Font CD's

[geb]

If I purchase a font CD, in example a font cd from one or two of the banners at the bottom of the page, can I use a certain font on that CD like you use clipart CD's, that's without loading it on your hardrive? I have so many and not allowed to add any more or so the computer says(windows 98), and really don't want to delete any from signlab or corel. Just thought I'd ask before I spend the money. Thanks.

Geo.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Sorry Charlie ..... unlike job files, fonts need to be installed into the Windows operating system. I use Windows 98 SE and fight a constant battle adding and removing fonts to keep the number reasonable.

There are some really good font managers out there that can be used to make this a bit easier. My favorite is TypoGraf.

 

[ChiknNutz]

Letterhead Fonts has a really neat font tool called The Font Thing. It is a FREE download and I use it extensively. It has a feature for you to "load" a font (different than installing the font), but I think it doesn't permanently install it (if you so choose) to help alleviate this problem. I think "loading" the font is a temporary thing and may only work for a winddows session or maybe even a Corel session. I haven't used this feature yet, but I know it exists in the software.

 

[geb]

Thanks guys. Can I assume with windows 2000 that you can install unlimited fonts, or more than in '98?

 

[Fred Weiss]

Probably so and even better with XP Pro but having a hunkier computer also helps. The bottom line is that every installed font has to be listed with the Windows registry and draws a small percentage of your total available resources.

MHO is that whatever OS you're running, you need to manage your fonts and not just load them on because you might use this one or that one someday. Our solution is to keep all our fonts on our file server so they're easily accessible. This ties right in with how TypoGraf works for us. I think Font Thing is similar.

We do the same with our clipart. We keep all our clipart on our file server and then we manage it with Portfolio. Otherwise it would have a greatly diminished value in our operation because it just wouldn't be efficient to work with.

 

[barb]

Extensis Suitcase - www.extensis.com

 

[geb]

Thanks for the website, Barb. I think its time to manage some fonts. There's alot of nice fonts in the software/fonts section of the weblinks, and I can't add any.

 

[geb]

I'm trying out Typograf, and not sure where to go. I have it downloaded. First, should I go to font manager, create a new folder, and start uninstalling fonts to this folder to open up more room to add fonts? On this system, I can add fonts, but I'm practising for home where I don't have room for any new fonts and plan on adding Typograf this weekend. I just don't want to screw anything up at home by adding or deleting something I shouldn't. Thanks for any help.

George

 

[Fred Weiss]

George what I did was to organize my fonts on my hard drive by classification. It took only a couple of hours using Typogfaf's Move command. The space required for 5,000 fonts was about 225 MB.

This accomplishes several things:

1. It greatly speeds up displaying time.

2. It reduces my searching for matches or creative font selection by being in smaller groups ..... so when I just want to look at scripts, I don't have to wade through non-script designs.

3. It put all my relevant fonts into one group rather than having to switch out CD's going from one library to the next.

Most of the features of Typograf that you'll use regularly are accessed by clicking the Options button or by right clicking on any font selected.

 

[scott pagan]

win 98se will max out font library at 760 or 780. i know from hitting it last week on one of our machines. it knocked out an Adobe UI (user interface) font that had to be reloaded. the Adobe menus and pallettes had a bad goofy font until it was replaced. this was with having a font manager in use. xp has a much higher tolerance (if any).

Fred, does having all your fonts installed cause your programs to launch slower? are you using a font manager as well? i have tons o' fonts, but keep the installed ones to a minimum for ease of finding what i use most often.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Scott I keep my installed TrueType fonts at about 275 to 300. I've seen fonts stop appearing in menus at around 500 so I'm pretty careful in that regard.

In Omega, I run between 400 and 500 fonts.

The description I gave before is just an organized group of uninstalled fonts on my hard drive. I install as needed and uninstall regularly.

 

[scott pagan]

...and here i was thinking you had 5000! fonts installed, haha!

i was suprised to have had the 700+ on my Edge station. the one good part was it made me backup some of the odd, not-used-lately fonts and free up ATM for important free space (when so needed).

thanks for the clarification.

 

[Baz]

I use typograph as well. Mainly bcause it reads type1 fonts wich is what i prefer to use. I have 15 000 fonts available in a directory i keep on the hard drive but only have between 200 and 300 installed. I dont need more than that.