Monthly Archives: February 2012
Extensis Introduces Portfolio Server API and Improved File Format Support
February 28th, 2012 by Edward Smith
Today we’re pre-announcing an upcoming v10.2 update to Portfolio Server which will include an application programming interface (API), support for searching OCR layers in PDFs, and support for additional video codecs.
To learn more about the update visit www.extensis.com/p102 or check out our press release, and post any comments or questions in the comments section below.
Visit Extensis in London at TFMA for FREE this week
February 27th, 2012 by Alexandra Barltrop
Come see us today at Technology for Marketing & Advertising, the UK’s only FREE to attend integrated marketing event. The event is Tuesday and Wednesday, February 28 & 29 at Earls Court 2 in London. This will be our third year at the event and we hope you’re looking forward to the show as much as we are!
We are presenting two seminars on Tuesday the 28th in the Content Management and Web Analytics Theatre. Davin Kluttz, Extensis Product Line Manager is coming to the UK from the US especially to present these seminars.
At 10.00 AM he presents “Classy, Clowny or Crude? How your site’s typography affects your brand”, which illustrates how web typography affects your website, and how you can select and implement web typography that is just right for the job.
At 4.00 PM he presents “What does this DAM thing do?” demonstrating how to leverage digital asset management solutions to find, locate, archive and access files, regardless of location.
The sessions explore the challenges of managing marketing assets and present proven workflow solutions.
We will also be demonstrating our latest font and digital asset management solutions at stand F8, throughout the show. Stop by to learn how to:
- Manage fonts across multiple workgroups with ease and efficiency
- Keep your organisation compliant with non-invasive, font license reporting
- Centralise and archive images, audio, video and document files
- Automate asset delivery and benefit from NetMediaMax
- Use WebINK to improve your readers’ online experience as news and content coverage continues to ‘converge’ at speed.
For more information about TFMA 2012 or to register for FREE.
We hope that you will join us.
TBS and Titleboy Films sued for font license infringement for Falling Skies promotional materials
February 27th, 2012 by Jim Kidwell
This January, TBS and Titleboy Films were sued by type foundry +ISM for the alleged misuse of the font Anthropolymorphics.
The font was used in the promotional materials for the Falling Skies television show. +ISM alleges that it has no record of a font purchase, and still that it’s standard license doesn’t cover promotional use.
While the original creative work was developed by Titleboy Films (dba Prologue), the lawsuit includes mention of both Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Turner Network Television. +ISM is seeking the destruction of all offending materials.
Creative work always requires the appropriate font licenses purchase, and tracking those licenses is imperative. Font licensing issues can expand beyond the responsibility of the creator, and cast a shadow on all parties involved.
If you want to have your creative work noticed, you must maintain license compliance. Keep yourself safe from lawsuits, track the font in your collection using a font manager like Universal Type Server.
A brief overview of the lawsuit is available here, read the full text lawsuit here.
Universal Type Server Customer Trends
February 17th, 2012 by Jim Kidwell
Around here, we pay very close attention to the needs and desires of our customers. Over the past few months, I’ve been taking time to visit a number of our Universal Type Server customers to hear how things are going, and how our products are fitting into their workflows. I just returned from a visit to the Los Angeles area this week, and am happy to share some of the feedback that I received.
Primary focus is synchronization
I asked dozens of our customers to identify the most important problems that they’ve selected to solve with Universal Type Server. By far the most prominent response is that they use Type Server “to stay in sync.”
This doesn’t really surprise me all that much. IT administrators who manage thousands of users with thousands of fonts, keeping everyone on the same page, with the same font software is no small task.
Creative teams are fast paced and don’t have time to search for a specific font required to get the job done. It not only slows down the production workflow, it can bog down the IT department’s helpdesk as well.
Font compliance on the rise
A close second, if not almost equal to synchronization, is the importance of maintaining font compliance in the workflow. In plain terms, this means that knowing for certain that you have the appropriate number of font licenses for your projects.
I’m fond of saying, “What piece of software can you have purchased 20 years ago, and still have function on your current machine?” Honestly, I can think of no other software that has such broad, continued support across multiple operating systems.
Because of this, many organizations now have massive collections of fonts that they’ve accumulated over the past 20 years. With likely ongoing changes in personnel, many teams are finding that the person who originally purchased a font is long gone. The documentation supporting the purchase – the end user license agreement (EULA), PO, and so forth – might be missing or never properly filed.
Without a consistent purchasing and font integration process in place, most organizations lost track of font license purchases.
To keep their company, and more importantly their clients, safe from lawsuits, many teams are drawing a line in the sand. Many have split up their font workgroups to two big piles. One for all fonts where they know that they have purchased the correct number of font licenses for their team, and another where they’re not so certain. In the future, if a project requires a font from the “not so certain” group, then a process of research takes place. Looking for previous PO’s, receipts, etc. If nothing can be found, it’s usually a task to locate the original foundry, and purchase the required number of licenses.
I’ve definitely heard stories about the attempts of some teams to locate the original author of an obscure font. There are times where it’s just not possible, so people frequently need to choose another, similar typeface that they can obtain a legal license for.
Seeing the risks of font non-compliance, creative groups want to do the right thing and stay on top of font licensing.
Universal Type Server is being used to help groups maintain that font compliance. Paired with an established purchasing process, Type Server is being used to keep people from inserting random, unknown fonts into the workflow, tracking font usage, and adjusting the purchasing strategy to appropriately meet needs.
If your team isn’t on this path to compliance yet, don’t fret. It’s never too late to get started down the right path. For most organizations, it’s a process that takes time. With minor workflow changes and definitions, you can ensure that you won’t have unlicensed fonts going out the door with your next project.
I’m always interested in hearing stories about how server-based font management is working for your team. I’d love to hear your stories. Share yours with me by emailing jkidwell [at] extensis [dot] com. You can also tweet me @extensis.
Learn about Web Typography and DAM at TFMA in London
February 15th, 2012 by Alexandra Barltrop
Come and see us on Stand F8 at Technology for Marketing & Advertising, the UK’s only integrated marketing event. It is taking place on 28-29th February 2012 at Earls Court 2 in London and this will be Extensis’ third year in attending the event.
TFMA’s Seminar Programme has also now been announced, covering all areas of marketing and advertising and we are proud to announce that this year we will be presenting not one, but two sessions!
Davin Kluttz, Extensis’ Senior Product Manager is coming to the UK from the US especially to present these two seminars titled “Classy, Clowny or Crude? How your site’s typography affects your brand” and “What does this DAM thing do?”
On Tuesday, 28th February at 10.00 a.m in the Content Management & Web Analytics theatre, Davin will help you understand how web typography affects your website, and how you can select and implement web typography that is just right for the job.
At 4.00pm in the same theatre, he will demonstrate how to leverage digital asset management solutions to find, locate, archive and access files, regardless of location.
The sessions will explore the challenges of managing marketing assets and present proven workflow solutions.
Extensis will also be presenting their latest font and digital asset management solutions on stand F8, throughout the show.
Stop by to learn how to:
- Manage fonts across multiple workgroups with ease and efficiency
- Keep your organisation compliant with non-invasive, font license reporting
- Centralise and archive images, audio, video and document files
- Automate asset delivery and benefit from NetMediaMax
- Use WebINK to improve your readers’ online experience as news and content coverage continues to ‘converge’ at speed.
Event Details:
- 28-29 February 2012
- Earls Court Exhibition Centre, Warwick Road, London SW5 9TA
For more information on TFMA 2012 or to register for free, visit http://www.t-f-m.co.uk/
We hope that you will join us.
Contest: Win a Platinum Pass to the Mother of All Events
February 14th, 2012 by Amanda Paull
Shh. It’s the best un-kept secret we’ve had in a while. Mosey on over to the WebINK blog if you’re interested in a chance to win a Platinum Pass to that L’il old event in Austin, TX next month.
Win a Platinum Pass to the Mother of All Events
What is the typical Macintosh in use by Suitcase Fusion users?
February 13th, 2012 by Jim Kidwell
We collect data from our users to better understand the environment within which our software is used. Last week I shared the typical number of fonts managed in Suitcase Fusion.
Today, we turn our focus on the types of machines where people install Suitcase. If you’ve ever wondered how we make choices about our system requirements and so forth, this type of data plays into the decisions that we make.
Clearly the most important data at the core of font management is the support for specific operating systems. Apple can change the way that fonts are handled in Mac OS X, and it’s important that developments we make support what our customers are using. The first data point indicates that the vast majority of our users are working on machines with Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard.
While not as critical for software development, it’s interesting to note which machines Suitcase Fusion users are using. While we’ve seen many creative teams moving toward a more mobile workforce with laptops, it’s clear that many of you are still very happy using desk-based iMacs.
It’s also important to see what type of memory is available for the application to use. Clearly most users have either 4 or 8 MB installed with 16 MB trending upward.
Who reads font licenses anyway?
February 8th, 2012 by Jim Kidwell
Quite a few of you, that’s who!
They can be long, boring, and filled with legalese, but reading them can save you from costly missteps.
They’re font licenses, also known as the End User License Agreement (shortened to EULA). These documents cover what you can and cannot do with the fonts that you licensed. While typeface designs cannot specifically be copyrighted in the USA, the software that’s used to make them display properly on your computer can. This is why fonts are are pretty much licensed like other pieces of software.
We recently surveyed a number of people who were interested in server-based font management, and asked them the following question:
When you purchase a font, do you read the font license?
I was happy to see that almost half of our group actually read them. Since the survey was of people who are specifically interested in managing their font collection using a server, I was happy to see these results. That being said, I would like it to still be even higher.
Many type foundries (those who create and sell fonts) have worked to make their EULAs simpler and easier to understand. That being said, there are still many conditions where you may need to purchase an extended or modified license to use a font.
Some of the things that may or may not be permitted, or require you to purchase an extended license include:
- Embedding into a PDF
- Embedding into an distributable application – “there’s a font for that!”
- Embedding into an eBook
- Utilizing a single character or glyph prominently in a logo design
- Selling a product that consists primarily of featuring the font (such as a mug with an inscription, a shirt with a phrase on it, or magnetic letters for a fridge)
- Converting a font from one format to another
- Modifying the font in a font editor
- Using a font as a web font
These conditions vary by foundry. First step is to definitely read the EULA that came with your font. Can’t find it? Check with the foundry. While foundries vary in size, many of them aren’t very large, and you may be communicating directly with the creator of your favorite fonts.
So, if you’re already on top of this, good job!
If you’re “less than confident” about your licenses, I encourage you to get started today.
And, once you’re started down the right path, check out Universal Type Server to help you keep track your fonts and licenses.
10 ways to sneak into a SXSW party
February 7th, 2012 by Edward Smith
SXSW is about a month away - do you have your badge yet? If not, no problem!
After hosting our official Graffiti Lounge party last year, we learned several effective techniques to crash SXSW parties for the free food, music, and drink.
If you want to get down without throwing down the cash for a badge, head over to the WebINK Blog to learn 10 tried and true ways to sneak into parties at SXSW 2012.
Top 10 ways to sneak into a SXSW party
How many fonts does the average Suitcase Fusion user have?
February 6th, 2012 by Jim Kidwell
In order to bring you the highest quality software, we need to fully understand how our users interact with our software. To this end, we have collected some data that I hope that you’ll find interesting.
Think that you have a massive font collection? Well, don’t be so certain of that fact. While the average number of fonts managed in Suitcase Fusion is around 4,000, one particular user has over 80,000 fonts! Now that’s quite a collection!
It’s likely that your collection is more modest. The chart below displays the relative sizes of font collections.
And of course you won’t have all of those fonts active at the same time. The average number of active fonts that Suitcase Fusion users have active is around 650. This would definitely make your font menus more manageable, while still giving you some creative diversity.
Fonts technologies have grown and changed over the years, and our users’ collections reflect that as well. The vast majority of our users have fonts of many types. The less common font types, such as PostScript Multiple Master and True Type Collections being the main differentiator. Pretty much everyone has True Type, PostScript, OpenType TT and OpenType PS fonts.
Next week I’ll share with you a little data about the types of Macintosh we are seeing out in the market. Stay tuned.
