[iestynx]

Before reading all the comments I felt like switching back to Fontexplorer from Suitcase, but seeing Jim Kidwell from Extensis actively taking part in the discussion has given me the confidence to carry on using Suitcase. To be honest i haven't given it a fair chance, when making the initial Switch from Fontexplorer 1 to Suitcase 2 you have to adjust your way of thinking as you would if moving from iPhoto to Aperture, and I haven't really had the time to play with Suitcase yet, I'm going to spend a few hours with it today whilst filtering out fonts for a new logo project i have on the go. I'll definitely contact the support desk if need be instead of just giving up and moving on.

Keep up the good work Jim. Really nice to see an active company take part.

[tmeyerhoff]

I agree with Jim:

>Running multiple font managers on one system at the same time can cause problems, with any font manager.
>I'd recommend uninstalling the multiple managers that it sounds like you have installed right now, then re-installing only a >single font manager.

We all do everything to deliver the best available Font Management software and they all have their Pros - some more, some less ;-) - but it is never a good idea to install them side by side. The different concepts of how Fonts are stored and handled can and will cause problems.
If you want to test them all, do not forget to remove or deactivate the others first before testing the next one.
Or you simply trust the test results of the No 1 Macintosh Magazin. ;-)

Tobias Meyerhoff

Product Manager FontExplorer? X
Linotype GmbH

[jefferis]

Tobias, Read my first post. I loved the Free version, but have had nothing but problems with Pro. Read the "advice" given me to just disable the most essential features of the program to "fix" my problem. I sent bug reports and all, and it may be a language problem, or a support system weakness, but the advice was basically telling me "we have no way to fix this problem, you are on your own."

Jeff

[tmeyerhoff]

Hi Jeff .

I contacted you via eMail to get some more details.
We will find out what the problem is and post the solution here.

Tobias Meyerhoff

Product Manager FontExplorer? X
Linotype GmbH

[jkidwell]

Thanks iestynx

I do try to keep up a good dialog with our customers on Macworld as well as other sites. It helps us better understand your needs and points of frustration.

If you'd like to keep up with what's going on with us at Extensis, check out our blog and Twitter feed:

http://blog.extensis.com

http://twitter.com/extensis

Regards,

Jim Kidwell

Extensis

[iestynx]

Just found the webcast you made for Suitcase last week will have a look at that now http://www.extensis....casts/index.jsp
This is more of what people expect these days, if you're able to show people how to use the tools properly it should get them over the initial learning curve, it's much more user friendly than a PDF manual and a chance for people to ask questions instantly (when watching live of course).

Found an slight problem in Suitcase 2, Ill post it here seeing that you're (Jim) following this thread. If i'm in the main Library browsing font and say I'm far down the list in the 'R' section, I click on the 'create new set' button, type the set name and then switch back to the main library I'm no longer in the 'R' section, I'm back at the start. It would be nice if Suitcase would remember my location.

Might find the answer in the webcast, might just be me.

[whitedog]

After watching the Suitcase Fusion 2 webcast I have to retract my earlier statement that FontExplorer X Pro and Suitcase Fusion 2 are roughly comparable. Fusion has, among other things, a "class" category that is not available in FEX (not all fonts have a class designation, but for those that do this could be useful); Fusion has a much more capable search function; while FEX has a comment field and labels, these are not searchable, though they can be used to sort fonts if the columns are visible; in Fusion you can assign keywords, which are searchable; and the tear-off font sample feature is more powerful. In addition, Fusion has the ability to preview font glyphs (and display their key strokes) - FEX lacks this rather important function. How significant these differences are will, of course, depend on individual user needs. But, head to head, Suitcase Fusion has a broader - and deeper - feature set which gives it an edge, in my opinion. However, having already purchased FontExplorer X Pro, I can't afford to switch. I can only hope that FEX will continue to improve and eventually include the missing functions currently available in Fusion.

[tmeyerhoff]

Hi whitedog

>Fusion has a much more capable search function; while FEX has a comment field and labels, these are not searchable, >though they can be used to sort fonts if the columns are visible; in Fusion you can assign keywords, which are searchable;

Did you see this little triangle beside the magnifier in the search field in FontExplorer X Pro? You can select "Comments" there and then search for them.

Quote

In addition, Fusion has the ability to preview font glyphs (and display >their key strokes) - FEX lacks this rather important function.

Double click on a font or select a font and press command-i and the info window will open. When you now select the "Characters" tab and you will see the most comprehensive glyph view you can expect. Select a character and you will see info like Character Code, Keystroke, Glyph ID etc. in the drawer.
Hope that helps

Tobias Meyerhoff

Product Manager FontExplorer? X
Linotype GmbH

[jkidwell]

Whitedog,

Glad that you found our Suitcase Fusion 2 webcast informative. If you'd like to view other webcasts, both live and recorded versions are available from our website.

http://www.extensis.com/webcasts

Regards,

Jim Kidwell

Extensis

[whitedog]

tmeyerhoff said:

Hi whitedog

>Fusion has a much more capable search function; while FEX has a comment field and labels, these are not searchable, >though they can be used to sort fonts if the columns are visible; in Fusion you can assign keywords, which are searchable;

Did you see this little triangle beside the magnifier in the search field in FontExplorer X Pro? You can select "Comments" there and then search for them.

Thanks for the heads-up. Still, Fusion can do compound searches with multiple criteria. Likewise, it shows the font "class" which some people find useful.

Quote

> In addition, Fusion has the ability to preview font glyphs (and display >their key strokes) - FEX lacks this rather important function.

Double click on a font or select a font and press command-i and the info window will open. When you now select the "Characters" tab and you will see the most comprehensive glyph view you can expect. Select a character and you will see info like Character Code, Keystroke, Glyph ID etc. in the drawer.
Hope that helps

Tobias Meyerhoff

Product Manager FontExplorer? X
Linotype GmbH

Yes, that does help. Indeed, it's a big relief. And I apologize for my ignorance. That said, a video tutorial like the one Extensis provides would make it a lot easier to brush up on the essential features of FontExplorer. And it would be a strong sales tool. Slogging through a manual is a lot more work than viewing a half-hour video. And, frankly, viewing a video is preferable to installing and uninstalling programs just to see how they work. In the case of font management programs this is particularly vital because they can easily step on one another if background apps are overlooked in the process, as happened to one poster here.

Anyway, thanks for chiming in and relieving me of my ignorance. ;-)

[jefferis]

Update. Tobias from Linotype contacted me via Skype and we worked out some of the problems I was having. Luckily, it was not just me or my computer. The long and short of it was that Adobe applications that are not fully compliant (Like Adobe Media Viewer and Fireworks CS4) make requests for fonts that do not exist using a synthesized font (making an existing font bold that only exists in Postscript as regular, e.g.). But if you have ACaslon Bold on your system, the request is made from the app as if it needs to be faked or a faux font bolding ( I think I have that right, Tobias can correct me if I'm wrong). So the problem is in Adobe itself, but apparently is not a problem for PShop, Illustrator or InDesign CS4.

Another problem is that Microsoft has legacy code and fonts in Word (Like Hirgano or other foreign fonts) and so it sends requests to the system to activate them, so you have to spend some time manually turning off or ignoring requests for those legacy fonts 1 time until Word fully activates.

He said the reason that this problem is not occurring in in Fusion 2 is that Fusion, like the OS, is just ignoring those requests to the system, whereas FEX is receiving and acknowledging those system calls for fonts.

He implied that Fusion has just blacklisted offending apps like Fireworks to prevent this hair ball from occurring, BUT that Fireworks will not then auto activate the needed fonts that are missing in Fusion either...

So, Jim, Do you have any comment on this evaluation?
Jeff

[jkidwell]

Suitcase Fusion 2 communicates directly with ATS (Apple Type Services) to get all calls for font activation. So, if an application is registered with ATS, then we'll receive all of that application's font calls. The beauty of Suitcase Fusion 2 is that you can decide which applications are able to activate fonts by adding the application to the list of approved apps in the Suitcase Fusion 2 preferences.
For example, you're in a professional environment and have a specific set of fonts active for an InDesign document. These fonts are critical to accurately publish the document. If you open a different document in Microsoft Word, and the new document uses a different versions of some the same fonts that are in your InDesign document, you could have your preferred version de-activated unintentionally by Word's font request. To keep that from happening, you can build a list of appllications that you specifically approve to auto-activate fonts.

To add the ability for an application to auto-activate fonts, choose Suitcase Fusion 2 > Preferences, and then add the application the Global Auto-activation list.

In addition, it's important to understand how some applications build their font lists. Microsoft Word builds it's font list when the application launches. You can still open a document, and Word will call for the activation of the fonts that aren't active, but those fonts may not be added to Word's pull-down menu, even if they are active and available. This has everthing to do with how the application was built, and has nothing to do with your font manager.

Faux styling is a whole other issue to itself. Suffice to say that it's always best to choose the appropriate font face & weight from the font list in your design application than to use the Bold or Italic buttons in the design apps.

So, no "blacklisting", no "ignoring", nada. We simply allow you to determine exactly how you want activation to occur.

Jim Kidwell

Extensis

[whitedog]

This is fun watching the reps from Extensis and Linotype ping-pong back and forth (though sometimes second-hand) about problems and features with their products. They have done a good job of clarifying issues as well as keeping the conversation friendly and civil. I hope they keep this up. We will all be better informed if they do - and such opportunities to get the straight dope from reliable sources are rare, indeed. While their reasons for participating are naturally self-serving, they are providing a public service nevertheless and, in my opinion, are to be commended for it. Thanks, guys. :-)

[jefferis]

Just curious. Older font apps used to divide fonts into their bitmap and PS versions and you actually could end up with a lot of orphans. Font Doctor sort of helped with that, but couldn't always fix them or reunite them. I think Extensis Suitcase was one of the ones that divided the fonts, or Font Reserve... I owned them both. I was wondering if
a) either of the current apps, FEX or Fusion, can recognize, recover, and reunite these separated fonts...
b) if turning them into OpenType prevents this bifurcation....
c) was this separation problem due to the way OS9 handled Type 1 or Type 3 fonts?

Jeff