Customer Reviews

How to Boss Your Fonts Around (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although the Amazon editorial review calls Williams a Mac expert, it doesn't make clear that this book is pretty exclusively Mac-oriented. Some of it will be useful to Windows users, but there are surely other, similar font books on the market more useful for Windows users. If I had realized this before I started making notes in the margins, I would have returned it.

"He who dies with the most fonts wins," is a fact of life for a lot of desktop designers for print and the web. However, having tons of fonts of every weight, format and variety gobbles up lots of system memory, and corrupted or conflicting fonts cause crashes. This book tells all on how to get your collection under control, and keep your fonts organized, in good shape, and zipped in place for when you need them. This book is also well written, and will keep you alert and interested, which is most refreshing because I've found many how-to design/computer management books must be read with toothpicks propping up your eyes. It's also just the right length, concise and everything is clearly, not condecendingly, explained. It's a must read for any Mac designer, from the newest newbie to the most advanced.

As a typesetter in a large corporation I found this book very helpful when I recently had to organize our fonts on 12 computers. It clearly explains the difference in the various types of fonts and how to use them properly. It also covers in detail all the different type management software (ATM, Suitcase, etc.). After speaking with several designers, it appears that fonts can be the single biggest nightmare and this book would be an asset to any designers library.

Except for her mild endorsement of grunge (why have we spent hundreds of years designing typefaces that are both readable and beautiful only to have a generation of" designers" design deconstructed faces that are likely to be used only once in a lifetime), Robin Williams is probably the most articulate and literate writer on typography around, digital or traditional. She is sensitive to those qualities that have somehow been lost on those who have been brought up facing a monitor rather than a type book, type case or drawing board. Too many people in business have been led to believe, and accept the idea, that a typist is automatically a typographer/designer. Every designer who has grown up on the computer should have all of her books at their side, along with Strunk & White, Fowler's Modern English Usage, Roget's Thesaurus and a good dictionary.

I bought Robin's book aobut 2 weeks ago and I have read it over and over. I found that the book was not helpful in getting my fonts organised. I am left with fundamental questions unanswered and a lot of frustration. I am still looking for a book that will show me how to sort my fonts what to keep what to throw and how to do it. This book has some good back ground informationon the benefits of ATM, and the history but what about open fonts, and master fonts? It's dated and not helpful.