Launching theTypeBook

theTypeBook may be launched like just about any other Macintosh application. During program startup a couple of dialog boxes will appear indicating the "build status" of the list of installed fonts. Depending on the number of fonts installed they may appear briefly or as long as 2 minutes.

During this time the true outline names are being obtained from each of the FOND resources currently available to the system. True outline names take a little longer but greatly simplify the identification and selection of available typefaces.

The list of available typefaces is also sorted alphabetically by "family" and by "weight" of each family member. This provides for a well ordered list for selection of groups of typefaces for printing. However, some fonts do not follow established naming conventions. theTypeBook provides for this situation through the "AKA"s feature. See the section on "Using AKAs" for more information about this.

The preference settings used during the previous session are restored and the fonts selected in the Fonts and Measures preferences are verified for their availability. If any font required by theTypeBook cannot be found you will be presented with an Alert dialog. You may “Continue” opening theTypeBook or Quit. If you continue, you should be sure to reselect the layout fonts before printing any specimen pages.

When quitting theTypeBook, the current Page Setup and Layout selections are saved. This will set-off some Virus detection utilities as the two storage resources are saved. If you created, or opened, an AKA list and have not save it, you will be prompted if you want to quit anyway.

When the list of available typefaces has been completed the About dialog will appear announcing the readiness for use. Click the mouse or press any key to dismiss the dialog and begin.

Transporting theTypeBook

To overcome compatibility with some printer combinations when transporting theTypeBook from one environment to another hold down the option key immediately after double-clicking to launch it. This will force the replacement of all “saved” printer settings of theTypeBook with the default settings of the currently selected printer (in the Chooser). This is only necessary between certain types and brands of printers and should normally be required.

Program Localization

All text used to produce the page layouts and dialogs contained in theTypeBook have been removed from the program’s code and placed into string resources to make “localization” easier and more complete. 

Some of the resources serve as templates controlling which characters are printed and in what order. The Keycaps resource is a good example of this. Each keyboard key is immediately followed by the four possible characters available by using the modifiers keys. This pattern repeats for each key on the keyboard.