Here are some questions frequently asked about our fonts, and the answers we where able to come up at the time. You may also want to read the answers, even if you experienced no problem with the present font. As a matter of fact, we have come up with some solutions of our own, which may help you get better results with all your fonts. This list of questions and answers will be regularly updated, in order to spare as much as possible aggravation for our customers. After reading them, please contact us, if anything was still bothering you. We will do what we can to help you the best way we can. Thank-you for all your reports.
Q : Under Windows, some fonts do not print at all sizes, or show only on screen, or the opposite. This happens most often with complex fonts, such as DinosoType, Bujardet Vignettes of Nahkt Hieroglyphs. Some characters print as squares, when they appear fine on the screen, or the opposite, or both. It happens most often when the output is to be made on a dot-matrix printer, would it be impact or ink-jet.
A : The problem seems to reside within Windows itself, and we where unable to get any explanation from Microsoft which could help us understand how to solve the problem. However, as in general this type of fonts are most used on isolated basis (letterheads, titles, etc.), it is possible to use another approach :
- Create a new document under Windows Paint
- With the TEXT tool, enter the appropriate message
- Copy the image, and paste it into your word processor or desktop
publishing software. Of course, if you use more sophisticated tools than Windows Paint, like Corel Draw on the PC, the result may be better.
Note : Although extremely rare, the same can happen on the Mac. The solution is the same, using MacPaint or other paint program, and a good word processor.
Q : On the Macintosh, I tried to install your TrueType font, but it shows only as a sort of Helvetica, or Geneva. What's going on ?
A : You probably ran into a font number conflict. In other words, the newly installed font has probably the same number as some other already installed in the system. You may want to use a utility to check the numbers of the fonts installed in your system, maybe FontMaster, which is available in the shareware circuit, or another more recent.
The way to make sure a font is OK :
- BEFORE a font is installed (if you installed it, remove it from the system and restart your computer before proceeding), open the suitcase, and in ther, double-click on the font itself. You should normaly get a little windows, showing the expected characters.
- Install the font, through the regular procedure you are acustomed to ; Suitcase if you are lucky, or by placing the suitcase in the system.
- Do the same manipulation as before (opening the font suitcase, then the font inside). If the font shows OK, it means it should work properly. If the sample text is showing some sort of Geneva, it means something is wrong, and the font has the same number as a one installed before.
The only way to go, if you do not have a special utility to renumber the font, is to remove any "non system" fonts, and out them aside in another folder, then restart the computer (when installed, the system contains only Chicago, Courier, Geneva, Monaco, New York, Symbol, Times. They are the only ones which should remain).
At this point, you should be able to re-install the new font with no problem. You can then add the fonts previously set aside, one at a time, until one will actually do the same as before : show as Geneva. Here is the posing-problem font. You can get a utilty which can change the fonts numbers, or simply avoid using the two fonts at the same time.
Q : I do not find the promised accented characters. They are not available through my regular keyboard. Why is that ?
A : For historical reasons, as computers originated in America, and also because no one at the beginning thought of using electronic calculators to write poems, invitations or books, the ASCII standard did not support accented characters. Then, as more and more aborigines from France like Michel Bujardet, or other remote picturesque small countries, started to trade their usual goose quill for more modern means, they asked for accents. And also for their own weird keyboards. If you use a Macintosh, use the Keyboard desk accessory to see what key combinations give you access to the desired characters. On the PC, you may want to try all combinations, in conjunction with the Alt Gr key. You can also load in your word processor the ASCII document usually provided with our foreign fonts. It will allow you to check what number punch in on the numeric keypad, while depressing the Alt key, then release Alt, to get the desired symbol (for instance, Alt-65 generates an "A").
Q : Why in hell did you choose the same number for one of your fonts than one of mine ?
A : This especially goes for the Macintosh, but could happen with Windows or ATM as well. Each font has it's own specific number, which the system uses to recognize it, and communicate with the printer. If two fonts in the system have the same number, strange things will happen : the font may look fine on the screen, but print different on the printer. Or the opposite. Look very different on the screen than what you expected. This kind of conflict is automatically solved by utilities such as Suitcase, an excellent font manager, available for Macintosh and Windows. We strongly recommend it's use. Our problem is like Sea Battle : whatever number we choose, there is always a chance some other font designer may have chosen the same. Utilities which can list fonts numbers, and eventually change them, will solve your problem. If you discover one of our fonts have the same number as one provided by a big company, or, worse, regularly in the system, like Arial under Windows or Chicago on the Mac (which has already been checked for, but one never knows), please report it ASAP. We will change the number at once.
Q : One font crashes the system.
A : Check if the file was not corrupted. A disk error, or some unexpected manipulations, like switching off the computer with applications still active, may be the cause. Use the original copy of the font, which you received in your shareware or registered package. If the problem still persists, please contact us.
Q : Since I installed your fonts on my Macintosh computer, Suitcase does not work. The extension is in place, but it does not work.
A : Adding a new set of fonts cannot damage Suitcase. However, a system crash, or switching off the computer without first doing shut-down in the special menu, can damage Suitcase. Simply make a new copy from the original Suitcase disk, restart, and it should work again. Some other inits may conflict. We have noticed the same glitch with a scanner Photoshop add-in, which seems to fire bullets at Suitcase, anytime it is run, and systematically destroy it.
Q : I need a font in a language not yet available.
A : Creating fonts for new languages is not only challenging, it is also culturally very rewarding, very inspiring. We do not always know the language you plan to use. But if you provide us with the proper information, we will use it to create a new font. It is fairly simple : we only need the best representation of the alphabet, character by characters, and eventually it's pronounciation, if it is not a Roman set of letters (Japanese, for instance, or Russian are in that case). Call us for more details.
Q : I want a font made according to my specifications.
A : If you already have a printout of the desired font, or any graphic representation that we can use to draw the characters, our regular price for designing a new font is very reasonable. If you want a creation from scratch, it will be more difficult. Please call us for a quotation.
Q : How can I obtain a printout of all of your fonts ?
A : Just send us your complete address, and we will gladly send you a sample sheet showing the diversity of Match Software fonts. You may also want to look around for a file named 50FNTDEMO.ZIP, or 50FNTDEMO.SIT, which are currently available on Compuserve (50FNTDEM) DTP forum, or the equivalent forums on America Online. We can also fax you a sample sheet of any specific font you want to see. However, if you wish more than 3 fonts, we will still send the requested by mail, to avoid excessive phone charges.
Q : You must provide thorough phone hot line support for any brand and type of computer. If Adobe and others can, why not you ? You should be able to be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week !
A : We are sorry, with our small operation, not to be able to compete with giants who see more money in 10 minutes than we may be able to earn in one year. However, our prices are lower beyond comparison. That is also because you are not paying for million dollars advertisement, and plethoric staffs. Besides, we are prepared to fix glitches if any, and gladly accept advises from our customers. Remember, however, that a font is somewhat equivalent to a bumper sticker to an automobile. Please do not ask us to solve the problems generated by your system, no more than you would think about requiring drive lessons from a stickers publisher. We do our best for our fonts to work properly on STANDARD configurations, including STANDARD printers, STANDARD system versions, STANDARD applications, when our fonts are installed through STANDARD procedures.
Q : In your Martian font, you placed a dot above the glipnol character, and forgot to put an accent above the weirdoo. It is unforgettable. I am furious and you are just as stupid as a bunch of lunar dogs ! You should be whipped, and give me my money back, too, plus maybe a little extra, because I suffered incredible damage to my much sophisticated sense of intellectual properness and inherent graceful sophistication.
A : We are sorry not to know Martian as well as such a refined literate as your highness. Please do not blow your desintegrator at us, poor ridiculous clumsy uneducated filthy computer groomers. Please consider that ignorance may not be such a crime, after all, and have mercy for the less taught. If for any reason we committed a mistake in transcribing your native language, be assured it is not intentional. Please courteously provide us with the proper information, and we will make sure appropriate updates are made. All we know of, as humble and insignificant artisans, is the fonts craftsmanship. It is not our fault, then, if the subtleties of a foreign language do not strike us like light over the saint's head. However, we are bending our knees to the more educated. Thank you for helping us improve. At the present time, our foreign fonts have been thoroughly reviewed, so they satisfy our customers. Some have helped perfect already very nice fonts. But we will appreciate any additional help !
Q : When I use too many fonts, my printer crashes.
A : Try setting the option "Print TrueType fonts as graphics" in the Windows Control panel. On the Macintosh, set "Unlimited Downloadable Fonts" in the Printer Options.
Q : Why do you ask for money for your fonts ? They should be free !
A : There is a strange curse around computer software, these days. Nobody would ever consider getting a movie for nothing, or walking into a book store and require a sample for free. For programs, however, the matter is quite different. So many people consider computer software piracy as a light little mistake, that eventually, some may indeed start considering software authors as thieves, because they pretend to get a small reward for their job. Some luminaries (noticeably around GNU project) even have the nerve to play with the very strange notion that computer software should only come free, and that any commercial distribution, including shareware, has some analogy to a rip-off. Fine and good, then, but why do they at the same time insist to get paid for their conferencing, or to get royalties from their books ? Match Software is a small business based on shareware distribution. Anyone can browse at our productions in the same way a reader could read a book as many times and as completely as wished, before actually paying for it. Please do not pirate us. If you feel a font is really of use, please register. That small usage fee will help us continue creating new original, exclusive and fine fonts for you. We sincerely thank all users who have, through their registration, helped pay the rent, the phone, and the electricity which powers our equipment while creating all these fonts. Please continue to support the shareware concept. It is the only way out of the commercial monopolies. Small software companies are as much a liberty warrant as small book publishers are : without them, big companies would have their way, culturally and financially. Nobody would ever want that to happen !
