theFONDler has been created as a alternative to Apple's Font/DA Mover utility for users of "harmonized" font systems like those from the Professional Postscript Alliance (PPA), Linotronic Concert Series, or any other "harmonized" set of fonts. Other users of Postscript fonts, in general, can benefit from information about their fonts provided by theFONDler. Support for non-Postscript fonts is not currently available.
Why an alternative to FDAM for harmonized font users? Mainly because of the way FDAM avoids a resource conflict (font conflict) when copying.
To fully understand font conflicts you must know that a Postscript font on a Macintosh system consists of many individual parts. A FOND resource serves as the map to all the other components. FOND resources have names, these are the names you see in your font menus. From the FOND the Mac can get the resource ID for a screen font in a given size and style for display, it can also get the Postscript filename for downloading to the printer. The File Manager prevents conflicts with filenames, as one file with the same name as another is simply replaced. With the display resources of the Mac (FONDs, NFNTs, FONTs) this is not the case. With so many fonts available for the Mac utilities such as Suitcase and Master Juggler have become extremely popular. These utilities allow you to divide a large number of fonts in multiple disk files which can all be accessed simultaneously thereby surpassing limitations in the Mac operating system. In this situation two or more different fonts in different files may have the same resource ID number. Further more, that may be the ID number of the FOND resource or one (or more) of the screen font resources.
When FDAM copies fonts from one file to another it first checks the FOND resource ID for a conflict in the destination file. Only if it finds one will the FOND be renumbered. This number is obtained randomly, but it will not be the same as any other in the destination file. Worse than assigning numbers randomly is the fact that FDAM will "ALWAYS" renumber the screen font (NFNT and FONT) resources. It doesn't even begin to consider that the ID number it assigns may exist in another file beyond the current destination.
Font Harmony and Resource Resolver utilities included with Suitcase and Master Juggler respectively, allow us to correct any existing conflicts across multiple files. I know Font Harmony does a thourough job from personnal experience, it resolves both FOND and screen font conflicts as I'm sure resource resolver must. Through careful manual numbering of the FOND resources using ResEdit or Font/DA utility (also included with Juggler) and good organizational skills you can create a system like the PPAs or the Concert Series. Once you have manually resolved the FOND conflicts when Font Harmony runs it will only renumber the screen font resources (thank you Steve!). Before you begin you must convert your FONT resource to NFNT resources. Since it is more convenient to combine a large number of fonts into a fewer number of files you should also do this first. Both utilites have limitations on the number of files you can work with simultaneously (you must work with all the fonts!).
So now you have your harmonized font system. If it is either the PPA or the Concert Series you will notice that they take a sizable chunck of disk space (6 - 10 MB) not counting the printer font files. Those who are running on disks smaller than 60MB may not want to dedicate that much space full-time to fonts. The PPA library is ≈16 diskettes, copying the entire thing each time you need to use a few fonts wouldn't be practical. In addition to the disk space required, these large libraries can also affect the way your system seems to perform. It stands to reason the longer the font list, the longer it will take for a application to build that list when launched. Of course looking for a font name in this size of list can also keep you busy for a minute or so (if you use style sheets it's easier).
Breaking up the library into individual font files helps considerably. Both the disk space used and the length of the font list could be keep at a absolute minimum, all the time. But how can you breakup your harmonized library? If you use FDAM to copy each font family all the screen fonts will be renumbered randomly totally disrupting the harmony. You could make a copy of each main file and delete all except for one family, over and over again. I did that the first time, it took forever (it's still not done).
Using theFONDler, it is only a matter of minutes to completely breakdown the PPA library while maintaining total harmony at all levels of the font structure. In fact streamlining of the new file operation has been incorporated in the program design.
theFONDler also allows copying fonts between existing files with certain restrictions. The fonts being copied must not have any conflicts with any fonts in the destination file. If so, the operation will abort. Additionally, all linked FONDs are copied even if any one of them is selected. Both of these restrictions are actually benifits to the user. In the case of a conflict the user has a non-harmonized file as either the source or the destination file. FDAM allows you to break-up families by selected only a part of them for a given operation. theFONDler does not permit you to do this.
theFONDler also provides other font management functions such as the display and printing of FOND and file data, exporting of file data into a tab delimited text file, and verifying font family integrety.
The Menus
theFONDler currently uses only one menu, the File Menu. The Edit Menu is present by convention, but is entirely inactive. Command-key equivalents are provided for most File Menu selections.
The File Menu
Open
The file you open will be considered the source file for all operations. Families that you copy, move or delete will be taken from this file.
Select any font suitcase file which is not currently in use, theFONDler will not open a file which is active for ANY reason.
Once you have opened a file you will be presented with a window containing a scrollable list of all FONDs contained in that file. The window also contains a couple of sets of buttons. The first set provides the main program functions; Copy, Move, Delete, and Info. These are described in detail later in this section. The other set (Radio buttons) controls what type of list is currently displayed in the window.
The default display is the "Standard Menu" which is the way most applications present their font menu. "Postscript Names" will gather all the names available from each fond and present them in alphabetical order (this is similar to Illustrator). Note that a postscript name may appear in the list many times but the FOND number will be different for each entry. This is the result of family linking. The last radio button "FOND Number" sorts the list of FONDs into family number order.
The location of the opened file is also displayed for the user's convenience. Both the name of the disk the file is on and the folder it is in, if any, are displayed.
Inspect
You may open a second font file for information about which families it contains. The title of this window is always "Inspect Window" to avoid confusion. There is only one button which is the "Ok" button. The location of the file and its name are display at the top of the window followed by the list of FONDs contained in the file. This is helpful when working with FONDs which are not linked to any other member in the family. These must be copied as additional or individual selections. When the Inspect file is open, it automatically becomes the destination file for any copy or move operation. A new file cannot be created with the inspect function. New files are created "on the fly" using the Copy or Move functions. Again, you cannot open a file for inspection if it is active for ANY reason.
Close
Closes the current source file. Provided in the file menu by convention.
Export Catalog
Creates a text file containing data about each Postscript font name available from the current font file. The file may be imported to any application which accepts TAB delimited text including Excel, XPress, and Word.
Page Setup
This is the standard page setup normally used by the system and is based on the current Chooser DA selection.
Print Catalog
Prints data about each Postscript font name available from the current font file. If you are using a LaserWriter you should set the Page Setup options to use the "Larger Print Area..." to avoid chopping off the end of the lines.
The Main Window
The Main window (or source file) has a number of controls in addition to font list. When a file is first opened the controls are dimmed. They will become active when a font selection is made. Availability of the functions associated with each button varies depending upon the display mode selected. When displaying by Postscript Name only the "info" function is available, and then only when one name is selected. Selection of fonts in the list is made in the normal manner using click,shift-click, and drag to hilite the selections.
There are three display modes provided. Standard order is the default and the names are sorted like a typical font menu; sorted alphabetically. Displaying in ID number order provides the same list in the implied order. Postscript names provides a completely different list. All of the available postscript names are taken from each FOND in the current file. As a result the ID number for a list entry can be a duplicate of another since a FOND can have many style variations. Postscript names can also be duplicated in the list if more than one FOND is capable of producing the same printed results as another (i.e. L Helvetica Light+BoldStyle = LB Helvetica Black+noStyle).
In the Inspect window there is only one type of display (standard) and one control (OK). Aside from providing information about a second file, if you keep the Inspect Window open, its current file will automatically be used as the destination for any move or copy operation. This resembles FDAM is a bizarre sort of way.
Copy
When pressed you will be presented with a dialog asking you to select a destination file. This file must be a inactive font file. Or, you can create a new file by pressing the "New" button. This presents a second dialog box which allows you to assign a new file name. For convienence the first name selected in the list is used as the default name (better than "font file", I thought).
After the destination file has been selected theFONDler will investigate the selected fonts looking for "linked" FONDs not included in the selections. A linked FOND is one that shares the same resources with another FOND. One of these will contain more information than the other, that one is known as the parent FOND. Other FONDs are simply style variations of the parent. Why some families are linked the way they are is beyond the scope of this document. Suffice it to say that theFONDler will automatically copy all FONDs and their resources, associated with any of the selections.
Before each FOND is copied to the destination file it is checked for any conflicts with others already in the file. If there are any conflicts the copy process is aborted and you are notified of the condition. If the file is a new file this operation is not performed. It is expected that multiple FONDs coming from the same file are already harmonized.
Move
Move is exactly like Copy with the exception that FONDs (and their resources) will be deleted from the source file when the operation concludes. Before the process begins you will be asked "Do you really want to delete?". Think carefully, once a FOND and its resources are deleted from a file it cannot be undone without using a backup copy. When presented with this prompt you can cancel the operation, or you will have a second chance to cancel when making a destination file selection.
Delete
Delete will all resources associated with the current selections. Again, you will be asked "Do you really want to delete?" before the process begins. This time, it is the only opportunity you have to cancel the operation.
Info
This function is available when one and only one FOND is selected in the current file. It puts up a dialog box showing you information contained in the FOND. From left to right, the first number is the screen font size, then the Style, Resource ID #, and Printer file name. From top to bottom the size is only shown once even though there may be more than one style variation for that size. Any additional styles immediatly follow and are blank in the size column.
The Info dialog provides two additional functions of its own. Print will print the information displayed plus the postscript names used in the fond. Verify will look for each resource ID listed in the fond and verify its presence in the current file. It also verifies that the number of resources installed for each sizes is consistent. If the sizes are not consistent the display quality will vary depending on the style and size combinations used. Line widths may also vary due to computation variations. If resources are missing the FOND is probably one part of a linked family from which a style variation FOND (and its resources) have been removed from the file.
Command Keys
Command keys are provided for most functions of theFONDler. Those available for Menu items are list in the appropriate menu. Menu command keys typically require the command key only in conjuction with the command. Command key equivalents for the buttons used in theFONDler require using both the Shift and Command keys in conjuction with the first letter of the button. There are not any command key equivalents for the radio buttons.
The "Return" and "Enter" keys are equivalent to clicking the OK button when present in the active window. The "Tab" key will switch the currently active window back and forth between the source and inspect windows when both are open.
The up and down arrows step through the list entries one by one. If there is "not" a selection currently made in the list and you press the up arrow the first item will be selected and scrolled into view as required, if you press the down arrow the last item in the list is selected and scrolled into view. If a selection has been made, the next or previous single item in the list will be selected accordingly.
History
theFONDler really has no history, it is a brand new creation for which I conceived the idea several months ago when I first encountered problems with Font/DA Mover renumbering my harmonized font resources. Unfortunately I didn't have any time to work on it until this past holiday season.
