A Basic Course in Font Wrangling - Rochester Institute of Technology

Transcription

A Basic Course in Font Wrangling
Session 23 – Saturday, September 12, 2009
Erich S. Lehman
Premedia Facilities Coordinator
School of Print Media
Rochester Institute of Technology
Presentation © 2009 Erich S. Lehman.
1
Everything you wanted to know . . .
How to recognize fonts and font types
Where fonts live in Mac OS X
How OS X recognizes fonts
How to handle OS X based font solutions, aka “resources you didn’t even
know you had”
Third-party font managers
Font Licensing and Font Troubleshooting
Handy resources for font issues.
2
All about the fonts . . .
Fonts and the OS that loves them.
3
Let’s start with the basics.
Types of fonts and how to identify them in OS X
Unicode
Where fonts live in OS X
4
Types of Fonts
5
Font Types: PostScript
Also known as Type 1 or Type 3
Two parts required (third is optional*)
Printer font (LWFN)
Screen font - (FFIL)
AFM (Adobe Font Metrics) file* – not always present.
Work great with RIPs
6
Font Types: TrueType
Apple and Microsoft collaboration
All data in one file
Added “hinting”
Have many extra features that aren’t utilized
7
Font Types: Multiple Master
A flavor of PS fonts; contains multiple character outlines
Can be interpolated to create variations (think Gutenberg)
Can vary sizes, weight, serifs, stance, etc.
Causes problems – lots of problems
8
Font Types: dfont
Datafork TrueType font
Apple proprietary
All font suitcases can be stored in data fork
9
Font Types: OpenType
Hybrid font from Adobe and Microsoft
True cross-platform
One file for all info, best of both PostScript and Truetype worlds
Can contain over 65,000 characters and multiple languages in
one file
10
Font Types: ClearType
Microsoft proprietary format
Subpixel Rendering technology; focused on LCD screen display
Technological benefits do not carry over to print output
Effects only seen in Microsoft operating systems
11
Font Types: CID fonts
Fonts whose glyphs have no names, just numbers.
They are described in relation to other characters and
glyphs in a character collection
Typically for Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.
Need at least two files to be complete:
CMap (character map)
CIDFont
12
Font Type Identification
13
ASCII vs. Unicode
ASCII was the original standard, but Unicode trumps it
ASCII is limited; Unicode extended characters into the millions
Most Unicode fonts are “double-byte fonts”
Most modern OS’s fully supports Unicode
14
Font Encoding Issues
Why older Mac & PC fonts don’t play well together:
With ASCII, first 128 characters were standard
Second 128 (high-bit) are different on Mac and PC,
hence, character substitution often occurs
These encodings are called MacRoman and Win ANSI
15
Where Fonts Live
16
With OS X, things got crazy.
There can be up to 8 different places where fonts live
OS X is a multi-user environment
Allows high degree of customization, but also frustration
17
Font Hierarchy
Application
Font Book Libraries (showed up in Tiger)
User: ~/Library/Fonts
Local: /Library/Fonts
Network: /Network/Library/Fonts
System: /System/Library/Fonts
Classic: /System Folder/Fonts
Third Party Font Manager (local)
18
Cleaning House
It pays to be a neat freak.
19
Minimize
What do you actually need?
What is your most basic, standard set?
What fonts can you eliminate? (always save them somewhere!)
Get clean, uncorrupted versions of the fonts you use most
20
Cleanse
Use a utility to validate your fonts to make sure they are not:
Corrupt
Duplicates
Missing pieces, etc.
21
Organize
How do you want to group your typefaces?
Client
Foundry
Style
22
Manage
Font Book or third party font manager
Locally hosted or server based
Who approves? Who adds?
23
Font Cleanup Links
Apple
http://www.apple.com/support/ Search “Font Handling”
Design Geek:
http://www.senecadesign.com/designgeek/fonts-osx.html
Extensis Best Practices:
http://doc.us.extensis.com/Fonts-Best-Practices-in-OSX.pdf
Ideas Training
http:// www.ideastraining.com/PDFs/OSX_FontManagement.pdf
24
Taming the Beast
Tools we can use to take control of our fonts.
25
OS-X based Font Solutions
26
Font Book
Since OS 10.3
Free font manager
Font verification
Powerful but limited
27
Font Panel
Integrated into Cocoa apps
Tied to Font Book
For apps that don’t have type
menu like higher-end apps
(aka InDesign, QuarkXPress)
28
Typography Palette
Nested feature in Font Book and
Font Panel
Allows for automatic substitution
and advanced typographic
features
Dynamically changes based on
font features/character set
29
Character Palette
Invaluable
Only way to input many
Unicode Characters
Multiple views
Tricky to get used to, powerful
after that
Accessed via the International
System Preferences pane.
30
Keyboard Viewer
Like KeyCaps on steroids
Unicode enabled
Reflects Input Source
Accessed via the
International System
Preferences pane.
31
Third Party Solutions
32
Linotype Font Explorer
Multiple versions
Detailed font info
Clean font caches
Standalone and Server
http://www.fontexplorerx.com
33
Alsoft Master Juggler
Solid, easy to use solution
Written in Cocoa
Integrated tab functions
Font Guardian
http:// www.alsoft.com
34
Insider Font Agent Pro
User-friendly, all in one app
Built-in validation
Mac and Win
Stand-alone or Server
http:// www.fontagent.com
35
Extensis Suitcase Fusion 2
Melds Suitcase and
Font Reserve technologies
Assign & search by attributes
Font Vault & Font Sense
OS X single user; no server
Mac and Windows
http:// www.extensis.com
36
Extensis Universal Type Server 2
Intel-native type solution
Melding of all that came
before
Lite (<10) or Professional
Font Vault & Font Sense
http:// www.extensis.com
37
A Note on Windows Management
Finally there are parallel offerings between Mac and Windows!
Link into servers with standardized interface
Previously, had been a bit of an afterthought at Microsoft
http://www.microsoft.com/typography
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Fonts in Production
Troubleshooting fonts and font problems.
39
Font Ownership and Licensing
What does the license allow?
How many licenses/devices?
Who “owns” the font? Does the service provider have to buy?
Can I embed in a PDF? Flash?
40
Missing/Conflicts/Substitutions
Probably the most common problem(s)
Multiple fonts with the same name
Font Substitutions
Usually same name but different metrics
Font is missing, you might see Courier
41
Corrupt Font Cache Files
File that keeps track of your fonts
Application and System level
Has to be deleted to clear the problem
Many utilities and font managers now address this
42
Random Font Issues
Rogue/unlicensed fonts
Finder file flags
Font file ID number conflict
Font file or suitcase is locked
43
More Random Font Issues
Font file structure
Missing bitmap fonts
Missing PostScript fonts
Old style FONT bitmap fonts
44
Font Utilities
Handy software to help you get by.
45
Font Doctor X
Robust repair and diagnostic tool
Ships with Extensis Suitcase or
available separately
View and edit font suitcase files
Font file converter
http://www.extensis.com
46
Insider Smasher
Separate and Streamline fonts
View and edit font suitcase files
Clear font caches
http://insidersoftware.com/
47
Unicode Font Info
Like Character Palette,
but in a far more userfriendly format
http://www.versiontracker.com
48
dfontifier
Converts dfonts into
OS9 TrueType fonts
and vice versa
Shareware
http://homepage.mac.com/
mdouma46/
49
Font Finagler
Cleans out font caches
via interface
Shareware
http://homepage.mac.com/
mdouma46/
50
Font Nuke
Removes corrupt font caches
Easy to use
Freeware!
http://www.jamapi.com/pr/fn/
51
Font Apps on the iPhone
Useful apps appearing on the iPhone
Typography
What the Font?
Font Size
FONTS!
Many more each day
52
Font Creation, etc.
Font Lab: http://www.fontlab.com/
Font Editors: FontLab, Fontographer, Type Tool
Font Converters: TransType, ScanFont
Font Utilities
53
Contact Information
Erich Lehman
Premedia Facilities Coordinator
School of Print Media – Rochester Institute of Technology
[email protected]
office: 585.475.2766
http://esl6835.cias.rit.edu/FONT
54

A Basic Course in Font Wrangling - Rochester Institute of Technology

Transcription

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