Monthly Archives: December 2012

It’s been a great 2012 here at Extensis. We launched new versions of our font management, web font and digital asset management products.

To keep you in the loop, we try to communicate regularly here, on the Extensis blog. Whether it’s about new font auto-activation plug-ins, the newest web fonts, or support for new digital camera raw formats, we want you to feel well informed. That being said, some bits of info prove to be more compelling than the others.

The most popular blog posts centered around font auto-activation plug-ins and font licensing issues. The most popular posts of 2012 were:

1. Adobe CS6 plug-ins for Suitcase Fusion 4 now available – Clearly you guys rely upon the plug-ins, and were eagerly awaiting the release of updated plug-ins to support InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and InCopy.
2. NBC Universal sued for $3.5 million for font license infringement - Misuse of the House Industries font Chalet definitely drew popular interest.
3. Suitcase Fusion compatibility with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion - Apple updated OS X to 10.8 (Mountain Lion) and it’s smart to know your product’s compatibility. For full compatibility information with the various versions of Suitcase Fusion, see the Product Compatibility Guide.
4. Universal Type Client version 3.3 adds Mountain Lion & Photoshop CS6 support - The client-server font manager gets an upgrade to support new OS X and Photoshop CS6 products.
5. Who reads font licenses anyway? - You do! The results of our font licensing survey.
6. Brand Refresh: Designing a new Extensis Logo - 2012 was the year that we rebranded. New logo, new website, new new new! Here we tell you the process that we went through to get to where we landed.
7. Abbreviations in Font Names Explained! - Ever wondered what those little letters in your font names mean? Find out now!
8. Suitcase Fusion 4 font auto-activation plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS6 now available - It took a little longer to work out support with Photoshop CS6.
9. Looking for a Final Cut Server Alternative? - Apple decided to end the development of Final Cut Server, so many are looking to Portfolio Server as a replacement.
10. Universal Type Client update includes Adobe CS6 plug-ins - The Type Server plug-ins for CS6 came out in two waves, like they did for Suitcase Fusion. This is the initial release of InDesign, Illustrator and InCopy support.

Have other topics that are important to you that we aren’t covering? Feel free to shoot us a message in the comments of this page, or email us directly using the Contact form.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to a great 2013!

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Tis the season for gathering together for some festive holiday fun. We at Extensis got together for dinner and some group fun last weekend at the gorgeous Aquariva restaurant on the Willamette River in Portland.

After drinks and dinner, we started off the fun with a quick game that was fashioned after Let’s Make A Deal. Those who were able to produce some random objects from purses, pockets and wallets were given the choice of a stack of presents containing random items. one lucky winner went home with a new iPad Mini, while others went home a variety of prizes, from a dollar to even a certificate for a massage.

   

The night ended up with many fun hours of singing Karaoke, with some new surprise talents showing through.

  

  

  

 

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This season we released a holiday card site where you could create your own custom holiday greetings to share with friends, family, and if so desired, the rest of the world in our gallery. And you created many, many different cards, in a wide variety of languages.

Here are some of our favorites from the gallery – sweet, wacky and out there – we love it all. Have a favorite? Share it with us in the comments.

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As a DAM consultant, I’ve seen many happy users wake up deployment day to the wonder and surprise of a new digital asset management system. Since it’s the holiday season, I decided to have a little fun and rewrite a classic holiday poem to describe these magical moments for my monthly CMSWIre article:

‘Twas the night before DAM deployment, when across all workstations

Not a process was stirring, not even a daemon.

 

The installers were downloaded from the servers with care,

In hopes the Pro Service consultant soon would be there.

 

The users were nestled all snug in their seats,
While demos of automatically applied metadata appeared on their screens.

 

And the CTO with her budget, and I with my CAPEX,
Had just spent our year’s end on workflow efficiency for graphics.

Keep reading on CMSWire.com…

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Mud, Mud, glorious Mud, there’s nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.

These were the words from the famous ‘Hippopotamus Song’ that came to my mind when I first heard that Extensis Europe’s Christmas festivities would include a morning spent on a 4 x 4 Driving Experience in the beautiful Northamptonshire countryside. In the lead up to the party, as expected, and as fits most people’s perception of the UK, we had had days of rain and some serious flooding across the UK – my how I was looking forward to getting axle-deep in the stuff that some people like to splash all over their bodies in a fit of vanity!

When the day came, however, whilst a typically British Winter morning (it was foggy), the temperature had plummeted and as we approached our destination, we were driving through freezing fog… it was going to be a cold, cold day!

Our Venue was Rockingham Castle which dates back to William the Conqueror times (King of England from 1066-1087 AD). It was actually William himself who ordered the Castle to be built overlooking the Welland Valley – a truly beautiful spot. From a 4 x 4 perspective, this clearly meant there would be steep hills and a host of other interesting terrain to negotiate/wildlife to avoid amongst the trees and more.

On arrival, we were all amazed to see through the fog, that the vehicles we would be driving were a Land Rover Defender 9-seater, complete with front-bumper-mounted winch to pull ourselves out should we get stuck; a Land Rover Discovery 4 ‘Sport’ and a Range Rover – all of which looked worryingly new, in pristine condition. My fears were confirmed when, over the safety briefing, we were informed that the ‘Sport’ only had 774 miles on the clock, and the Range Rover had even less – just 78. ‘How trusting (faithful? idiotic?)’, I thought, that they were prepared to put these brand new vehicles in the hands of complete novices.

During the briefing, it was reassuring to see that it isn’t only the computer software industry that is full of acronyms as we were introduced to the meanings of HDC; ABS; DSC; GRC; HSA; DPF; ARM; GAC; SLC; RC and more. That aside, it soon became clear that understanding what a limited split differential is, is a bit like trying to explain the offside rule in Soccer!

With the briefing over, it was time to climb aboard and drive to the field where the fun would begin. By this time, the fog was beginning to burn off to leave a semi-clear sky, but still sub-zero temperatures. So our expectation for ‘Glorious Mud’ was replaced with the reality of ice, ice, and more ice – faaaantastic – now we could really see how the ‘Best 4 x 4 x Far’ could cope with slippery surfaces such as wet grass; steep, ice-covered inclines; mud-pools; and, being on a working farm, the deposits left by the local indigenous sheep population.

We all took turns at the wheels of the various vehicles to understand the differences, and techniques of how to cope with the different conditions. The Land Rover Discovery was full of electronics to compensate for driver error, whilst the Defender meant the driver was for more actively involved – just brilliant!

As the morning went on, under the traction of the vehicles, what had started off as frozen mud became just mud – and as treacherous in its own way as sheet ice.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience – especially ascending and descending the hill known to the instructors as ‘Ski-jump’ (for obvious reasons!).

As with all self-respecting Englishmen and women, after such a fun event, there was really only one more thing to do – ‘Go to the Pub’ – and that is exactly what we did! The Queens Head at Bulwick, Northamptonshire is a fine example of olde worlde charm with flag-stone floor and open fires, serving excellent English real ales with names like ‘Spitfire’; ‘Barwell Bitter’; ‘Newby Wyke’ and more.

Thanks for reading – Extensis Europe would like to extend their festive greetings to all its customers and look forward to serving their requirements for 2013.

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The web design community evolves as the tools available to it change and grow.

We’ve examined where we we’ve been in 2012, and looked into our crystal ball to see what your tools will looks like for 2013.

See the Trends & Predictions over on the WebINK blog.

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Ever wonder what your fellow designers prefer? In this case, it’s more than just scanning around the internet. We’ve crunched the numbers, fiddled the nobs and peered into the data to reveal which Web Fonts were used most by WebINK customers in 2012.

The most popular web fonts of 2012 are (in descending order of popularity):

Get all of the details, including some pretty nice type specimens, over at the WebINK blog.

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We recently started a promo where with any purchase of Suitcase Fusion or Portfolio Standalone would earn an Amazon Gift card, and I’m happy to report that we’ve just extended the offer to December 20, 2012!

Spend $49, Get a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card.

For full full details, rules and restrictions, see the promo page. Happy holidays!

 

 

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MacUser magazine has given Extensis’ font manager, Extensis Suitcase Fusion 4 a Five-Star “Best in Breed” award, their top rating.

MacUser had some choice words to describe the product:

• “Plenty of unique features to offer”
• “best web font support.”
• “QuickMatch is such a useful feature.”
• “can be closely tailored to suit your workflow.”
• “easier to navigate large font collections.”

We’re very proud – a lovely present just in time for Christmas!

Want to test out Suitcase Fusion 4′s font management capabilities for yourself? Download a fully-functional 30-day demo.

 

 

 

 

 

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As 2012 comes to a close, we like to sit back and reflect on the past year, and make predictions for what’s ahead in 2013.

What happened in 2012:

In 2012, we saw a number of new developments that wove fonts more tightly into your creative workflow. Font managers included new features that allowed font browsing and activation directly from Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator, allowing you to more quickly browse, and activate fonts from your collection.

Type foundries and web font services also extended web fonts more deeply into the design workflow. For example, WebINK and Google Web Fonts became directly accessible for free in Adobe Photoshop through the Web Font Plug-in. By integrating font tools more directly into creative applications, you can now mock-up a website without purchasing desktop copies of the fonts.

However, it was the importance of font compliance that might have gained the most exposure in 2012 due to a number of high profile lawsuits that centered on font infringement and misuse. TBS, NBC and Presidential candidate Mitt Romney all got caught up in font licensing questions and lawsuits, revealing just how significant the ramifications can be.

2013 Forecast

Because of increased attention from the 2012 lawsuits, we expect a heightened effort on the part of designers and any content publishers to determine whether the fonts they are using are being used legally and in accordance with license agreements.

We also expect type foundries to enforce the appropriate use of licensed fonts as they seek to protect their work. This makes it essential for all industries to manage font compliance carefully, just like they would with any other piece of software.

As the traditional arbiters of software compliance, we expect IT managers to be the catalyst that spearheads the shift towards treating font licensing as firms do any other piece of software. Tracking the installation and usage of fonts will also increase in importance as more organizations fall victim to font-related lawsuits due to lack of oversight and effective distribution. Wherever fonts are used, compliance will be more tightly controlled and monitored. Starting with the creative teams, and also extending to any team that needs custom fonts to maintain brand consistency – sales, marketing, administration and beyond.

We also expect to see the integration of fonts, font selection and usage to be more tightly tied to the creative process – whatever the type of project – print, web, and beyond. Font management applications will integrate more tightly into critical professional design applications, and provide seamless font access with a minimum amount of effort.

I’m looking forward to everything that 2013 holds for font management, I hope that you are as well.

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