Mac vs. PC fonts

MaggieMay

New member
It's been awhile since I dealt with fonts in the prepress area, but one of my employees is having a difficult time getting some of the Openface Fonts to work on his PC. He's running Windows XP Pro.
Has anyone else had issues getting these fonts to work?

What font utilities work best for the PC's? I tried to download the Linotype FontExplorer ( but it is currently not available for the PC).

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated!

Thanks - Diane
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

I'd just load them.
Or
if you are using InDy
just put the font folder in the InDesign font folder.

MSD
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

We have far too many fonts on our PC to keep them loaded all of the time -- and they have to be available to a TON of applications -- CS3 apps plus Publisher (gag), Word, Powepoint and Corel. We have been using an old font manager that came with Corel 12 -- Bitstream Font Navigator -- but it isn't the most intuitive software... anybody have any recommendations for a font manager for Windows XP? I downloaded a free package -- AMP Font Viewer 3.82 -- anyone heard of it. Font Agent Pro and Suitcase are running about $99 -- would love to get some feedback first, though.

Thanks, Judy
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

Openface? Is that the same as OpenType? What is the suffix at the end of the font file? Are the fonts in the right fonts folder? For instance, C:\WINNT\Fonts.
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

I have used Linotype FontXporer on mac and PC. Gives useful extra information and allows easy font management. The PC was beta and is hard to come by as the official beta version is no longer available. Does anyone know when PC version will be available?
TransType Pro (fontlab) is a prepress hair saver can convert Mac <-> PC and various formats and fix naming etc.
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

Judy,

I wouldn't pay for Suitcase when Linotype FontExplorer is available for free. I used Suitcase for years, both Mac and PC, and have found FontExplorer to be a much more stable program. Linotype FontExplorer for the PC just finished up the beta-testing phase and is supposed to be available for download fairly soon. I would use the C:\WINNT\Fonts folder until the Linotype FontExplorer version for PC is ready.
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

I use a combination of the System Font Folder and ATM 4.1 (for MM fonts).
I find it works nicely in a prepress environment to have all required fonts
hidden and read only in the system folder, then add fonts as needed, delete
when the job is finished. I've been trouble free for well over a year. It doesn't
work very well for previewing though, so in a design heavy position I don't
think it'd be the best solution.
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

Note that Adobe Type Manager is a discontinued and no longer supported product. It does not work on Vista or on any 64-bit version of Windows.

- Dov
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

Noted, Dov. Unfortunately that's all I have
to deal with the occasional MM font that comes
along. It seems to work as expected in XP.
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

Thanks for the tip on Font Explorer -- I knew it was available for the Mac but didn't know they were getting ready to release a PC version.

Judy
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

The link to the beta is no longer available though :( but if you scan the net for "FontExplorerX-0.9.1.2250.exe" you may find it out there.
 
Re: Mac vs. PC fonts

Depends what types of programs to handle Fonts people are suggesting (nobody wants a simple program to handle fonts that ends up running on your pc all the time, hogging resources and doing 'tasks' when you never asked it to do.

Have you ever considered keeping all extra fonts on a plug-in storage device, name them all with "temp" for temporary after the name like:
space_custom_temp

drag them into Windows/Font to make them available to programs on XP and then delete them out of the folder when finished.
Make sure to use notes to remind you of the fonts used. Otherwise when you open the program next, the missing fonts may throw errors.

Some may argue that, but as far as manual insert and delete - at least you know there's no funny business with programs that claim to do basically the same thing.
 

PressWise

A 30-day Fix for Managed Chaos

As any print professional knows, printing can be managed chaos. Software that solves multiple problems and provides measurable and monetizable value has a direct impact on the bottom-line.

“We reduced order entry costs by about 40%.” Significant savings in a shop that turns about 500 jobs a month.


Learn how…….

   
Back
Top