Grouping by font family

[tfrevert webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Do you suppose there is any hope of FHMX being able to group fonts by family without having to use Suitcase. With panther coming out soon there is really no reason to have a font management program. Almost everyother design program groups fonts automatically. Why can't Macromedia figure it out?

[maxman23 webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I fear you put too much stock in Panther's font management abilities. What makes you so confident that it will put Extensis, Font Reserve, etc. out of business? I suspect you will still need a professional third-party app to take care of things font-wise. The feedback I'm hearing on Panther's font abilities is a decided mixed bag. I certainly wouldn't expect the kind of panacea you seem to be looking forward to.

Yes, the lack of font family grouping is, and remains, a drag. However, the rest of FHMXa feels great to use, and, to address your situation, have you tried Fontcard by Unsanity? Cheap shareware that works well enough, if not a tad slow when it first loads.

I agree that the next version of FH will have to implement this feature; it's past due, seeing as Adobe implemented it in AI 10 and we're about to see version 11 coming out. That said, font management in X is a bear compared to the older systems... it's about the only thing I miss from the old days.

Max
____________
Max MacDonald
Toronto

[tgimlin webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I'm all for giving Macromedia props for putting out an update to Freehand, but the lack of font grouping is almost too big a hurdle at our shop to continue to use the program. I'm currently trying out Fontcard, and while it does group fonts together, it's so slow (first loading and scolling after it loads) that it becomes almost easier to not use it and scroll through a huge list. That and the fact that some fonts are now just not showing up at all is a little disconcerting.

Todd Gimlin
Director of Technology, Greteman Group
[url]www.gretemangroup.com[/url]

I fear you put too much stock in Panther's font management abilities. What makes you so confident that it will put Extensis, Font Reserve, etc. out of business? I suspect you will still need a professional third-party app to take care of things font-wise. The feedback I'm hearing on Panther's font abilities is a decided mixed bag. I certainly wouldn't expect the kind of panacea you seem to be looking forward to.

Yes, the lack of font family grouping is, and remains, a drag. However, the rest of FHMXa feels great to use, and, to address your situation, have you tried Fontcard by Unsanity? Cheap shareware that works well enough, if not a tad slow when it first loads.

I agree that the next version of FH will have to implement this feature; it's past due, seeing as Adobe implemented it in AI 10 and we're about to see version 11 coming out. That said, font management in X is a bear compared to the older systems... it's about the only thing I miss from the old days.

[tfrevert webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I didn't say it would put them out of business. People will allways want their bells and whistles so they will be safe. Panther's font management's beauty is in its simplicity. Just turn my fonts on and off and leave everything else alone.

From a production standpoint FHMX is like a hockey player that can't skate. It has all the tricks but falls short when it comes to the basics. I do agree the patch has made a ton of improvements, but which is more important, filters and hose graphics or fonts?

Thanks for the shareware recommendation, works well but is super slow on my machine. Some day I will get a faster computer. :)

[maxman23 webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I agree with both of you folks that font grouping is a major issue with FH... methinks the FH team must be sick of hearing out complaints over the matter. The fact that this feature failed to make it into either FHMX or its bug fix successor suggests to me that its successful implementation remains, for reasons I can't fathom, a technically daunting challenge. That said, I find the rest of the app so d@mned useful that I simply cannot stop using it, however much I take pleasure in working with Illustrator when it comes to fonts. And I also find that substantial improvements were made in FHMX over version 10, not just in, as was mentioned, filters and the graphics hose... improved display and UI elements, to name two. I've barely begun to check out the extrusion tool, but I do think I'll find a use for it, seeing as I am an Adobe Dimensions user from long ago. (;->))

As for Panther, I sincerely hope it negates my dependency on Suitcase 10... we'll see.

Max
____________
Max MacDonald
Toronto

[wrand@mac.com]

tgimlin wrote:

>
>I'm all for giving Macromedia props for putting out an update to Freehand, but the lack of font grouping
> is almost too big a hurdle at our shop to continue to use the program. I'm currently trying out Fontcard,
> and while it does group fonts together, it's so slow (first loading and scolling after it loads) that it
> becomes almost easier to not use it and scroll through a huge list. That and the fact that some fonts
> are now just not showing up at all is a little disconcerting.
>
>Todd Gimlin
>Director of Technology, Greteman Group
>[url]www.gretemangroup.com[/url]

Which version of FontCard are you using? Version 1.0.1 of FontCard worked okay here but version 1.0.2 refuses to work and requests for help from Unsanity have gone unanswered. I finally gave up trying to get it to work and resigned myself to endless font menu scrolling.

-Wes

[Brian Pylant]

"tfrevert" [email]webforumsuser@macromedia.com[/email] wrote:

> Do you suppose there is any hope of FHMX being able to group fonts by
> family without having to use Suitcase.

I don't think Suitcase provides for this, either. Either MM needs to
handle this internally in the app (as Illustrator does) or you need a
third-party utility like FontCard.

Brian

[maxman23 webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

This is what I mean about font management in X... to my knowledge, so far none of the X font managers support font family submenus, much less custom submenus of your own making - precisely the sort of flexibility I had become accustomed to using ATM Deluxe three years or so ago. Now we appear to be in a situation where font management is less extensive and nuanced than it used to be under the old OS.' Moreover, design apps themselves are increasingly being pressured to pick up the slack and offer in-house font family organization. Weird... there must be some good technical reasons for this. All I know is that Suitcase 11 just came out and since it offers precious little over its somewhat lame but competent predecessor, I won't be upgrading... plus, there's Panther to consider too.

Bit of a dog's breakfast, this font thing. I sure hope MM implements it in the next version of FH.

Max
____________
Max MacDonald
Toronto

[Brian Pylant]

"maxman23" [email]webforumsuser@macromedia.com[/email] wrote:

> All I
> know is that Suitcase 11 just came out and since it offers precious
> little over its somewhat lame but competent predecessor, I won't be
> upgrading...

I happily use Suitcase 10 (OS X and Windows) - I'm curious what you find
lame about it (other than the lack of font menu organization), and what
features are missing (that perhaps are offered elsewhere).

BTW I am very much in favor of font organization being part of the OS,
not a third-party product. I am hoping that Panther's font utility will
allow me to no longer need Suitcase, but at the same time I'm not
counting on it.

Brian