Font issues between 10.5 and 10.6

[txcynna]

So... I'm trying to figure out if there is ANYTHING that I can do to rectify the differences that we are getting between my old machine (running OSX 10.5.8) and the new machine (running OSX 10.6.8)

The offending font is GillSans Bold, which is coming out much bolder and therefore 'wider' on the new machine. This is making everything not match the samples of previously printed jobs and making me crazy.

Is there a fix for this or do we just have to go back in time and do all of this customers' work on the old machine?

Also... is this a known problem that anyone else is having and I just haven't heard about yet?

I may screw this up but I'm going to try and insert a pic of what I'm dealing with.
Thanks guys!

 

[txcynna]

Clarification... I have tried researching the issue but so far have not found anything recent about it. Will continue searching.

 

[[email protected]]

What program are you using that causes the font problem? Is the font Postscript Type 1 or a truetype?

 

[txcynna]

Now, see? I knew I'd leave something out of my question.

This is a Postscript font and The program it seems to affect the most is Indesign. We are using CS5.5
From everything that I've read so far I gather that this has something to do with the new OS and we should be trying to stick to open type fonts which is fine in theory, but when you have longstanding customers with files that were originally created years ago it's hard to explain why we suddenly need them to supply us with all new fonts... Especially when their personnel has changed so many times that the people there now have no clue what we're talking about because they just order stuff and it magically appears looking just right.

So I think I know what the basic problem is.. was just curious as to whether there was a patch or 'fix' for it at this point or if we just have to deal. Thanks!

 

[Joe Duffy]

Do you use a font management software like Font Explorer? If not, that may help.

 

[mojoprime]

that almost looks like two different fonts. you might check the creator of the font too. it's possible that got switched. a lot of printer manufacturers in the old days used to have supply their own versions of some of the major fonts. it wasn't rare to several versions of palatino or helvetica, and have some of the, in the get info, have a creator of "Hewlett Packard."

and though it should happen to that degree, fonts are updated every now and then just like other software. it possible, but i woulnd't bet on it, that something changed. but that's a pretty substantial change.

 

[txcynna]

I packaged all the art and fonts from the old machine and am using those on the new and this has worked out really well with Document Fonts folder which Indesign activates upon opening the file. So... both of these images are using the same version of the same font. Fun, huh?

This is basically what I've been doing on everything that is based on existing accounts since last summer and gill sans bold is the ONLY font that has become overweight in it's new home. Gill sans regular looks just the same on both versions.

 

[MacTwidget]

There is a great app called Font Finagler that does a great job of finding and clearing all different types of font caches.
I found that font caching is much more problematic in 10.6 than it was in 10.5.

 

[rich apollo]

Do you have other copies of Gill Sans running on either machine? While the document-activated font is supposed to supersede any other fonts available on the system, this looks like a way to drum up an old-fashioned font conflict.

 

[txcynna]

Do you have other copies of Gill Sans running on either machine? While the document-activated font is supposed to supersede any other fonts available on the system, this looks like a way to drum up an old-fashioned font conflict.

holy crap! That was it. there was a dfont clashing with it. )))
Now I just need to find who put that in the user font library and slap them for not leaving things as they found them when they were done.....

Thank you!

 

[minch]

Do you have other copies of Gill Sans running on either machine? While the document-activated font is supposed to supersede any other fonts available on the system, this looks like a way to drum up an old-fashioned font conflict.

This is the killer - too many places to find fonts: theres the system, the user, the application, the font utility, etc.
Time to do a complete audit of every font and its location on your Snow Leopard mac and plan what you are going to do. Sleep on it and then document it before you do it so that when you mess it up you can work backwards.

 

[txcynna]

......so that when you mess it up you can work backwards.

LOL! It's like you *know* me!