[muglo] Mac OS X Font Tips
- From: Andy Skuse <askuse@xxxxxx>
- To: muglo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:54:29 -0400
On 2011-06-25, at 11:42 AM, Mary Read wrote:
> I'm just about to load FontExplorer X Pro on my brand new Mac, and don't want
> to mess up its pristine system by selecting the wrong install options. God
> knows fonts have screwed me over before. I've looked around but can't find
> clarification online about the ramifications of making certain choices. I'm
> hoping someone can advise me on the following:
>
> 1. Should I ask FontExplorer to A) manage my fonts from their current
> location or ask it to B) organize font files by copying or moving fonts to a
> new location?
>
> 2. Is there a rationale for copying vs. moving fonts, aside from the delight
> of accumulating even more duplicates of my vast font collection?
>
> Thank you for your help,
> Mary
I am no font expert for sure (they are voodoo I tell you!), but here are a
couple of simple tips I use at work when troubleshooting the basic font issues
we tend to deal with:
1) Back them *all* up before you make any changes. Even just having a folder
somewhere on your HD with a backup of all of your fonts is better than nothing,
and you can compress the folder as well. Bonus points for creating folders
inside your "Font Backup" folder named "/Library/Fonts",
"Users/andy/Library/Fonts" etc. and keeping them all organized. This can save a
lot of time if you need to restore on. Best solution, burn them all to a DVD in
case you ever need to reinstall your OS from scratch.
2) If you're lucky enough to be reading this *before* you've added your own
fonts to the ones that came with your system, then use the Labelling function
(while in the Finder, select the folder or file you want to label, then click
the File menu and look at the bottom for "Label:" and choose a colour) to
colour-code all of your factory default fonts that came with the OS. This makes
it easier to pick out which fonts came with the system and which ones you will
have added later. It's not a perfect solution because some default fonts can be
overwritten by programs like MS Office and you'll lose the colour label, but
it's still helpful for basic troubleshooting.
3:) Not really a tip, but still useful for decreasing the pulling of hair:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2435
Andy
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