Brian wrote:
I was just reviewing a blog speaking about how when using Suitcase in conjunction with InDesign files placed into InDesign files, the fonts won’t auto activate. I have the same issue. Do you know if there was ever a fix for this problem?
We’ve been getting a number of emails about fonts recently, and I suddenly feel compelled to say: All questions that involve the phrase “auto activation” have the same answer: Go update your font manager and its side-kick font-activation plug-in. Period. It’s their fault.
And since I’m at it, and I’m feeling crabby, I should add: While I have used a wide variety of font managers in my day, I don’t use auto-activation in any font manager. Just as I wouldn’t want my television to turn channels on and off for me (I only really watch The Daily Show and The Backyardigans anyway), I take the responsibility of turning fonts on and off myself.
It’s not that I don’t like the idea of having some software take care of this for me. It’s simply that font activation just never ceases to be a problem. Everytime InDesign or the operating system gets upgraded, even a tiny bit, it seems like the auto-activators break, which causes a new series of emails and forum posts and hair-pulling and sturm und drang. Often, things completely unrelated to fonts go wrong, and it’s only after hours of troubleshooting that people realize that it was the auto-activation plug-in all the time.
If you use auto-activating fonts, you need to set your expectations lower: If it works at all, you should be grateful and amazed. If it breaks, you should sigh and say, in your best imitation of Eyeore, “I knew it wouldn’t work.”
I’m sure everyone and their mother (especially font developers) will flame me on this one, but until InDesign or the OS itself handles all the font activation, this just isn’t going to get better.
In the meantime, check out these pages, depending on which font manger you use:
This article was last modified on June 12, 2021
This article was first published on July 30, 2008
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