One font -- more than one group?

Yehuda · Post by **Yehuda** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:45 pm

I am trying out MainType to see if it will serve my needs, and I have a question. I have some fonts which I need to have in more than one group. In the font manager I'm using now, this isn't a problem. But as I understand it, MainType puts a font into a group by actually moving/copying the font file into a subdirectory. This would mean that if I have a font in more than one group, I would actually have to have multiple copies of the font on my hard disk. Aside from being a waste of disk space, which is not such a problem for me right now, it means that if I edit such a font, the edit would only take in one group, and I would then have to copy the edited font into the other directory. I tried putting a shortcut to a font in one of the directories, but that didn't work either. Am I missing something, or is there no way for the same font to be in more than one group?

Erwin Denissen · Post by **Erwin Denissen** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 4:22 pm

Hello Yehuda,

Thanks for trying MainType, I sure hope it has a lot of features you like.

About fonts in more than one group; no this is not possible in MainType 1.0. Your explanation about shortcuts sounds interesting, so I'll add this feature to the wish list. I'm curious about what others have to say about this.

Dave Crosby · Post by **Dave Crosby** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 6:43 pm

Hi Yehuda,

I emailed Erwin about this. Here is his response:

> At present, Browse and Groups are both doing the same thing.

Yes for 95%.

> Windows allows shortcuts so you can get to the same place from different
> starting points. I think that is what Yehuda is refering to. That would
> be a great improvement if it can happen.

True. I've added it to the wish list. Do post your message to the forum so he can see, he's not the only want who would like to see this feature in MainType.
__________________________________________
In the meantime, perhaps “Columns” can help you. Here is what I have done.

I moved all of my uninstalled fonts onto a second hard drive (you can now get 200 gigs for $50) and sorted them into a 1 Fonts folder (1 to keep it at the top of the list) containing sub-folders and sub-sub folders as I see fit.

Browse allows me to search for all the weird places I have stashed fonts, and parts of my 1 Groups folder by sub-folder, or the whole collection.

Groups can be moved to this same folder by selecting:
Tools, Options, General, Groups.
Browse and Groups behave a little differently, so experiment to find which you like best. Using both of them allows quick comparing of different folders without losing your place.

Columns allows me to move any column to any order I choose. Click any column head, and everything is resorted by that category. Click again and the sort is reversed.

I usually move Panose to the head of the list. This gives me near instant access by Panose groups to any font containing Panose Information.

viewtopic.php?t=941

For those fonts that have not been “Panosed,” I am free to use Font Creator to make any Panose assignment I wish in the accepted Panose System, OR use the unused sections of first digit 0, 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, or F any way I want. The succeeding digits give millions of possible combinations for sorting.

Dick Pape · Post by **Dick Pape** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:23 pm

I think that sounds like a great idea too. So often a font fits into several categories (vendor, serif type and style) but you have to decide which ONE to use.

Erwin Denissen · Post by **Erwin Denissen** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:55 pm

No full shortcut support yet, but MainType will now also detect fonts through shortcuts. It is not possible (yet) to create shortcuts through MainType, you still need Windows file explorer for that.

Note: when you delete a font through MainType, it will be deleted, the shortcut itself will not be deleted, but will point to a file that no longer exists.

Download and unzip this file:
http://www.high-logic.com/maintype/maintype1.0.1.67.zip
In the Program folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\High-Logic\MainType) replace the existing file maintype.exe with the new one.

Let me know your results.

Erwin Denissen · Post by **Erwin Denissen** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:04 pm

Version 1.0.1.70 includes full shortcut support.

Yehuda · Post by **Yehuda** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:10 am

Yippee

So I assume that, in addition to the original problem I had that prompted this, I could set up the groups so that everything is a shortcut, and that way I can keep the font files organized in directories which are unrelated to the groups.

Erwin Denissen · Post by **Erwin Denissen** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:16 am

Yes, that's correct.

One thing I might change is the way a shortcut is copied within MainType. Right now it copies the original font file, while it might be better to copy the shortcut itself.

Erwin Denissen · Post by **Erwin Denissen** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:02 am

FYI both Cut and Copy also work on the font instead of the shortcut. That might change in a new release as well, to conform to Windows Explorer behaviour.

Dick Pape · Post by **Dick Pape** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:29 pm

I appreciate the work you're doing to get groups to work correctly. I have a observation from my use of Google's Picasa for photo manipulation.

It's also got a terrific gui but I found it copied photos all over the place. Whenever I named/renamed a group it copied the pictures into a new folder. It seems unpredicable.

Is really a disaster as you end up with dupes and trips and all sorts of pictures floating around and you don't know which is "the original" or where the original is ... If you don't know where a photo is you are in trouble in a photo organizer! I resolved it by getting rid of Picasa.

I am shopping around for another photo organizer as a result. (Tried Adobe Elements and ACDSee and both those look and feel like Win98 technology to me!)

I might wait for you Erwin!

DPape

Erwin Denissen · Post by **Erwin Denissen** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 11:18 am

Hi Dick,

For now I focus on font related software.

I have just uploaded a new release (see announcements forum) that copies the shortcut instead of the source file(s).

ak7 · Post by **ak7** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:11 am

hi erwin

brilliant program, thanks! the addition of the shortcut thing makes it heaps better and works really well. i know someone else suggested it, but i think a database approach might be the best at the end of the day too. the program could have an internal database that tracks which files are associated to which groups, that way database entries are moving around instead of the files or shortcuts themselves (you would of course also have the ability to move the actual files too). thought i'd add my 2 cents worth!

a

Piyono · Post by **Piyono** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 2:03 am

Sorry to go off-topic but...

Dick Pape wrote: I am shopping around for another photo organizer as a result. (Tried Adobe Elements and ACDSee and both those look and feel like Win98 technology to me!)

Dick,
Don't be fooled by ACDSee's interface. While it's not winning any beauty contests it *is* a great tool to help organizine a photo collection. Granted, I have only about 49,000 photos but I seem to manage quite well with it.

Mind you, there are lots of things about it that I wish were different, but as much as I like to whine about how it's not everything I want, I have yet to find something that suits me better-- and I do believe I've downloaded demos of every other database-driven photo organization software out there. Of course, it's possible that I"m biased by the fact that I have invested an enormous amount of time setting up my database in ACDSe and don't really feel like doing all that work again.

Anyway, as usual, YMMMV.

Piyono

Piyono · Post by **Piyono** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 2:23 am

Back on topic, now...

Erwin, why does MainType not use a database?
The two most obvious benefits would be that 1) fonts could be sorted into multiple categories with no workarounds and that 2) only one copy of each font would be required, so users who have invested time sorting their fonts into "physical" folders wouldn't see their order fall apart.

I currently use Bitstream's Font Navigator - the version that comes with CorelDRAW12. Mind you it's, uh, well... frankly it's ugly, and a little short on slick features but it does what it's supposed to do without too much fuss.
MainType's interface is above par; really cutting edge. A great back-end could only serve to take it to the next level.

Piyono

Erwin Denissen · Post by **Erwin Denissen** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 6:22 am

ak7 and Piyono, thanks for your feedback. I will seriously consider a database.

Font Forum

One font -- more than one group?

One font -- more than one group?

How about Columns?

Another concurrence

An Aside

one font, more than one catagory

Re: An Aside