speaking of fonts

[junebug]

i just downloaded ALL of the Fonts for Peas to put on my new laptop, lol. thats a LOT of fonts Now i'm font-happy! i was doing a layout earlier and didnt have any on here except the default ones. i had to resort to using Segoe script; oh the horror!!

[Sharon Kay]

I hope you're using a font manager so you don't screw up your computer! With the exception of about 3 fonts...the only fonts INSTALLED on my computer are Darcy's...the rest are in the font manager.

[kristine]

..and speaking of font managers, does anyone know of any good ones that work with vista? Free is good but cheap is ok too..

[mummytothree]

Originally Posted by kristine

..and speaking of font managers, does anyone know of any good ones that work with vista? Free is good but cheap is ok too..

Ditto....I'm so sad the Font Thing doesn't work....or at least I can't get it too!!!

[starxlr8]

Would love to hear about a great font manager for Mac... particularly one that would allow me to rate/rank my fonts. I have all the Pea fonts too - and its so frustrating to try to find the 10-15 that I really love.

[4noisyboys]

I should really use a font manager. I have everything installed!

[mummytothree]

Originally Posted by starxlr8

Would love to hear about a great font manager for Mac... particularly one that would allow me to rate/rank my fonts. I have all the Pea fonts too - and its so frustrating to try to find the 10-15 that I really love.

I don't know anything about this one but just came across it while googling for one for Vista!!!!

Linotype's FontExplorer X

[DawnMarch]

I should really use a font manager. I have everything installed!

Me too. I tried Font Thing once and couldn't get it to work right.

[jessica31876]

im not quite understanding why installing fonts on your computer messes it up?

[DawnMarch]

I think it's just slow Jessica. When I open Photoshop, it has to load all the fonts, and when I hit the text tool, it takes forever for it to come up.

[ajf9597]

How does the font thing work and how do you know which are fonts you installed and which are supposed to be there?

[mlrw70]

I had the Font Thing too and I think I just never used it right. I have over 1300 fonts and they are all installed. So, can someone help me out, I would love to learn a better way. Thanks!

[Darcy Baldwin]

If you're using pre-XP Windows, having a bunch of fonts can really slow your computer down because the programming doesn't handle them well. If you're running XP and above, a bunch of fonts installed in your PC really doesn't effect the PC at all. HOWEVER, it can make photo editing programs open REALLY slowly because they have to install all those fonts as they open each time. A font manager can really help keep your PC cleaned up, help your photo editing programs run more smoothly, and can help you organize your fonts, making them more useful to you.

The Font Thing, AMPViewer, FontHit (which is what I use but does not work with Vista), ACDSee (can work as a manager), are all free Windows font managers. They allow you to keep fonts uninstalled that are not primary to your system (click here for a list of default fonts for Windows). The managers also allow you to create sub-folders to organize fonts into. If you have a lot, it can be a pain to browse through the who list trying to find edgy, stamped grunge fonts. So you can create a folder of just those kinds of fonts, then go to that particular folder when you're trying to install the font you need. Then quickly uninstall it when you're done! I have folders for CU fonts separate from non-CU so if I'm doing any design work, I know which fonts are OK for CU applications and which ones aren't. I keep handwriting fonts separate from typewriter fonts, etc.

Janet did a great article on it at The Daily Digi if you want to read more.

[MamaK]

I never paid much attention to font managers and have noticed that the type tool can take some time to load, so thanks for all that info Darcy. that blog article is lots of help

[kristine]

Thanks Darcy! I had a feeling you might know a thing or two about this

[jessica31876]

I think I have about 2000 or so fonts. Im not sure if that is alot or not but I dont notice a huge lag in loading time for the font tool.

[Leila]

Originally Posted by jessica31876

I think I have about 2000 or so fonts. Im not sure if that is alot or not but I dont notice a huge lag in loading time for the font tool.

That's beyond "a lot." You use PSP though, right? There's less lag time on the font tool with that program that with PS, but there is still lag time. You'd notice it responding faster with fewer fonts installed.

[jessica31876]

yes I use PSP. I checked and I actually have just a little over 1600 fonts....still alot I guess LOL. I went through this phase where I was obsessed with new fonts. Now not so much though. I probably could go through and get rid of some of them because I know I honestly dont need/use them all. Honestly the only time I noticed a real huge lag was when I had the PSP screen thingie that came on before the program opened. (cant remember what they call it) when I turned that off it loads much faster.

Originally Posted by Leila

That's beyond "a lot." You use PSP though, right? There's less lag time on the font tool with that program that with PS, but there is still lag time. You'd notice it responding faster with fewer fonts installed.

[Amy Carey]

I remember a time when I had like 14,000 fonts. they werent' all installed of course. Then once I realized I wasn't sure where they all came from or if they were "okay" to use (I had been on font lists years ago) , not to mention I only had a handful I used. So I deleted everything and right now all I really have are darcy's fonts and a few of the fonts for peas. Never been happier, lol. I get overwhelmed when i have too many choices.

[joelsgirl]

Well, call me slow, but I can't figure this thing out. I downloaded AMP Font Viewer, which is one that Steph recommended in her article, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what to do with it.

Am I supposed to create a folder with all of my fonts, is that how I get started?

[supertwinkle]

I use Font Xplorer. I like to be able to tag fonts as favorites though. So I also use ACDSee to tag some fonts as favorites. You can preview fonts in ACDSee too.

[lovely1m]

lol..yeah, I have that issue when I try to scrap on my dh's laptop or my mom's which sucks cause I have a ton of gorgeous fonts from Darcy.

[ColleenSwerb]

Originally Posted by joelsgirl

Well, call me slow, but I can't figure this thing out. I downloaded AMP Font Viewer, which is one that Steph recommended in her article, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what to do with it.

Am I supposed to create a folder with all of my fonts, is that how I get started?

I downloaded this, and started looking at my fonts, and then a shiny object caught my eye and I haven't opened it since.

[suzyqscraps]

Originally Posted by joelsgirl

Well, call me slow, but I can't figure this thing out. I downloaded AMP Font Viewer, which is one that Steph recommended in her article, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what to do with it.

Am I supposed to create a folder with all of my fonts, is that how I get started?

I use AMP Font Viewer. I have a folder on my hard drive with all my fonts sorted by source. When I want to install when, I click on the Uninstalled Fonts tab, navigate to the folder, and then click on the font. If it's one I know I'll be using a lot, I click "Install Selected Font." If it's one that I'm wanting to use on a particular layout that I may not use often, I choose "Install Font Temporarily." Does that help?

[wvasweetness]

I've always used Suitcase and really like it, although I have heard good things about the PigFont one. When I left the last company that I was with, my going away gift was a DVD-set of 11,000 fonts (font heaven!) - so that's when I really started using font management. So easy and worth the initial time to set it up (which isn't long anyway).

[Nathalie]

I use AMP Viewer and LOVE it! And it does work with Vista too.

[ZaCola3]

Yes Kellie...Organize your fonts how you like them...in one folder-mine is on my desktop...then I open the FontViewer and click that folder...inside that folder are subfolders...
Mainly
Darcy
Darcy Wanna Bees
Title Fonts
Tag Fonts-from when I tagged
and a few by dates...the dates I downloaded them...

[joelsgirl]

Thanks girls! I'm gonna give it a try again today.

Just a word to the wise, don't get so overzealous in your un-installing of fonts that you delete, say, Century Gothic, and turn MSA into a total headache because the font it uses isn't there for you.

I think I would like to have ten fonts and I would be happy. I don't even use 1/4 of the fonts I have downloaded. I really have to stop downloading so many!

[tettletop20]

This may be a very stupid question but I installed FontViewer and I understand being able to look through it and see what fonts I have but I don't understand this whole thing.

I use PSE7 and yes, it does take a moment to load all my fonts when I hit the font tool.

My question is what is my benefit of using the font manager if I have to open up the font tool anyway when I want to type something? Does my question make sense at all? I'm so confused!

[kscwgirl]

I am running Vista and I use The Font Thing.

[suzyqscraps]

Originally Posted by tettletop20

This may be a very stupid question but I installed FontViewer and I understand being able to look through it and see what fonts I have but I don't understand this whole thing.

I use PSE7 and yes, it does take a moment to load all my fonts when I hit the font tool.

My question is what is my benefit of using the font manager if I have to open up the font tool anyway when I want to type something? Does my question make sense at all? I'm so confused!

You'll still have to use the type tool to type anything in PSE7. What the font manager does is allow you to only install the fonts you want to use ... or just temporarily install them. Having thousands of fonts installed on your computer can slow it down.

Does that make more sense?