[whitedog]

{quote}Or, better yet, if you have a font that's considered corrupt, obtain a new copy of it from your font foundry.{quote}

This brings up a good point: back up your fonts so you can get a clean copy if you need to. It's much easier to find a font in your own archive than to have to go looking for it at the "foundry." Some font publishers, like Linotype, keep a record of the fonts you've bought from them and make it simple to download the fonts again. But that may not be the case with every outlet. In addition, if you are anything like me, you have accumulated many fonts from a wide variety of sources, and if you compile them in one location it's a simple matter to relocate a specific font.

[jefferis]

I would LOVE that ability to have a universal style assignment... cursive, handwritten, serif, block, gothic, foreign, symbol, music symbols, etc. Would make my life easier when trying find appropriate fonts...

[jaynelson]

Actually, that's a lot outdated. Suitcase Fusion 2 and FontExplorer X Pro weren't released back then, so Dave is really talking about completely different programs from the ones you'd currently buy.

[jkidwell]

Jeff,

Just talked to Technical Support. You should be hearing from them this afternoon, if you haven't already.

Jim

[whitedog]

jefferis said:

Hi, I have an email in to tech support from Friday... no reply yet. What happened was I downloaded the trial and installed, and checked open at login. But it opened the old version instead of the new one, and that is when my problems started. However, I do not have Fusion 1 running now or at all (although it is still on the system). Fusion Core will just not start either with a new suitcase Vault or my existing Fusion 2 one. I am leery of deleting 1 , because it has my old suitcases and because it should not affect the current Core if it is not running, should it?

I just turned version 1 on to see if it still worked and then turned it off again...
It works, 2 does not...
Jeff

It really does sound like you've gotten yourself into a bind with more than one font program trying to manage your fonts at the same time. Check your startup items (in the Accounts preference pane) to see if more than one font (background) app is listed there. If so, remove the one you want to deactivate.

Your experience justifies the apprehension I always felt about trying more than one font management program at a time. Which is why I have generally avoided doing so. Interestingly, FontExplorer X Pro generates a warning message if it crosses paths with another program trying to manage the same fonts. This has shown up a few times during auto-activation attempts.

I think jkidwell from Extensis was shrewd to get involved on this blog providing technical support and advice for Fusion users, especially as this was originally a thread about FontExplorer. It's natural to talk about competing products as people try to decide which one to try or buy. Interestingly, much of the information and advice he has offered applies as well to the other products. FontExplorer and Suitcase really are quite similar now and, in fact, with each recently graduating to version 2, they have achieved a rough parity. Certainly Suitcase has benefitted from the competition - as have users.

I started using Suitcase many years ago when it was really the only game in town for font management on the Mac. Needless to say it has improved considerably since my days in OS 7. Then, for many years I used Font Reserve (before Extensis acquired it); unfortunately it was not all that reliable. The Font Reserve database tended to get corrupted so that I had on more than one occasion to start over again from scratch - which confirmed me in the habit of backing up my fonts so I could more easily reinstall them.

From comments on this forum, it seems to me that Suitcase and FontExplorer are about tied in popularity. Some people are having trouble with one and some folks with the other. And each has its fans. I had forgotten that you get Font Doctor with Suitcase, which easily justifies the higher price. I picked up Font Doctor independently because I wanted to be able to reliably troubleshoot my extensive font collection, which has been accumulating over many years, not always from reliable sources.

Even with all the improvements in font management, though, fonts are still a tricky business and dealing with them is not for the feint of heart. For this reason, when you have a problem with your font program it's hard to say weather the trouble is with the program or with the fonts themselves - or, in some cases, both. To add to the confusion, Microsoft changed the way it installs fonts with Office '08, so the rules of the road keep changing.

[whitedog]

{quote}Ultimately I'd also like some more flexible system, like the way you assign tags in del.i.cio.us, so I could add classifications as they became useful to me. For example, I'd like to label some of my Ornamental fonts as "Trashtype" fonts. Or I'd like to tag all the ultra-condensed fonts I have, regardless or whether they are serif or sans.{quote}

You might want to take a look at Fontcase, which has a highly customizable meta information window where you can tag your fonts with keywords. While setting this up for an extensive collection could be a lot of work, it might address the issues you have with font classification.

[whitedog]

DomComm said:

Is the free version still available anyplace? I don't need all of the functionality of the "high priced spread".

Yes, you can find it through Version Tracker at http://www.versiontr...o/macosx/27903.

[jkidwell]

> Ultimately I'd also like some more flexible system, like the way you assign tags in del.i.cio.us, so I could add classifications as they became useful to me. For example, I'd like to label some of my Ornamental fonts as "Trashtype" fonts. Or I'd like to tag all the ultra-condensed fonts I have, regardless or whether they are serif or sans.
[/quote]
I'd also like to point out that you can add custom attributes (metadata) to all of your font files in Suitcase Fusion 2. When adding your fonts to Suitcase Fusion 2, fonts information is automatically extracted and if possible classified. You are able to update the classification, font foundry, style and add keywords to fonts. You can then search on these attributes, and even create Smart Sets that will automatically search for that font.

While this attributes aren't a share-able commodity on the web like del.i.cio.us tags, our server-based font manager Universal Type Server gets close. With Type Server, you can create and apply font attributesthat are immediately available to all users in your workgroup. If you need this level of font management within your workgroup, it's probably best to move up to a server-based font manager.

Jim Kidwell

Extensis

[maxglitz]

I haven't upgraded to Suitcase Fusion 2, simply because of the problems I had with the one I had. Having worked with Font Agent Pro, allowed me problem-free font management at work, so I was even less apt to upgrade. Now with FontExplorer whose reviews seem to top Font Agent Pro, I was on the verge of downloading it. I'll look at my fonts when I get a moment and see what I find. By the way, I once again ran "Scan and Repair" within Suitcase and it said there were no bad fonts, just as Font Doctor had.

I'm on the fence now. WOULD Suitcase Fusion 2 solve the problems or just be an upgrade to the newer version of the same problem. I'm willing to test things.

[lauriewigham]

Thanks for the keyword tip; I had missed that. I was unhappy because, even though I could set up my own classes, I could only apply one class to a font (those should be radio buttons instead of checkboxes to cue the user that only one choice is possible). But assigning keywords should give me the flexibility I'm looking for.

I also just noticed the "Attributes>Styles" section...is there any way to use that as a filter (for searches) or is that just a way of changing the description of the selected font?

[jkidwell]

Max,

Suitcase Fusion 2 is practically an entirely new product. It was built on the Universal Type Client codebase, so it's got great corruption detection and is solid and stable. Of course, we'd recommend that you check out a free demo for yourself:

http://www.extensis.com/suitcasefusion

The demo includes all of the samne functionality, including CS4 plug-ins. Give it a shot on us.

Jim

[jkidwell]

Laurie-

Yup, you can also search by Style in Suitcase Fusion 2. You can of course apply as many styles and keywords to fonts as you require.

To use the advanced Find feature, pess Command-F to open the find window. You can then filter your fonts based on whatever styles, keywords or any other attributes that you have applied. If you find that you frequently search for something, use the Save button to save the find as a Smart Gallery. That way every time that you open the smart gallery, Suitcase Fusion 2 searches the database to locate the fonts that you need.

Hope that this helps.

Jim Kidwell

Extensis

[tenmiler]

Max,

I think MacWorld's own review of Suitcase called your issue out as a "con" of Suitcase 2. FontDoctor never did anything for me, but this was not using 2, as Jim points out, it might be totally different. Macworld gave FEX Pro a leg up in their review over Suitcase 2. Many people at the Adobe Forums swear by Font Agent Pro, and I have tried that one as well with no luck, but again that was an older version (late 2007). That was the program I used to replace Suitcase.

I used FEX free version to replace FAP, and was never happier (well, not since ATM).

Everyone has different needs. I'm a power CS user in the design world, so I need auto activation (removing FontCase from the running). I hear of even more apps out there and perhaps those will be worth a shot as other programs leapfrog.

To me, $79 or what have you on whatever program works best for you is money well spent, but it does not replace having stable, backed up fonts, which could cripple most apps.

And Jim you're right, all the programs run something in the background. And I'll repeat that I don't use Suitcase 2, and did not even try a demo out of fear what happened with the original Fusion would happen again, it was a DISASTER, and the system resources hogged by Suitcase's core--the old version--was awful. I ended up with trashed fonts and a trashed system.

So if you've rebuilt it, great. It needed it, and perhaps it's the shiznet now. Unfortunately I can't say anything good about the first version and that will keep me from even demo-ing the second for now, unless I get some sort of awful experience with FEX Pro.

I do think it's fantastic you're willing to be active on MacWorld though.

[jefferis]

Well, I got Fusion 2 back up and running... thanks whitedog...

I checked my login items, and sure enough, although I had unchecked from the Dock Fusion 1, it was still loading at startup... or trying to, as was Fusion 2 and System Core. Apparently that was the problem. Both were trying to load simultaneously and 1 prevented 2 from loading. 1 could be started manually, but 2 not.