of course!

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:13:32 +0000

@almaink: Don’t forget about Microsoft Windows, too! It’s not like fonts and activation are that much simpler over there, either.

By: almaink

almaink — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:54:48 +0000

IMO the main culprit with fonts is Apple. They knew before getting involved with OSX that fonts would be an issue, yet ahead they went. The font cache system they came up with isn’t prepress friendly thats for sure. I seem to spend more time these days cleaning out those pesky font caches just to get fonts recognized, than I do actually working on the supplied files that need those fonts. In prepress we constantly need to change fonts from truetype versions to postscript or opentype. Don’t even get me started with the people that use system dFonts in their Quark docs. Switching from a postscript version to those dFonts can be an exercise in futility sometimes. Especially when Quark is involved.

By: "Technical" Terry

"Technical" Terry — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:58:17 +0000

One time UPS (or was it DHL) lost a package I shipped. Now I don’t use them anymore, I just hand deliver everything.

I also got a ticket once because I didn’t have my headlights on when it was raining. I have those auto headlights, but since the ticket I just leave them on all the time now. When I get home I just put my battery on the charger until I leave again. It has the added benefit of keeping my back yard lit up at night (good security).

Last week I got some corn on the cob and there was a worm inside one of them. From now on, I am going to shuck all my corn at the store before I buy it to make sure I don’t get anymore worms.

I once had a calculator that gave me the wrong answer because the batteries were going dead. Now I make sure that I perform any calculation three times to be safe.

One time at band camp……

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:39:52 +0000

Yes, the Fonts Folder is quite amazing, if you’re only needing those fonts active in InDesign. We discussed this back in this post.