Number 259 - December 2004
Fighting the Font Wars
by Rick Altman May 2002
How to stay sane with your sans
   Fonts is one topic that is always met with fear and trepidation. It's no wonder why this is so. Let's leave out the entire subject (and arguably the most important one) of choosing the best-looking and most effective typeface for a given job. Let's also set aside the lively controversy over which is better between the PostScript Type 1 and TrueType formats. With those two monsters out of the picture, the dream is still a nightmare, as few users have a good handle on how fonts get installed and uninstalled, where they are located, and (all too often) where they come from.

   You wouldn't allow your word processor or CorelDRAW to dictate to you where files can and cannot be saved; you want to save them in folders that you have created. Yet you allow your fonts to be stored in arbitrary locations over which you seem to have no say.

   So please walk to the nearest window, open it up as wide as you can, stick your head out and yell, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Then put your head back inside, go to your computer, and get to work taking back the control you have lost over your typefaces.

   This article is a revision of one that I wrote two years ago, and chances are excellent that I will continue to update it every other year or so. Having just completed our season of CorelWORLD Traveling Seminars, in which I visited about 200 people in five cities, I saw - once again - just how troubled users can be with the whole notion of font management. We dedicated an hour during Day Two to this topic, and I carefully staged a presentation in which I took a typical PC configuration, with fonts stuffed into their little hiding place, and restored order. The problem was, in order to restore order, I had to create chaos, and this had to be done on the same computer that needed to be running perfectly five minutes prior and then perfectly again five minutes afterward. Not an easy assignment, and at our first stop in Vancouver, I messed things up so badly that my poor notebook would only boot in standard VGA mode. I had to take a 10-minute break to resuscitate the thing. Then in Dallas, all of my screen fonts disappeared, turning most screen images into hideously-pixelated blobs of digitalia. I'm afraid that these mishaps gave our patrons the impression that font management is even scarier and more treacherous. All the more reason to revisit this topic.

The Fonts Folder: Magic Potion or Voodoo?
   Microsoft engineers tried to make it easy on users when they created the Fonts folder that resides under Windows. They succeeded: to install a TrueType font, you need only copy the .ttf file into the Fonts folder, visible from the Control Panel or from any Explorer window. Windows then automatically adds the required instructions to the Windows Registry.

   Unfortunately, Microsoft engineers also made it possible for any application to dump fonts in there without telling you, and they made it easy for you to ignore the process of font installation and font management. The likely result: Before you know it, several hundred fonts are installed in your system, bogging down performance, gumming up the works, and worst of all, inviting you to use them. . .all in the same project.

   This strategy of idiot-proofing typeface installation might be fine for normal, PC-fearing computer users who rarely leave the confines of their office software or their Internet browsers. That's not enough for Corel users and other graphic specialists, who place a much higher priority on the typefaces they choose and the knowledge of where they come from and who makes them. As a CorelDRAW user, you have a higher responsibility to control your typefaces and understand how they are managed. Furthermore, there is enough crap in the Windows sub-folders already, without dropping untold numbers of .ttf files in there.

Step 1: Create a Personal Fonts Directory
   Using Explorer, My Computer, some other shell program, or your neighborhood DOS prompt, pick a spot in your system that makes sense to you and create a Fonts directory or folder. If you use both Type 1 and TrueType fonts, then create subfolders for each below Fonts (like TTF and T1).

   From this point forward, this is where all font files should go. If you purchase or acquire new ones, you will know to copy them to this directory (or the subdirectories below). Applications that think they are doing you a favor by giving you a boatload of fonts won't know to do this; you'll have to clean up after them.

Step 2: Copy all TrueType fonts to your Fonts folder
   Now that you have created your personal fonts folder, I want you to move all .ttf files there, half of the process you'll do now. This is not nearly as easy as it should be because of the favor that Microsoft thought it was doing for you. The Windows \ Fonts folder does not behave like a normal folder, and you cannot simply open it in Windows Explorer and move files to another location. First off, you cannot sort the window to easily select only the .ttf files there, but if you inadvertently move the screen font (the .fon) files, then Windows could behave erratically. Even selecting those files and copying them could confound Windows. It is clear that Microsoft did not intend for you to manage typefaces beyond an idiot's level--Reason No. 346 to relocate your typefaces.

   We have found that the most reliable and safe way to copy font files from the forbidding Windows \ Fonts folder is to use the Windows Find command. From Start | Find, enter *.ttf as the filter for finding files (i.e."find every file that ends in TTF and show them to me"). Any other time that you seek to view font files (like from the Control Panel, from an Explorer window, or from My Computer), Windows thinks it's doing you a favor by displaying them in a specially-crippled Explorer window, where you cannot sort the list, cannot separate the TTFs from the FONs. . .cannot really do anything except install or remove typefaces. . .just like the idiot that Microsoft seems to think you are.

   But using the Find window, you can view only TTF files and you can copy them to your personal fonts folder with nothing more than a click and drag:

  • Open an Explorer window adjacent to the Find window and point it to your personal fonts folder.


  • Select all of the fonts in the Find window, hold Ctrl, and drag them to your fonts folder. It is
    • important that you copy the files and not try to move the files - hence the direction to hold Ctrl in Step No. 2. This must remain a two-step operation.

    Step 3: Remove all Fonts from Windows \ Fonts
       Now use the front door: Go to Start | Settings | Control Panel | Fonts. From there, select every file that has the little TT icon next to it. Take care to avoid selecting the screen fonts, the ones with an A icon. Feel free to curse at Microsoft for not letting you sort this window so that all screen font files are placed together in the back - you will need to work this list yourself and the easiest way is to select all contiguous TTF files, delete them, and then select the next batch of contiguous files. Keep in mind two things:

  • If you have fonts installed from other locations, the Fonts window will show these to you as shortcut icons. You have already copied every TTF file found on your computer into your personal fonts folder, so go ahead and select and delete these also.


  • You probably won't be able to move every TTF file. Certain fonts, such as Marlett and maybe Arial, must remain in this folder. That's okay - let them be.


    •    When you're done deleting these files, the only ones left in this folder should be the screen font files (with the A icon) and a few fonts that Windows insists remain there. At this point, your interface and your applications might look funny, as they cannot find the fonts that were there just a moment ago. Don't go postal - as soon as you reinstall them, all will be well.

    Step 4: Copy all of Corel's fonts to Fonts
       It will cost you about 60MB to follow Step No. 3 and it's worth it. Point an Explorer windows to the Corel CD and keep the other one pointing to your Fonts folder. Find the folder that has all of the TTF files and copy them across. At your discretion, copy over the PostScript fonts also, and any symbol fonts you might want. Various versions of DRAW keep fonts in differently-named subfolders, and that is really of no consequence to you: As long as the fonts make their way to your personal fonts folder, even if they are in subfolders below that, you're okay.

    Step 5: Get Font Navigator
       Bitstream's Font Navigator is bundled with all versions of DRAW north of 6, but not many users know that because it is not part of the typical install (except for DRAW 10). It is dedicated to the easy installation, removal, and management of your typefaces, and in the eyes of many, it is smarter and easier to use than ATM 4.0 Deluxe. If you didn't install it initially, waste not a moment in doing so now. You can either run the installer again, choosing Custom, or simply find the Fontnav folder on the CD and copy it to your hard drive. This program requires no DLLs or Registry entries. Other readers can download a 30-day trial copy from Bitstream www.bitstream.com and/or order it for $39.95.

       You'll love Font Navigator - it has four clear and obvious windows, one each for: a catalog of all fonts found on your system, all fonts actually installed, any groupings of fonts that you create, for whatever purposes you have, and a font preview window. To install fonts, you drag and drop.

       Because all of your fonts are now in your personal Fonts folder, you can easily build a catalog using Font Navigator's Find Fonts command: You simply tell the program to look in that one directory. That will bring every font you own - all of Corel's fonts, any Type 1 fonts, Windows fonts, other purchased fonts, every single font you have copied into your Fonts folder--into Font Navigator's Catalog window.

    Step 6: Reinstall
       This is my favorite part. I do it after hours, maybe from the notebook computer in our living room. I pour myself a cup of cocoa and I put my feet up. As I browse each font, its appearance instantly shows up in the Preview window, and if I want to install it, I drag it to the Installed Fonts window (or just press Insert).  I am careful to not go font-happy here - I know that installing too many fonts is bad for my health, and I also know how easy it is to install fonts later.

    Step 7: Maintenance
       Every month or so, you should check the Windows / Fonts folder to make sure that no rogue fonts have made their way in there, thanks to some application you installed that thought it was doing you a favor. You decide which fonts to install, not your software. Move those fonts into your personal Fonts folder, and if you want to consider installing them, you reissue the Find Fonts command in Font Navigator so they will show up in the Catalog window.

    A Word about PostScript
       Font Navigator is capable of handling your Type 1 fonts, also, but you might have to do a bit of searching to find them on your system. They are probably in a PSFonts folder; when you find them, move them into Fonts. A Type 1 font has two files associated with it, a .pfb file and a .pfm file, and you'll want to make sure to copy both.

       Finally, while I am of the opinion that Font Navigator is better than ATM, PostScript printer owners might still need ATM, depending upon their operating system. The part of ATM that provides support for PostScript printers is indispensable to them. Without it, PostScript fonts would not display on screen or print to non-PostScript printers. You probably own the so-called ATM Lite many times over, as it comes bundled with many applications. Don't shell out for the Deluxe version, however - use Font Navigator instead.

       Now you are armed and dangerous. You know exactly where your fonts live, you know how to browse them, and you know how to install them. This strategy of copying all of Corel's fonts to your FONTS folder brings an important benefit to DRAW 8, 9, and 10 users: Upon opening a drawing, if DRAW cannot find a font that is used, it checks the Font Navigator catalog. If it finds it there, the Panose substitution box offers you the choice of installing the font right then and there. You won't be getting a substitute, you'll be getting the actual font. What's more, you can choose to have the font installed permanently, or just for the period of time in which you have that drawing open. In other words, you can open any .cdr file that uses Corel fonts and know that you will be able to view it with the correct font information. This is way cool. . .

       Copyright (c) 1996-2004 Alamo PC Organization, Inc. San Antonio, TX USA
      Number 259 - December 2004