[CoffeeMac]

ArsTechnica did a comparison a couple years back. A little outdated, perhaps, but still an interesting article: http://arstechnica.c...ontmanagers.ars

[tenmiler]

Wow, thanks for the best post I've read all day, hmurchison.... I was just about to install CS4 and was about to suck up the $79 upgrade to FEX Pro. The deal lasts one more day, according to the MU site (the link works from your post).

[hmurchison]

tenmiler said:

Wow, thanks for the best post I've read all day, hmurchison.... I was just about to install CS4 and was about to suck up the $79 upgrade to FEX Pro. The deal lasts one more day, according to the MU site (the link works from your post).

Heheheh we gotta stick together on these deals. I just purchased FEX Pro and I'm installing now. I'm not running CS Suite yet but I will in the future so I may as well get the Font management app out of the way.

[whitedog]

Deals like this could be why MacUpdate appears to be eating Version Tracker's lunch. I see software on MacUpdate that doesn't show up on Version Tracker, suggesting they have altogether better arrangements with developers. Not to mention that the Version Tracker web site design seems positively ancient next to MacUpdate. I still use Version Tracker to check for updates - old loyalties are hard to break. But I subscribe to the MacUpdate promo e-mail list and have definitely bought more software through them than through Version Tracker in the last few months. Of course, most of the promo's are of no use to me, but then a gem does come along from time to time that I can't resist. At least it has me looking at products more closely. As for the deal on Linotype FontExplorer X Pro, I got the price break when the paid version first came out - because I had been using the free version for a year already and was comfortable with it. For that reason I can recommend it.

[hmurchison]

whitedog said:

Deals like this could be why MacUpdate appears to be eating Version Tracker's lunch. I see software on MacUpdate that doesn't show up on Version Tracker, suggesting they have altogether better arrangements with developers. Not to mention that the Version Tracker web site design seems positively ancient next to MacUpdate.

I rarely use Version Tracker anymore. I still have'em in my bookmarks when I need to check reviews but it's not the same ..they haven't grown. Macupdate has made brilliant choices and their most brilliant is to focus on one platform. Iusethis was a potential contender as well with a new way to look at app popularity (by number of users) but they too have succombed to the "let's be the choice for everything" they've added windows tracking now yet they don't do a good job of cataloging just the Mac stuff.

I'm looking forward to the next MUPROMO bundle. I do wish they would redo their old and useless software program that tracks updates.

Back on topic ...I'm glad to see Linotype adding another choice to the already good selections of Mac font mgtmt apps. Fontcase looks like a good newcomer but it's going to need to mature a bit.

[whitedog]

Thanks for mentioning Fontcase. I took another look at it - and it is appealing, not alone because the price is so much better than the others. The design is more original, more truly Mac-like. It has some nice features, like the ability to compare columns of type in different fonts and to share your fonts over your network without a centralized server app (that costs an arm and a leg). Indeed, the family pack and business pack prices are excellent values. And, unlike FontExplorer, it can print type books. It still lacks a few things, though, like auto-activation, a feature present in other mature font management apps. If I didn't already own FontExplorer, I would certainly give Fontcase a try.

[tenmiler]

Agreed about Versiontracker. I still get their emails but have stopped paying attention. MU adds a promotional aspect to it whereas Versiontracker has tried to make money by selling this pro version which really doesn't do crap. I'll bet MU ends up teaching VT a good lesson about revenue...

As for Fontcase, I did look into it, but with the FEX promo and the fact that I"ve used it now for a couple of years, FEX Pro made more sense for me. Plus, I agree about 'maturing', their website, while in that trendy web 2.0 look that is starting to grate, their site has elements that they forgot to change from their web folks, a la "put tagline here" on some pages. Definitely NOT professional, so I wonder what sort of "misses" they have in their software.

I disagree it's more mac-like than FEX Pro. I think it has some features that FEX could use (side by side compare), but FEX has a browser just like iTunes. But hey, that's my opinion only.

[Fixx]

really there should be included a database of most common fonts that would present fonts by CLASS. That way there would be no need for user to build sets for just finding right fonts by type which would make life much easier when you have thousands of fonts. A type database and fast browser and finding a right font would be a breeze.

BTW, FEX allows browsing non activated fonts, they just have to be installed to FEX first..

[whitedog]

Fixx said:

really there should be included a database of most common fonts that would present fonts by CLASS. That way there would be no need for user to build sets for just finding right fonts by type which would make life much easier when you have thousands of fonts. A type database and fast browser and finding a right font would be a breeze.

What do you mean by font "class," a word you seem to use interchangeably with font "type"? There are already three common font formats - TrueType, PostScript and OpenType. One way or another each of these font management programs can sort by font format. There are various font styles which fall into sometimes rather rough categories, the broadest being "serif" and "san-serif," with numerous sub-categories - sometimes grouped as "families" - with members like "light," "thin," "normal," "bold," and "heavy"; each of these sub-categories may also have an "italic", "condensed" and "expanded" form, and so on. There are "script" fonts," "handwriting" fonts, "dingbats," "slanting" and "titling" fonts. How you might classify all these varieties in such a way as to make them a "breeze" to find escapes me, as it also has apparently escaped the designers of font management programs.

FontExplorer, like Suitcase Fusion, allows you to include a column in the browser for many of these distinguishing characteristics, like style, format, and family. You can sort using any of these by selecting a particular column. You can create smart sets by using any combination of available criteria. But the simple fact is that people have different needs and preferences for how they use fonts and no arbitrary classification is likely to meet all these different needs and preferences. Hence the ability provided in most font management programs to create smart sets where the user can determine the method of classification that suits their requirements. Does this demand some work? Certainly. Is it avoidable? Certainly not.

Fonts evolved from calligraphy over a very long period of time in many different parts of the world; the results are far from uniform. All this variety can make fonts a confusing subject, not easily organized into neat classification schemes. This is both the beauty and the bane of typography. But if you don't have at least a modest enthusiasm for fonts, you should stick to the basics and leave the complexity - and the beauty - to those who have a passion for the subject.

In respect to importing "all" my fonts into FontExplorer, I find that a horrid idea. Sooner or later I have to decide which fonts I like and which I don't. Since most of the fonts I have access to come in large collections, there are invariably a great many in these collections that I don't like. There are also many duplicates. There are any number of ways in Font Explorer to segregate the fonts I like from those I don't, but I prefer to see what I'm importing into the FontExplorer database before I import it. Which is why I like, and paid for, Font Pilot. I would not presume to say that everyone should do it my way, but I like having a choice. And I wish there was a way to preview fonts in FontExplorer before I import them. If even Apple's lowly Font Book can do it, why can't FontExplorer and Suitcase?

[maxglitz]

I'm more inclined to move forward in replacing Suitcase Fusion because of many of these comments. Suitcase has deprived me of the use of many fonts that it says are corrupt that I know are NOT. One question, and hopefully I didn't overlook this in one of the other comments: How easily, if at all, will FontExplorer X Pro import the sets that I've meticulously created in Suitcase? I'd really hate to go through setting that up again.

[jaynelson]

maxglitz said:

How easily, if at all, will FontExplorer X Pro import the sets that I've meticulously created in Suitcase? I'd really hate to go through setting that up again.

I had that same question. The process is fairly straightforward, as long as you haven't deleted Suitcase yet. In Suitcase, drag your sets to the desktop -- Suitcase will create a folder named after each Set. Then, after installing FEX, drag each of those folders onto FEX. FEX should then create a new Set named the same as the folder you dragged. If you've already added those fonts to FEX, a dialog will appear asking if you want to replace them or keep the originals. You can choose either option.

[jefferis]

I never had problems with the free version of FontExplorer X, but I've had enough troubles with the pro version that I'm actually thinking of switching back to Fusion. What's the problem?
The benefit of FEX is that it activates requested fonts by applications. The problem is that it starts requesting erroneous fonts. The problem seems to be with Word and most Adobe Suite applications. FEX requests to activate "fonts" it cannot find on your system which are nothing but long strings of numbers like:
48958679291
Or when choosing a font already open within the application (like Adobe Caslon Bold) it requests the same font but then adds some extraneous characters to it and wants to open it as
Adobe Caslon- ASynthCaslonBold...
The advice from tech support it is to disable font request in all applications that give you trouble! Right now, every art application – for which I have the real need for font activation– is giving me trouble: Fireworks, Word, and Photoshop seem to be the worst offenders.
Funny this was never a problem with the free version. I am currently testing Fusion 2, which I dropped in version 1 years ago. The good news: I'm encountering no glitches at all in Fusion 2. The only problem is that I have to reorganize all my smart suitcases again, and with 1000 fonts, that is a beast of a task.

[jkidwell]

Yes, you're definitely able to see the entire font in Suitcase Fusion 2. If you're adding fonts from disk, you can even drag the Finder folder directly into the Fonts or Sets pane and automatically create a set of all fonts in that folder.

Also, if you're having problems with fonts not showing up when you open an InDesign document, be sure that you've got the auto-activation plug ins installed for that specific version of InDesign. Install and remove them with the Plug-ins manager by choosing Suitcase Fusion 2 > Manage Plug-ins.

If you've got the plug-ins installed, be sure that you've haven't disabled any desired activation settings. In InDesign, choose Type > Suitcase Fusion 2 > Suitcase Fusion 2 Auto-activation preferences and select activation preferences.

Jim Kidwell

Extensis

[jkidwell]

Doctor Sid,

When activating fonts with Suitcase Fusion 2, you can choose to manually activate the font in one of two ways.

1. Permanaently - this keeps the font active at all times, even after your machine is restarted.

2. Temporarily - this keeps the font active only until you log off your machine.

In addition, you are able to have the font management plug-ins activate fonts when a document is opened, then have those fonts automatically deactivated when the document closes. This keeps the number of fonts active on your system to a manageable level.

If you have any more questions about how fonts are activated, please see the Suitcase Fusion documentation, or contact our technical support representatives for free phone help.

Jim Kidwell

Extensis