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FontVista™ 2.1 for Macintosh - Morrison SoftDesign® 2001
FontVista™ 2.1 for Macintosh is a professional level font catalog and inspection tool. FontVista can be used to create a type specimen book (or catalog) that can be used as a desk reference for design professionals who need a quick way to locate just the right typeface for a given project.
FontVista™ 2.1 includes powerful new features that will allow users to open, print, and close thousands of fonts directly from disk automatically.
Installing FontVista™
Double-click the Installer icon and locate a folder to install FontVista into.
Getting Started
To use FontVista™, double-click the FontVista™ application icon. If FontVista™ has not been registered then you will see the FontVista™ registration window. Enter your name, company name, and a valid FontVista™ serial number into the Registration window. Note that if you want to use FontVista™ in the demonstration made, simply click the Demonstration button.
Purchasing a Valid Serial Number
FontVista™ can be purchased online at www.MorrisonSoftDesign.com using a major credit card, or by calling us at 800-583-2917. After purchasing a serial number, you can register FontVista™ by selecting the "Register FontVista™" menu item under the Apple menu, or by launching the FontVista™ application.
Setting the FontVista™ Preferences
FontVista™ uses a powerful internal print engine designed to handle large amounts of font data and output. As such, there are some settings in the Preferences window that allow you to make adjustments that work best for you, your printer, and your Macintosh.
To open the Preferences window, select the Preferences menu item under the Edit menu. In the Preferences window you will see the Print Method group box that contains two options:
The Single Document option allows FontVista™ to create a single printer document that contains multiple pages. This option is generally prints a little faster and more efficiently, but requires a large amount of printer memory to hold all of the font data. As a result, your printer may not be able to process the job using this option.
The Multiple Documents option allows FontVista™ to create a separate printer document for each page to print. This option prints a little slower, but does not require a great deal of printer memory to work and is therefore more compatible with most printers.
The Print Options group box contains a field that allows you to specify a resolution value. This value is used by FontVista™ to print fonts from the disk. If you want a sharper look to your printed pages you may want to type in a higher number. Note, however, that a higher resolution requires more memory from both the printer and the FontVista™ application. Also, a higher resolution will require more time to print each page.
About the FontVista™ Page Imager (Mac OS 9 and earlier only)
FontVista™ uses an internal drawing mechanism called the Page Imager to draw printed pages using font data from any disk fonts. It is similar to the functions that a printer uses in that it actually draws a page prior to sending it to the printer. The advantage is that all of the required font data is handled by FontVista and the printer does not need to request the font data before printing. This allows FontVista to print fonts that have been opened from the disk and are not currently installed and are otherwise unavailable to the printer.
Occasionally you may not want FontVista to handle the drawing process (i.e. to create an Acrobat PDF file) and may prefer to send the font data (PostScript) directly to the printer (or Acrobat® Distiller) for drawing. If you want FontVista to send the font drawing data directly to the printer instead of rasterizing the page first, then you should check the "Disable FontVista™ Page Imager" option. Note that because any added disk fonts are not installed in the System (or active), FontVista™ must communicate directly with your printer to send the required font data to be printed. As such, you must disable Background (or Desktop) Printing (usually in the Print Dialog window) if you chose to disable the FontVista™ Page Imager. Disabling the FontVista™ Page Imager allows for fast high-quality font output for all the fonts, but will not allow you to use your Macintosh while it is busy printing the pages, and may require large amounts of printer memory. If you do not disable Background (Desktop) Printing when the "Disable FontVista™ Page Imager" option is checked, then your printer will probably invoke font substitution to print the disk fonts.
Opening Fonts from Disk
You may want to load your font library from a disk in order to print a catalog. To open fonts from disk, select the "Open Fonts From Disk" menu item from the File menu, or drag-n-drop a folder into the FontVista™ window. Next, select a folder that contains the fonts you want to open. FontVista™ will scan the folder and add the fonts to the Print Fonts List. Note that FontVista™ may require more memory to open a large amount of font files from disk.
Closing Fonts from Disk
Any fonts that are opened from within FontVista™ can be closed at anytime by selecting the "Close Opened Disk Fonts" menu item under the File menu. These fonts will also Close automatically when you Quit FontVista™. Note that any disk fonts opened from within FontVista™ will not be available to other running applications.
Using FontVista™
In the main window of FontVista™ will will see a tabbed panel that contains two tabs; the "Print Sample Pages" tab, and the "Character Matrix" tab. In the "Print Sample Pages" panel, you will see a list containing the currently opened fonts. Beside each font name is an icon to indicate the source of the font. A Macintosh System icon shows that the font is loaded in the System and is available to all applications (either in the System Folder or from a font management utility, like Suitcase or ATM Deluxe). A hard-disk icon indicates that the font has been loaded from a disk and is available only from within FontVista™.
You will also notice a checkbox beside each font name. The checkbox is used to select which fonts you want to include to be printed. You cannot print any fonts without checking them in the list. To Preview a font page, you can double-click the font name in the list. This will open the Preview Layout window which shows a sample of the printer output.
The "disclosure triangle" icon beside each font name in the list can be clicked to show the folder where the selected font file is on the hard drive. Double-clikc the folder icon to see the folder from the Desktop.
To Print the fonts, select and check the fonts you want to include in the Font Print List, then select the layout options you want to use. Click the Page SetUp button and set the page size and orientation of the page. Click the Print button when you are ready to print the pages.
Note that some feature are also accessible by using the contextual menus (control + click) anywhere in the main window.
Export Fonts as HTML...
FontVista can generate font sample pages as a website that can be uploaed to an internet web server for viewing or distributed on a disk for viewing by you or other clients in any web browser software. To generate font sample web pages, simply make the font selections (see using FontVista™ above), then select the "Expert Fonts as HTML" menu item under the File menu. In the Export window you can change the name of the starting web page (or "home" page). The default is "index.htm", which is the standard name for the starting "home" page of most websites. FontVista uses a template HTML file to generate the HTML files for the font web pages. The template HTML can be customized by an experienced HTML programmer to change the look of the generated HTML pages. The template HTML is located in the "HTML Export" folder (in the same folder as the FontVista™ application), and is named "template.html". If the template file is missing, FontVista™ will generate generic HTML code for the pages.
How To: Creating a PDF from FontVista™
If you have the full version of Adobe Acrobat, you can create your font catalog as a PDF file. (for more information about Acrobat, visit www.Adobe.com). Use these steps to create a PDF file from your disk fonts:
NOTE: This example uses the LaserWriter 8 (or higher) print driver from Apple. Other drivers may appear differently.
1. Open and select the fonts that you want to include. (see "Using FontVista™" for more information about opening fonts in FontVista™)
2. Open the Preferences Window (command Y) and check the "Disable FontVista™ Page Imager" option.
3. Click the "Print Page(s)" button and select the "Background Printing" panel from the Print window pop-up menu. Select the "Foreground" option.
4. Select the "Save as File" panel from the Print window pop-up menu. Select the "Acrobat PDF" option from the Format pop-up menu. Click the "Embed All Fonts" option and the "Make Font Subsets" option in the Acrobat PDF options panel.
5. Click the "Print" button.
Technical Support
For technical supprt send e-mail to:
techSupport@MorrisonSoftDesign.com
or call 704-875-1337
9am - 5pm EST
Morrison SoftDesign
8922 Coppermine Ln.
Charlotte, NC 28269
(800) 583-2917
Fax: (704) 992-0412
www.MorrisonSoftDesign.com
info@MorrisonSoftDesign.com
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