Font management?

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dogthomson

Junior Member
May I ask a really n00bish question...

In the latest issue Computer Arts there's a big fat article on typography, and lots of industry types banging on about Font management.

Am I right in thinking best practice is to use some sort of software to manage fonts, installing the relevant ones when nescesarry? Can you not just whack them all into the 'Fonts' (in Windows) along with the system fonts?

I've been downloading a few (tasteful) fonts of late - should I start as I mean to go on and invest in the aforementioned software? I'm keen to hear people's thoughts on this, any advice would be greatfully apreciated.
 
It's more of a search, organise, manage kind of thing. Font Book (Mac) is a really good example of this.

Mac 101: Font Book


Gives you good previews and the option to activate and deactive fonts as needed. Found this very useful at college, since we couldn't access the normal font folders due to user restrictions. Which might also be the case at some places of employment, as the fonts can be added to fontbook but not in the normal font folder.

However, There's no fontbook for PCs :(

Personally I have, and use at work, Windows Font Manager|Printer's Apprentice for Windows Vista & XP Printer's Apprentice. I don't use it for installing/uninstalling fonts and it doesn't have the nifty deactivation tools a la font book. But its nice as an organisation/browsing tool (it can also preview fonts which aren't installed, which is useful). As well as print out info sheets. It's no font book, and there are plenty of other tools available.

It's each to their own I guess. I like font management tools for looking through my catalogue and finding possible fonts for a project. Whereas some people are happy to scroll through the font option in their chosen program.
 
I just drop the fonts into the windows folder. What is there to organise really?..When you design you should really have a good idea of the type your looking for.
 
Ya but sometimes it's helpful to type out the word/lettering you're using and have a look through your font list (especially if you have loads like some people :\). It's not always easy to land on the 'right' font

Then again I also have some of my fonts printed out, because I find it useful to browse through them sometimes. Sort of like sketching ideas, you might use/come up with something that wasn't necessarily in the original direction that you were heading in
 
Linotype font manager for Mac, there is nothing better and it's free last time I checked.
For Windows Extensive Suitcase is the best of a terrible bunch.

It's a good idea to manage fonts so that you can turn them on/off easily. Having a lot of fonts in your system Fonts folder will really slow it down.
 
I have used Extensis Suitcase Fusion for several years now, both inside and outside of work. I prefer to use this over Apple's Font Book because it gives you a lot more control managing your fonts. I also know of several friends in the industry that use this too at the studios they work in, seems a popular choice.

Plus as mentioned above by dbushell, font management is important because if you have them all activated your computer will be very slow.

Extensis® Suitcase Fusion 2™ a professional Mac and Windows font manager

Top marks for me :D
 
In my opinion you only need a font manager when you have a HUGE amount of fonts that slow your computer down...then you will need to disable a whackload just to get your computer to boot up.

I am yet to experience this slowdown since switching to Mac (just over 2 years ago now) and have found fontbook to be an awesome piece of built-in kit...so I have had no need for any font managers at all (although I did have Linotype Font manager on my Macbook for a while...then it wasnt free anymore so I deleted it).
 
dbushell said:
Linotype font manager for Mac, there is nothing better and it's free last time I checked.
For Windows Extensive Suitcase is the best of a terrible bunch.

It's a good idea to manage fonts so that you can turn them on/off easily. Having a lot of fonts in your system Fonts folder will really slow it down.
Click to expand...

I second this, I use Linotype and it works great!

I have LOTS of fonts, far too many to have all constantly active.... You can activate as necessary and If you open an indesign/illustrator/photoshop doc then fonts will be automatically activated for you
 
I don't do font management on my home computer but at the office every mac has Linotype FontExplorer installed.
 
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