FONT NIGHTMARE - Safari / Firefox / FontBook new font install issues - PLEASE READ!!!

[geefx]

Hello everyone!!

I, like many, many, MANY other folks out there in the world of Mac am getting increasingly sick to death with Apple's inability to fix the simplistic of bugs that's been around for years.

I've just been looking at articles and forum chats about the ongoing issue our Macs have with installing new fonts via FontBook, or the old "drag and drop" method into the FONTS folder - each thread nearly always ends in the same way... Firefox and Safari (and a few other apps) change their inherent default font to something that has just been installed - sometimes someone will install hundreds or thousands of fonts, or install a new piece of software with fonts (Microsoft Office for example) and the web browser's font will have changed to something ridiculous - some websites will be unaffected, while others will be a complete mess.

Google and Yahoo for example get hit pretty badly by these font issues - things like writing a new email and then using your cursor or backspace will start to mess up what your writing - which gives people the impression your web browser is now having font re-draw issues.

The problem dates back as far as 2002, and today it still HAS NOT been resolved by Apple.

There are a few fixes out there - but NON - absolutely NON (can you believe that?!?!?!) - no fixes actually fix the issue - they're all simple work arounds...

For example some fixes include clearing the cache of the affected web browsers - others are a reinstall of the original Mac's system fonts - fixes that tell you to look through FontBook and delete the fonts that are affecting your system or create 'Collections' so you can easily switch off and on the problematic fonts once installed in FontBook - or clicking off "Allow pages to choose their own fonts..." - deleting duplicates, or validating fonts, deleting or changing system or software prefs... the list goes on...

ALL these and more fixes are out there, and they work... BUT they're only work arounds, a quick fix so to speak - nothing, not NOTHING actually tackles the issue head on...

For example there's no way of installing ALL the fonts you want to install via FontBook and preventing Firefox / Safari / or whatever software from being affected, or switching back to your original default fonts once they have been affected - complete nightmare!!!



If you have any comments, any thoughts, or suggestions you'd like to add please please do so - I'd like to start a proper thread on this issue because alot of threads out there seem to confuse the issue with other problems.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Cheers
Gee

 

[andy.barron]

Personally I have never rated FontBook. If the system fonts are intact, using an app. like Suitcase & having clean 'sets' within works & has NEVER given me the problem you are talking about (I have been on macs since very early 90's).

Hope this helps.

 

[geefx]

AWESOME!! Nobody's mentioned Suitcase before - am currently downloading the trial version of Suitcase Fusion and will check to see if that works.

Thanks for the suggestion Andy!

 

[agentphish]

Don't use suitcase. Get rid of it. It's a Piece of CRAP. I've used it for about 5 years, and switched to Font Explorer X about 6 months ago. it's like a breath of fresh air. I don't get why anyone would use Suitcase anymore.

Get Linotype's Font Explorer X (it's FREE) and be free of your font issues!

http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX

 

[geefx]

I'm checking out Suitcase at the moment - and will check Font Explorer X later - thanks for the heads up!

Cheers
Gee

 

[killmoms]

I'm a fan of FontAgent myself (the other of the three major font managers for OS X).

 

[agentphish]

I've used all 3. I liked suitcase over fontagent, but since switching to FontExplorer and the fact that it's free and works just as well and handles bad fonts better than suitcase, it's so much nicer.

The FontExplorer interface is very nice as well.


The thing I hate most about suitcase is that if you don't set up your and user/library/fonts and library/fonts folders correctly you will have NIGHTMARES with Suitcase. Font ExplorerX Eliminates this.

 

[andy.barron]

Horses for courses I suppose. I have NEVER had a problem with Suitcase, have been using it since it was first launched. I guess it depends on how organised your fonts are to start with & keeping your master font set organised.

Using an app. like FontDoctor is a good way to make the master lib clean & with auto activation Suitcase works like a dream. Again, build sets for clients/brands & don't have all of them in the top window of Suitcase, just the master set & you will never go wrong.

I still am evaluation Fusion geefx, as I have found a few bugs with it, but Suitcase X10 is sound & quite the opposite of a piece of crap. Give an app crap to start with & thats what it will give back, so keep your master font set organised & clean, eliminating duplicates in the system lib. & user, and it will serve you very well.

 

[InColdBlood]

Sorry to resurrect this, but I need help with this issue.

I downloaded a bunch of fonts, one being called 'dark crystal'. I installed them with fontbook, and since I've had problems.

Now, this happens:

That weird font is the 'dark crystal' font. I have since deleted the font off of my computer and gotten the FontExplorer X.

I have my firefox fonts set to :

Proportional : serif (not sure what that means)
Serif : times new roman
Sans-Serif: Arial
Monospace: Courier new

I have to allow pages to use their own fonts, otherwise it shows ALL fonts as the 'dark crystal' if I try to MAKE it use certain fonts.

I don't have a minimum font size selected - and I've gone through TONS of 'fix it' routines online for this one, either not understanding how to do it OR completing it successfully and to no avail.

I haven't yet uninstalled/reinstalled firefox (how do I do that btw?) but I think that should be my next step now that the 'dark crystal' font is deleted off of my computer.

Any advice?

 

[InColdBlood]

Just checked, it's appearing the same way in Safari too.

 

[thebigpicture]

I installed about 3,000 fonts and as a result had this problem.
My solution was to go to the Web Collection in Font Book and disable the fonts that are not supposed to be there. Then of course restart any program that was displaying the problem font.