LOOKsystems RISC OS Software - Font Directory Faq

Font Directory - Frequently Asked Questions

If you want to add more information, make comments, ask another question, correct mistakes, etc - just click on the "Edit" link (at the bottom of this page):

What is Font Directory?
Highly acclaimed software designed to make light work of your font collection - a kind of advanced !Fonts folder.

Why would I want to manage my fonts?
If you have more than a handful of fonts, you will know how difficult it is to remember exactly which font is which and what they all look like. Navigating big font menus can be slow and cumbersome. Finding out which fonts are used in a particular document and where those fonts are stored can be difficult. Using font management software to control your font collection makes working with a large number of fonts much faster and easier than with the standard !Fonts folders.

What does Font Directory do?
Font Directory stores and manages your fonts. It allows you to keep all of your fonts in one place and very quickly "activate" the fonts you want to work with (keeping font menus much smaller). There is a WYSIWYG display and a font viewer which makes easy work of selecting the right font for the job. Ultra-fast document scanning makes sure that you never see the "font not found" message ever again.

manage over 5900 font families
reduce the disc space used to store fonts
organise fonts into as many groups as you like
switch individual fonts on/off instantaneously
ultra-fast document scanning to activate the fonts used
sophisticated font viewer with character maps and quick print facility
really great looking WYSIWYG font list
low memory usage
very user friendly

More details can be found in the information sheets on the documentation page, along with a complete user guide. Also take a look at what the press has to say and what our users have to say.

What does it look like?
Everybody wants screenshots! There are a few on this page, although not enough to do the software justice. If you're an existing user, please feel free to add more.

Who wrote this software?
This software was originally written by AdrianLook and published by a company called LOOKsystems. Recently, Stefan Bellon created a 26/32-bit neutral version so that Font Directory could run on XScale machines.

What is the latest version?
The current release is Font Directory Professional v3.10 (26-Oct-2003). This release is functionally the same as v3.03 (almost) but has been made 26/32-bit neutral, much thanks and kudos to Stefan Bellon. New icons have been added by the designer of the RISC OS 5 icons, Richard Hallas. And a couple of minor bugs have been fixed - thanks to the beta testers. You can see a summary of the changes here.

Is there any documentation?
Yes, lots. The printed manual has been made available on-line in pdf format, along with lots of additional documentation.

What operating system does it run on?
Font Directory runs on all RISC OS versions from 3.10 upwards - including the latest 32-bit variants. It is compatible with StrongARM and XScale. No, it does not work on Apple Macs or Microsoft Windows!

Is it XScale compatibile?
Yes! Thanks to Stefan Bellon, the software has been brought up-to-date and is now 26/32-bit neutral (see the change log for more details).

Is it compatible with any of the RISC OS emulators?
Whilst RISC OS emulators are not actively supported, some users have reported that they have successfully installed Font Directory on Virtual RISC PC. Though, currently, it must be installed on a hard disc image.

Aaron Timbrell, Virtual Acorn:

Double click on !Boot
Go to Discs
Set the number of IDE discs to 1
Click OK and wait.
A new drive icon appears on the iconbar.
Install Font Directory to this new drive.

Martin Wuerthner on csa.apps:
"You can create a hard disc image and make it appear as a local hard disc. From this image, FontFS should work."

How much does it cost?
The cost of the "download edition" of the software is now £15 (the software originally sold for £65!). This buys an activation key, which can be used to unlock the software on the downloads page along with any subsequent updates. See this page for more details.

I don't like Paypal!
If you don't want to pay on-line, or your browser is having problems with the Paypal website, you can send us a good old fashioned cheque. See our Mail Order page for more details.

Can I upgrade?
Yes, exisiting users can upgrade - and, yes, there is a discount! However, since v3.10 is functionally almost the same as v3.03 (see the current and old change logs), you need only upgrade if you want to run Font Directory Professional on a 32-bit XScale computer, or if you have Font Directory 2 and want to gain the extra facilities (see below). See this page for more details.

What are the differences between FD2 and FDPro?
"How can you possibly improve on Font Directory 2?" I hear you say. By adding lots of extra features that just make using fonts even easier, of course! For more details, take a look at the following information sheet (278Kb pdf).

Remote Control Fonts - use the WYSIWYG display to control other applications
Font Sets Editor - create unlimited font groups, by style, job, etc
Font Player - automatically view fonts one after another
Ultra-fast Document Scanning - popular filetype are now scanned much faster
Improved Searching - search-as-you-type is now more powerful
Quick Printing - print out the contents of the font viewer window
Custom WYSIWYG Display - use your own text in the WYSIWYG display
Font Renaming - font renaming supported
Font Checking - check you font collection for duds
Exporting Fonts - exporting fonts quickly and easily

Do I need a site licence?
Our software licence allow you to install the software, for personal use, on as many computers as you like within one household. If you are a commercial user, or have computers in separate locations, you will need to puchase an additional licence for each installation.

How do I submit a bug report?
Visit the Bug Report page, enter your problem into the fields "Summary" and "Comment" and click on "Submit" afterwards.

How do I ask a question?
If you have any other questions (don't forget to read the on-line documentation), visit the Question & Answer page, enter your question into the fields "Summary" and "Comment" and click on "Submit" afterwards.

To edit this page...

Click on the "Edit" link (at the bottom of this page)
Make your changes to the text
Click on the "Save" button

(If you have problems editing this page, contact AdrianLook)