How are you installing it?

With FontBook in Mac OSX 10.5.8

Could be a font cache problem. I would try changing the name of the font, maybe append a version number or something.

I tried emptying font cache, and a new name and ID. No help; I sent the files to FontLab.

Run it through MS Font Validator and see warnings pop up. FontBook’s validator is a dated piece of dog shit and flags problems that are really irrelevant as uninstallable fonts.

Hi, James-

MS Font Validator does not work too well in Mac. I went through earlier posts, and found that.
And FontBook just keeps saying that this font should not be installed, and all running programs should be shut down before continuing. And when I delete the font, it informs me that this font is part of operating system, so are you sure you want to delete this?

And, I'm just asking: why on earth would you want to have to get into this kind of trouble?

We used to have programs that worked.

Fontographer was not very good, but it was reliable, and anyway, I was using RoboFog. With no problems.

What's happened?

FWIW, I avoid using Font Book. Who knows what it's doing. I don't think it was designed with font developers in mind.

I just keep aliases to my user Fonts folder and Adobe's Fonts folder in my Finder window sidebars. When I want to install a font, I just drag-copy it to one of those folders, and delete the font to uninstall it. I generally install development fonts only into the Adobe Fonts folder until I'm fairly far along. Adobe apps are smart enough to know when a font has been changed, even if the name is the same.

Thanks, Mark-

Apple lately has not been the shining light for type design like it was in the '90s. And that's a shame. I quess Apple is just busy looking for the next new thing. They seem to have forgotten that any change comes with written word. Not spoken. Or sang, or shouted. It has always been about type; 1445, 1870, 1920, 1955, 1985 to to-day (years approximate). Apple has been a tool for creative people, but now it seems that Apple just goes for leasure. Should we look for somewhere else?

I'll try your method after I get some feedback from FontLab (being a scaredycat).

For whatever reason, the font cache in OS X is very sticky. It seems to assume that fonts never change. For normal users, that's true 99.99% of the time, so it's a non-issue. For font developers it's a problem. I just work around it and all is peachy.

MS Font Validator does not work too well in Mac. I went through earlier posts, and found that.

You don’t have a Windows machine for testing your fonts before you release them?

FWIW, I avoid using Font Book. Who knows what it's doing. I don't think it was designed with font developers in mind.

I don’t use it, but before a font is released it still has to work with FontBook, because that’s what a lot of people use to install a font.

What format have you generated? If you have a TTF you may need to make sure that it includes a fpgm table as some versions of FontBook dislike TTF's without this table.

I don’t use it, but before a font is released it still has to work with FontBook, because that’s what a lot of people use to install a font.

Of course. I'm just saying that using it while developing a font will just give you headaches.

Indeed, Mark.

I've also noticed that as OS:s are concerned, fonts are perpetual. And for the end user they should be.

But MS still consideres a font family as Plain, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic. And that is something I dislike. Just because it was written in MS-DOS, it does not mean it was written in stone. Or was that written in Windows?

Anyway, I'll wait for FontLab response just in case, but I've already copied your method.

Thanks, Malcolm-

I made an OT for Mac.

I've learned that if I've done that, .ttf should be fine. What I'm surprised is that this sort of thing should happen with the programs of today.

Windows 7 sorts large font families into tidy folders. Not just rg/it/bd/bdit. Older/simpler apps still only support only 4 styles. If software developers choose to support larger families they can.

MS 7 is not exactly an old operating system (from late 2009). How has it been integrated with other OS's?

And are font production program companies aware of this?

And are font production program companies aware of this?

Surely. But it’s probably irrelevant as Windows 7 is likely to be deprecated before Fontlab actually releases some updated software.

I do the same as Mark.
Just drag the font files to the Fonts folder, and trash them when you replace them with newer versions.
You don't even need to rename.

Clearing the Adobe cache in Windows is a headache. Even if I find the cache files, it doesn't always work. In Windows Vista and 7, there's a system cache that needs to be cleared but it's always in the same place. If the naming problem still appears I'm still not sure if I failed to fix the problem or if the cache wasn't really cleared. Now I do my initial big family installation tests on a netbook so I can fix the problem and do the second test on my main computer.

I tried Mark's method, and got the font to show up, but many characters were missing.

Happily I go t a quick reply from FontLab, and it appeared that the problem was in the CFF compression (?). This is a AFDKO issue (?). I just needed to turn off the "Use subroutines to compress outlines..." option in FLS, and font works with no problem.

And wow, do the spammers even reply to posts now?