Font menu

[Guesst]

I have to say, again, that I am still waiting to see a decent font list
implemented in FHMX. The current solution is a step back to the stone age if
you are a graphic designer using even a limited number of different fonts.
I mean, how many people just use FHMX 'for fun'? Surely graphic designers of
all descriptions are the core market for this product?
Could someone give me the feature request email address, again?
Instead of playing around with Object Inspectors that nobody wants, Macromedia
should fix a few of the basic things, including:
- grouped font list, just like it was in the good ole days with Type Reunion
- ensure that pictures always print - sometimes EPS or TIFF pics just 'fall
off' in the printing process
- come up with some understandable options on the Object Inspector - 'emulate
FH9' would be good enough for a lot of people, I think
- improve general program stability - folks tell me they live with at least 1
unexpected quit per day - on a good day. Don't ask about the bad days
Greetings, fellow sufferers

[davecc]

You can try You Control: Fonts for font grouping by family. I have been using
it for awhile and it works as advertised. MM, in my opinion, just can't or
don't want to implement this feature for some reason.

David

[url]http://www.yousoftware.com/products/fonts.php[/url]

[Judy Arndt]

Guesst wrote:

> I have to say, again, that I am still waiting to see a decent font list
> implemented in FHMX.

Try YouControl:Fonts from the source DaveCC listed. I tried it and it was
stable under FHMX 11.0.2 and OS 10.3.4. I had one font that did not show in
the YouControl menu, but the trial expired before I had time to troubleshoot
-- could have been a font problem.

> Could someone give me the feature request email address, again?

Make your wishes known!
[url]http://www.macromedia.com/support/email/wishform/?6213=10[/url]

> - come up with some understandable options on the Object Inspector - 'emulate
> FH9' would be good enough for a lot of people, I think

Okay, we have to be careful what we ask for, because we just might get it
and we might not be deliriously happy with the outcome. For years (FH2
through 9) I had wanted to be able to assign multiple strokes per object and
had asked for the ability to put strokes behind fill. FHMX now gives me
that, but it makes object manipulation a lot more complex.

I'm now working comfortably in FHMX, but it does take time to understand the
new multi and group attributes. As for an 'emulate FH9' mode, I have learned
to avoid group attributes. A Select>Subselect keyboard shortcut will be your
best friend. I subselect and apply attributes only at path level, avoiding
most of the pitfalls of working with group attributes.

> - improve general program stability - folks tell me they live with at least 1
> unexpected quit per day - on a good day. Don't ask about the bad days

Have you updated FHMX? FHMX 11.0.2 is very stable for me -- I have an
unexpected Quit about once a month. A known cause of unexpected quits is
having your Styles and Layers panels grouped together. Touching the tab of
one or the other can trigger a crash in some cases. If you have them
grouped, try pulling them apart and see if that helps.

Make sure you take a look through the 'known issues' reports on the MM web
site (watch text wrap of URL).
[url]http://www.macromedia.com/support/freehand/ts/documents/fhmx_emerging__issue[/url]
s.htm

Judy Arndt
--
FHMX 11.0.2 (Build 92)
Mac G4, OS 10.3.4

[Guesst]

davecc and judy:
thanks for your suggestions!
I shall definitely be trying YouControl - I had a bash with Unsanity's
FontMenu, but that did not work with FreeHand.

I shall also send my hit-list of most reported bugs to the Requested Features
email.

Judy, thanks for the suggestions on how to improve stabilty. I support a wide
range of graphic designers who are all working with FHMX. Some maintain that
11.00 was better than 01 or 02 in that it printed reliably, others say that 01
and 02 are better, because the 'paths into Photoshop' problem got solved.

However, 01 introduced the non-printing of some placed graphics problem, and
02 still crashes for some people. I have not been able to establish a cause for
that - bad fonts is my 'favourite' cause of bad things, but we have eliminated
that.

I do not have a single user who does not have some major gripe with FHMX. And
by that I don't just mean that all the old dogs are refusing to learn new
tricks and get to grips with sub-selection. It's more the other stuff in my
list, although many would really like to go back to 9 in terms of the Object
Inspector - they just knew what the workarounds were, or had never encountered
the shortcomings of the old pre-Inspector method. It all depends what you do
with FreeHand.

Anyway, I hope Macromedia continue with the updates - but I am honestly
looking for bugfixes only, and so are the majority of 'my' users. We don't want
any more new tricks to learn right now, we want a stable program.

Cheers,
G

[Wes Rand]

davecc wrote:

> You can try You Control: Fonts for font grouping by family. I have been using
> it for awhile and it works as advertised. MM, in my opinion, just can't or
> don't want to implement this feature for some reason.
>
> David
>
> [url]http://www.yousoftware.com/products/fonts.php[/url]
>

I've been trying out the updated version and it works fairly well. But
one thing I've found that really bugs me -- and I wonder if it is the
same for others using this program -- is that it is really slow. When I
make a font change with the YC fonts menu it takes a couple of seconds
for the changes to take effect.

The other thing is probably just me and changing my habits. But I keep
forgetting to use the YC menu.

[davecc]

Hi Wes,

I find You Control:Fonts very responsive and very stable with Freehand on my
G5 Dual 2Ghz machine. My only issue with it is that when I type the fist two
letters of a font, it does not go to the matching font. YC Fonts said that
feature will be implemented in a future update. Anything is better than the
present font structure Freehand presently offers.

Regards,
David

[Wes Rand]

davecc wrote:

> Hi Wes,
>
> I find You Control:Fonts very responsive and very stable with Freehand on my
> G5 Dual 2Ghz machine.

Well, there you go! I'm chugging along on a single G4. Ah, the tech envy
kicks in.