_____________________________________________________________________ The Font Thing Version 0.80 (beta 2) Copyright (c) 1999 Sue Fisher. All Rights Reserved. http://www.ozemail.com.au/~scef/ _____________________________________________________________________ Overview The Font Thing is a freeware program for managing TrueType fonts in Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0. With The Font Thing you can: * Browse installed and uninstalled fonts * Browse fonts in subfolders as a single combined list * View sample text and individual characters in your choice of colours * Change sample text "on the fly" or easily switch between your own standard text samples * View detailed font information * Print font samples * Associate notes with fonts * Install or uninstall any number of fonts at once * Load (and unload) any number of fonts for temporary use * Copy or delete any number of font files at once * Rename font files to avoid file name conflicts * Filter fonts according to their type * Group fonts into collections for easier management * Use multiple font windows simultaneously for easy font comparison and management. Installation To install The Font Thing: 1 If you haven't already done so, unzip the distribution file (tfti.zip) into a temporary folder of your choice. 2 Run the Setup.exe program and follow the steps of the Install Wizard. The Install Wizard copies the program and help files onto your computer, and sets up Start Menu links and uninstall information. There is no need to uninstall a previous version of The Font Thing before installing a newer version. To run The Font Thing: * From the Start Menu, choose Programs, then The Font Thing (its program group), then The Font Thing (the program itself). When you run The Font Thing for the first time, it creates two subfolders called "Notes" and "Collections" in the program installation folder. Removal To remove (uninstall) The Font Thing: 1 From the Start Menu, choose Settings then Control Panel. 2 Double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon. The Add/Remove Programs Properties window is displayed. 3 Select The Font Thing from the list of programs. 4 Choose the Add/Remove button, then follow the instructions on your screen. Version History Version 0.80 (beta 2) released 22 December 1999 New Features: * Choose your own colours for the font sample text, background and extra information (e.g. ASCII values and plain text characters). * Set up standard text samples and quickly switch between them using drop-down lists (you can still type your own ad-hoc text samples too, of course). * Rename font files to avoid file name conflicts. * Load (and unload) fonts for temporary use. * Set the size of the font used for font notes. Modifications: * The main menu and context (right-click) menus have been changed back to standard behaviour, since the nifty menu components I was using caused problems with other windows (such as the Properties dialog and Help Contents page) coming up behind The Font Thing's main window. The most obvious result is that the main menu isn't dockable/floatable any more (although the tool bar and filter bar still are); the images next to the menu items also behave a bit differently. On the positive side, however, the program is quite a lot smaller! I'll reinstate the main menu docking/floating behaviour when a suitable version of the menu component is available. * Added the Add to Collection and Copy to Folder commands to the File menu (they were previously only available on the font list context menu). * Added a None function to the filter area, to make it faster to clear filters. * Clicking on a font sample in the Multiple view now selects that font in the adjacent font list (you can hold Ctrl down while you click to select multiple fonts in this manner). Bug Fixes: * Fix occasional access violation errors when browsing folders with the Multiple page active. * Add further checks for Registry problems which could cause the previous version to fail on startup with an error message similar to the following: Error reading InstalledFontList.Mode: Invalid data type for 'SerialNumber' * When showing text labels on the tool bars, ensure the buttons are wide enough to fit the longest visible text label (e.g. in Large Fonts mode). * Correct the position of the character zoom popup relative to the active font window. The help file was updated accordingly. Further Information If you have any suggestions, questions, comments, or even bug reports (!) you can contact the author at: scef@ozemail.com.au You can also check the following web page for the latest program information: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~scef/tft.html
FabianK