Typophile

MS Font Validator

Göran Söderström

Everybody tells me to check my fonts on a PC aswell by using the MS Font Validator.

OK.

The only problem is that it seems like this Microsoft MSN Group is sort of ”dead” – and this is the ONLY place you gould get it (of course).

It’s this usual b*** – one applies for membership, and then the all mighty moderator, administrator or whatever she or he is called, is suppose to ”approve” me, descide if I’m worthy or not just by knowing my e-mail adress ;-)

Anyway, I guess this person is maybe on vacation on a small Island without an Internet connection, good for him – but wouldnt it be easier if Microsoft just put it on their website, since they do claim that they are there to support type delevopers.

Could it be found some where else perhaps? :)

Si_Daniels

Hi Goran,

It looks like you mailed us 15 minutes after posting this. I'd suggest a new policy - email first, rant later. And yes, today is a holiday here in the US. Happy Labor Day!

Cheers, Si

Göran Söderström

Si,

Oh, I mailed Microsoft right after this topic, just to see if there was some other way of getting the Validator. I was however talking about the MSN Group (which I applied last week), and was not aware of that it’s the same people behind the two. I thought these groups were run by non-officials, not the people of Microsoft. Sorry if my topic sounded harch or something (it’s my bad english – it was supposed to sound humourous).

Now I see however, that maybe my mail to Microsoft did it – I got approved for the groups :)

Many thanks for that, and apologies.

Si_Daniels

>Many thanks for that, and apologies.

No worries, hope the tool proves useful.

Cheers, Si

carl

I also experienced a delay when I wanted to aquire the Validator a few months ago. I understand that Microsoft may want to keep track of who has the tool, but the way it's presented is a bit odd. It sounds like one is being evaluated for worthyness or something. Really, MS should get it into the hands of anyone who knows what it's for.

david h

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

John Hudson

Run a Gift Horse Validator on it instead.

DuncanL

Does anyone here know the current status of this tool? We have a custom font that seems to be causing some problems and we'd like to check it out.

However, I applied to join the MSN group three days ago and had no response thus far; which given the size of Microsoft is surprising. I'm a little concerned that since the page hasn't been updated for over four years it may have dropped into disuse.

If this is the case; can anyone recommend any other tools for checking the validity of a TrueType font?

Many thanks for any help.

twardoch

Duncan,

I recommend running:

  1. Microsoft Font Validator, a free Microsoft tool for Windows.
  2. Adobe CompareFamily, which is part of the free Adobe FDK for OpenType toolkit for Mac or Windows.
  3. Apple ftxvalidator, which is part of the free Apple Font Tools suite for Mac OS X.
  4. FontQA, developed at FontShop, which is a free tool written in Python, working within FontLab Studio.
  5. FontTools/TTX, developed by Just van Rossum, which is a free tool written in Python that converts OpenType and TrueType fonts into XML and back.

Adam

DuncanL

Many thanks for all that information. Sounds good - I shall forward it to the font author.

And of course, having posted here I got approved for the MSN group last night, so I can download it now. So thanks to MS too.

sergeym

Sorry for everybody who had to wait. Instant delivery of messages and approval requests in MSN Groups does not work very well, at least for me. So I am trying to monitor Validator community every two or three days to get everybody approved.

Thanks,
Sergey

awhitehouse

I've also applied to join this MSN group and heard nothing for a number of days. Since posting here seems to help I thought I'd try it!

It does seems a bit tricky to get hold of this tool.

Adam

Theunis de Jong

For me it took more than "a number of days" -- if I recall correctly, several weeks at least. Eventually I totally forgot about it, so the approval was a pleasant surprise.

Mind, it's a pretty useful tool. For my taste, it has a rather weird "beginner's" look, what with the drag-n-drop windows and lists, but the information is right on the spot.

Göran Söderström

Tip of the day:

E-mail Microsoft also ;-)

Or, why not just put it out for everyone, like the FDK? I mean it is free already. Can it do any harm just to put it on the MS website?

sergeym

I do not receive requests from Validator community for some reason, so I may forget to go and approve everybody on regular basis. VOLT comunity is much better.

Using community instead of direct download has two reasons:

- It allows you to stay in touch with us and other users of the tool.
- By joinging the community you agree with terms of use for the tool and other published files.

Thanks,
Sergey

vga

Hmm, I also asked to join both the Validator and VOLT groups a couple of days ago, but so far I haven't heard back from either... Is there a backlog?

sergeym

I just approved all requests in both VOLT and Validator groups. Enjoy!

vga

Thanks Sergey! (And for the answer on Uniscribe).

Theunis de Jong

I just approved all requests in both VOLT and Validator groups.

Sergey Almighty -- "Yes to All"!

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