************************************************************ * README FILE FOR FontFolder V1.1 * ************************************************************ GENERAL This README file gives basic information for installing and starting FontFolder for the first time. For more detailed instructions on starting and using FontFolder, consult the on-line Help. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS: Copy the FONTFOLD.EXE and FONTFOLD.HLP files to any directory, but do not put them in the same directory as your FontFolder 1.01A files unless you intend to overwrite the previous version, as the filenames are the same. If you install version 1.1 in a different directory and already have created a Master Library and customized settings with FontFolder 1.01A, copy over the FONTFOLD.INI and MASTLIB.DAT files from your FontFolder 1.01A directory. If you stored the FONTFOLD.INI file in a directory different from the one containing FONTFOLD.EXE for version 1.01A, you can do a similar thing for version 1.1. If you want to maintain a working copy of version 1.01A while testing version 1.1, use a different directory to keep the FONTFOLD.INI files separate. The two versions use different entries in OS2.INI, so they will not conflict. After starting FontFolder for the first time, bring up the Help and read the sections on FontFolder Overview, Installing FontFolder and Using FontFolder for basic familiarization with the program. Help is also available for all menu items; hit F1 when the menu item is selected. PROBLEMS ON FONTFOLDER STARTUP: When you start FontFolder the first time you may find that it complains about a number of fonts that you have already "installed" in OS/2 through the OS/2 Font Pallete. This can be for a number of reasons outlined below, all of which represent legitimate problems that FontFolder is attempting to deal with. (Of course it may also be true that FontFolder is incorrectly objecting to a legitimately installed font. If that appears to be the case, please bring the situation to my attention via one of the routes described at the end of this ReadMe file.) Situations where FontFolder will object to an already "installed" font: 1. The OS/2 Font Pallete is unfortunately not too discriminating in what it will "install" in OS/2. There are examples of font AFM files that are totally unreadable because of garbage in the file. The Font Pallete will "install" these files, although they are unusable and show up in the Font Pallete list as blank lines. FontFolder will reject a file if the OS/2 api that is used to query font information can't at least return a name for the font (the blank line in the Font Pallete occurs because no font name was returned for the file). 2. Users have been known to install a font in OS/2 and then later move the OFM and PFB files for this font to a different directory or even erase them, without first un-installing the font from OS/2. However, OS/2 keeps a record in OS2.INI of where it thinks the files are for installed fonts, and when it can't find them there on bootup, things get quite confusing. The user finds that a previously installed font "no longer works", but when they try to re-install it they find they can't because OS/2 insists it is already installed. FontFolder checks the listings in OS2.INI and verifies that both a PFB file and an OFM file exist where OS2.INI claims they are located. In both of the above cases, FontFolder a) does not show the font in the installed fonts list, and b) puts up a message box alerting the user to the problem and offering to remove the entry for this font from OS2.INI. You should note what font files FontFolder can't find, and then accept the offer to clean up OS2.INI. If the problem is simply that the font files have been moved, you can then go and find out where the font files are currently located (if they still exist) and register the fonts with the Master Library from the correct location. KNOWN PROBLEMS/LIMITATIONS: 1. There are "bad fonts" out there. A "bad font" is defined here as any font that either won't install in OS/2, or when installed won't display or even worse sends the system in to some sort of never-never land. My experience with the 400+ fonts I have is about 1-2% fall in to this "bad font" category. This does not necessarily mean that something is wrong with the font, just that the font and OS/2 do not get along. In my experience, "bad fonts" are almost always caused by a bug in OS/2's PMATM.DLL that occurs with certain "complex" fonts, rather than as a result of anything being wrong with the font files themselves. FontFolder screens out some but not all "bad fonts" that the OS/2 Font Pallete lets pass. Viewing these "bad fonts" in the Font Information window can cause a variety of things to happen, from the harmless case of nothing appearing in the sample window, to a SYS 3175 error, to a total lockup of the machine that requires a reboot. I so far have found no way to protect against the total lockup. Needless to say, if a font causes this to happen, remove it from the Master Library. 2. OS/2 does not allow FontFolder to remove any font from memory that was not installed by FontFolder in the current session. FontFolder always updates the OS2.INI file and shows the font as removed, but if you check the Font Palette or look in the font list presented by your application, you will see that the font is still there. It will be gone the next time you reboot. This is not a problem if you don't change fonts frequently since any font removed by FontFolder will be gone the next time you reboot. However, if you work with large numbers of fonts during a single session, you may end of with very large numbers of fonts installed in OS/2, with performance and even perhaps error problems. The way to avoid this is to only keep a minimum number of fonts, the ones you use all the time, loaded in OS/2 at startup. Then start FontFolder and keep it open during the entire session if you are going to work with large numbers (100's) of fonts during the session. FontFolder can be minimized when you are not using it, but don't close it. This way, FontFolder can completely remove any font it installed (as long as you aren't currently using the font in an open application). Before closing FontFolder, clean up your installed font list by removing all the fonts other than your basic font set. (HINT: Define a FontPack to be your basic set of fonts. Then just before closing FontFolder, remove everything extra and install this FontPack. That will guarantee that you always have the correct base set installed on bootup). 3. It is easy to browse large numbers of fonts in the Font Information window with version 1.1 of FontFolder. This can quickly consume large amounts of memory, causing problems if you are short of swap file space. Look in the online Help Index for "browsing fonts" and read this section to understand what the memory requirements are when browsing fonts. ********************************************************************* FONTFOLDER SUPPORT: Support for FontFolder is provided on Compuserve in OS2BVEN, Section 1 (GO OS2SHARE). Latest versions of FontFolder will also be posted to the library there. Or send e-mail to to me at [75013,1701] on Compuserve. Cliff Cullum