Copyright: Please register your copy of Font Monster


Table of Contents
	6 June 1994   Program and documentation written by Steven Fox. Published and copyright © 1992-1994 by: Leaping Lizards, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

This program is shareware, it is not free. Please register.

Why do I need it? What Font Monster does What's new in v3.5	Registering Font Monster Copyright, distribution, & disclaimers Suggested reading


Suggested Reading

If you have more interest in how fonts are designed, or font file formats, check out the following materials which were used in developing Font Monster:

TrueType Font Files v1.00; Microsoft Corporation
Contains everything you ever wanted to know about TrueType fonts: fundamentals, file formats, character sets, plus a lot more you probably couldn't care less about. Supposedly available from MS for free upon request, on disk in Word 2.0 format, and also available via FTP from ftp.microsoft.com.

Microsoft Windows 3.1 Device Driver Kit; Microsoft Corporation
Contains some documentation on PostScript .PFM files. It's not 100% accurate, but it's pretty close. One way to obtain this is on the quarterly Developer Network CD-ROM from Microsoft.

Adobe Type1 Font Format v1.1; Adobe Systems Inc.; Addison-Wesley Publishing; ISBN 0-201-57044-0
Describes the .PFB file format and gives some explanation how Type1 fonts work. None of the .PFB information is actually used by Font Monster, but it's a good read anyway.


What's new in v3.5

What's new in v3.5:

The usual bug fixes, too numerous to mention. Thanks to everyone who sent me e-mail and brought them to my attention, and special thanks to my beta testers around the world.

A visual kerning pair editor for Type1 and TrueType fonts, includes a kerning pair import function.

Ability to create TrueType .FOT files anywhere, not just your SYSTEM directory. Useful for network systems with restricted write access to certain directories.

.TTF files can be copied to any designated directory when installed.

Saving a modified .PFM file can optionally copy (and rename if necessary) the corresponding .PFB file.

.PFM and .PFB files can be copied to a designated directory (or the default directories used by ATM) when installed.

TrueType install code totally rewritten. This should allow for greater compatibility, and fewer cryptic font install error messages which older versions of Font Monster often created for no obvious reason.

When adding fonts to a font group, you can rapidly search your entire system, or designated drives, for all fonts, instead of doing a directory by directory search as in earlier versions.

You can now preview fonts before adding them to, or removing them from, a font group.

Control over the border and separator lines on page printouts.

Now you can easily go from the GROUP window to the PRINT window, and vice versa.

The VIEW and KERN window positions and settings are remembered from one session to the next (registered version only).

A setup program has been added to make installing Font Monster easier.


Program Manager vs. Norton Desktop & PCTools
Program Manager vs. Norton Desktop & PCTools For Windows

If you are using Norton Desktop v2.0 or PCTools For Windows, instead of Program Manager, you should have no problem using Font Monster v3.5. Any references to Program Manager or File Manager in this documentation also apply to the Norton Desktop or PCTools.

A couple minor bugs have been found when creating font group icons with Norton Desktop and PCTools Desktop. Check out Known bugs for details.


Uninstalling Font Monster
Totally uninstalling Font Monster

1.	Delete all files found in your Font Monster directory, then delete the Font Monster directory.

2.	If you don't use any other Visual Basic programs, delete THREED.VBX, CMDIALOG.VBX, MSGBLAST.VBX, CTRL3D.DLL, and  VBRUN300.DLL, all found in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. If you aren't sure whether you use other programs that require these files, don't delete them since they may be shared by other programs.

3.	If you are a registered user, delete the FMONSTER.INI file found in your WINDOWS directory.

4.	Remove the .FM!, .PFM, .TTF entries from your WIN.INI file in the [Extensions] section.


Why do I need Font Monster?

Fonts are a real pain to manage in Windows. That's probably why you've snagged Font Monster. But when you first looked at Font Monster, it probably looked pretty daunting to you. It's certainly not that dinky little Control Panel font installer that came with Windows, but that's the whole point.

Windows starts to act kinda screwy, and definitely a lot slower, as you add more and more fonts. In fact there is a definite limit to the number of fonts you can have installed at one time. And as your font collection grows, you eventually begin lose track of your fonts until it gets totally unmanageable. With Font Monster you can regain some control over your system, and have full control over your fonts. You can preview fonts before you add them to your system, give them new names, change their properties, enhance them with kerning pairs, delete useless or duplicate fonts, organize them all into logical groups, and print them all out in a booklet which you can refer to later.

You don't need to be a font nerd to use Font Monster. Although Font Monster offers many technical options for advanced users, Font Monster is designed to make managing fonts simpler and faster. The default settings are carefully designed so that you can't cause any permanent harm to your system. In fact, you really don't need to do much studying of this on-line help; a status bar at the bottom of the Font Monster window tells you what each control or button does as you pass your mouse over the top.

You can explore this help file further to learn more about the more advanced looking stuff.

See also:

What are all these font files? (".TTF", ".PFM", etc.)

Some examples for using Font Monster

What Font Monster does

What Font Monster does not do


A brief font file introduction

Windows basically has two font standards, TrueType and Type1. There have been other standards proposed in the past, but they never took off. I don't want to argue whether Type1 fonts are better than TrueType, or vice versa. Most people are perfectly happy with TrueType fonts, yet some people doing professional desktop publishing wouldn't be caught dead with a TrueType font. Make your own decision if you are curious about which is better.

TrueType fonts can be used by Windows without any additional software, and they are generally less expensive than Type1 fonts. Type1 fonts require Adobe Type Manager (ATM) in order to be viewed on screen, or printed on any kind of printer other than a PostScript printer. ATM 2.5 (or higher) is recommended if you are using Type1 fonts with Font Monster. ATM uses relatively few system resources and memory, and is compatible with basically everything. Many unique fonts are available only as Type1 fonts.

Here is some basic information about font files found on a typical system:

".TTF" files are TrueType fonts. You get a handful of these with Windows 3.1; Arial, Courier New, Times New Roman, Symbol, WingDings. Many font families have more than one style, for example, besides regular Arial, you also have Arial Bold, Arial Italic, and Arial Bold Italic. For each separate style you will have a separate ".TTF" file. Windows' Control Panel is generally used to install and uninstall individual TrueType fonts, although Font Monster makes installing groups of fonts much easier. By default, Control Panel copies TrueType fonts into your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory when you install them. However, it can be useful to keep your various collections of fonts in separate directories. In fact, many people don't keep any TrueType fonts in their WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory at all.

".FOT" files are created by Windows when a TrueType font is installed. Many people get confused about these files. Basically, they are used by Windows as a pointer to the real TrueType font, the ".TTF" file. They contain some basic information about the font, duplicated from the ".TTF" file, but that's about it. They are not the font itself. These files are not supplied with a TrueType font since Windows creates them for you. When you uninstall a TrueType font, the corresponding ".FOT" files are deleted automatically. By default, the ".FOT" files are created in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. If you hate to have a huge WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, Font Monster allows you to specify a different directory for your ".FOT" files. Although Font Monster creates ".FOT" files, it does not use any information stored in them.

".PFB" files are one of the two required Type1 font files used by ATM. Without this file you can not display the font on screen, and you can not print it unless it is built into your PostScript printer. By default, ATM copies these files into your PSFONTS directory when you install them. Each ".PFB" needs a ".PFM", with exactly the same name, in order to be installed in Windows. Each style variation in a font family needs a separate pair of ".PFB" and ".PFM" files.

".PFM" files are the second of the two required Type1 font files used by ATM. These files contain the information which Windows uses, such as the name, style, size, and kerning. By default, ATM copies these files into your PSFONTS\PFM directory when you install them. When you OPEN a Type1 font with Font Monster, you actually open the ".PFM" file, not the ".PFB" file.


What Font Monster does for you
What Font Monster does

Font Monster is a multi-purpose font utility. Its ultimate goal is to be an all in one monster of a utility for font fanatics. Its primary intention is to cover ground that other utilities (shareware and commercial) missed out on, or didn't implement very well.

Font Monster allows you to edit TrueType and Type1 font data. Not the glyphs and stuff, but all the stuff which Windows uses to recognize a font, like the name, the weight, the style, etc., plus lots of esoteric stuff that you probably will never need to touch.

Font Monster can edit a font without modifying hinting and glyph data. Unlike many other font editors, Font Monster works with a font in its native format, and those portions of a font not modified by Font Monster are simply copied byte for byte from the original font file.

Font Monster lets you preview TrueType and Type1 fonts before they are installed. If you decide to install a font you are previewing you can also install it with Font Monster, or later uninstall it, or even delete the font files from your disk.

Font Monster prints font samples and entire font catalogs. This can be extremely useful for finding a particular font, or to see how a font looks when printed. It's also useful for finding a particular character in a dingbat font.

Font Monster prints uninstalled fonts as easily as installed fonts. Font Monster is still the only utility (shareware or commercial) to fully accomplish this.

Font Monster manages your INI files. When you install or uninstall a Type1 font, Font Monster automatically makes all the necessary changes in your ATM.INI and WIN.INI files. When you install or uninstall a TrueType font, Font Monster automatically changes your WIN.INI file.

Font Monster manages your font files. When you install, uninstall, and delete fonts, Font Monster will take care of all the dirty work. Font Monster also provides a greater number of options when installing fonts than any other font utility.

Font Monster can create font groups. These are special macro files containing a list of fonts to install. Activating one of these font groups will optionally uninstall the currently installed fonts, then install the set of fonts listed in the group. You can create as many of these font groups as you like, for all your various font situations. Font groups can be saved as an icon in Program Manager and can be activated simply by clicking on the icon, thus eliminating the need to start up Font Monster each time you want to change fonts groups.

If you are a font designer using Fontographer or FontMonger to design your fonts, you can use the registered version of Font Monster to add your own trademark and copyright notice, as well as remove or change any of the string data those commercial programs automatically insert.

See also:

Why you need Font Monster

Some examples for using Font Monster

What Font Monster does not do


What Font Monster does not do

Font Monster does not do everything. Sometimes this is for the better, sometimes not:

Since TrueType and Type1 (using ATM) are the only real Windows standards, Font Monster will not support other type managers or font types.

Changes you make to a font using Font Monster WILL NOT IN ANY WAY change the shapes of the characters on screen or as printed. Information such as glyphs and hinting is simply copied byte-for-byte from the original font file. To edit the shapes of the characters you will need something like FontMonger, or Fontographer, or AllType.

If you never use the font editing functions, Font Monster will not modify your fonts when you use the PRINT or GROUP features. The only way Font Monster will modify a font is if you use the font edit functions and change the data yourself, and then save it to the same file name. In all other respects, Font Monster behaves like any normal Windows application, and is as likely to damage your fonts as, say, Microsoft Word.

Font Monster is intended for personal use only. You should not use Font Monster to rename someone else's fonts and then sell them as your own. But if you do so, be aware that Font Monster does not change all the data in a font which identifies it to its original creator.

Font Monster does not convert fonts from one format to another, or from one platform to another.

See also:

Why you need Font Monster

Some examples for using Font Monster

What Font Monster does


Why should you use Font Monster? Some examples:

Here are some common situations the average font fanatic, such as yourself, might come across:

Let's say you have two different fonts from two different font vendors but both fonts have the same name. Windows will have no way of telling the difference which is which. By renaming one font, Windows (and you) will be able to call up either font if they are installed at the same time.

How about if you copy some fonts over from the Apple Macintosh? The Apple naming scheme can sometimes be quite weird. For example, take the fonts named "Ren&Stimpy Bold 001.002" & "DavysRudeSymbols 10/23/91". Both of these names include some extra information which you may not want and it can also confuse Windows when it tries to select the style variations in the font's family. Renaming the fonts will take care of this.

Word For Windows tries to be so smart when you want to insert a symbol or a bullet. It will only allow you to select from those fonts in your system which are marked as symbol fonts. What can you do if you want to use a font which isn't a symbol font? Good luck, Word doesn't make it very easy for you. Use Font Monster to mark the font as Symbol and from then on Word will put it in its Symbol menu. This same situation also applies to CorelDRAW!.

Some fonts, particularly shareware Type1 fonts, are designed with Style formats incompatible with Windows. You may have Regular, Bold, Italic, and BoldItalic versions for a particular family but you may not be able to choose them the usual way, for example Ctrl-B for Bold, Ctrl-I for Italic. Instead you are forced to choose, for example, "Simpsons Bold" or "Simpsons Italic" from your font menu. This is because the styles were all marked as Regular when they were produced. Use Font Monster to set the correct Style and Family Name in each font. Then you can have one menu entry, "Simpsons", and choose the styles in your word processor the usual way.

Many font vendors (and also some applications, CorelDRAW! is a good example, which bundle fonts with their programs), for technical reasons change the names of the fonts to something similar, but not the font's official (or more common) name. Renaming the fonts can help you better manage your font collection.

Font Monster lets you preview fonts, even if they are not installed yet. If you like what you see you can install the font permanently with Font Monster. If you don't like a font you can also uninstall fonts from Windows with Font Monster, and even delete font files from your hard disk.

If you have a lot of fonts installed at once you probably know how slow Windows takes to startup, and then how slow some applications take to get going, like PageMaker. Use Font Monster's font group feature to create smaller groups of fonts, which you can install before you open a project that requires specific fonts. For example, you might be laying out a newsletter which requires 14 fonts, and then later you might work on a poster which requires 10 totally different fonts. Simply create two font groups containing the fonts needed for each project. Then as you switch projects, simply click in the corresponding font group's icon to uninstall the unneeded fonts and install the new fonts. You'll notice a remarkable difference in speed when compared to having all your fonts installed at once.

Font Monster now directly supports the additional weight variations implemented in Windows 3.1. At this time, the only application known to fully support the additional weights is Microsoft's Access database. If more applications begin to support the additional weights, you can use Font Monster to rename the weights of your existing TrueType fonts.

You can print a catalog of all your fonts, which will allow you to quickly find a particular font without having to see them on screen.

You can print a page showing all the characters in a font. This is most useful for finding particular symbols in a dingbat font.

Kerning in fonts can be viewed and edited visually, providing you an accurate rendering of how the font will look when used in high-end programs that support kerning, such as PageMaker.

See also:

Why you need Font Monster

What Font Monster does

What Font Monster does not do


File open and save

Open a font

The directory list box works pretty much like the familiar Windows common dialog box. It will list only fonts that have the suffix .PFM or .TTF, for Type1 and TrueType fonts respectively. When you select a font file, the actual name of the font will be displayed in the small window below the file list.

Shortcut: Ctrl-O

Save changes to a font

If you have made any changes to the font data you can save it either as an entirely new font file, or replace the original font file. Use the dialog box to select the directory and the filename.

Shortcut: Ctrl-S will save changes to the font to the same filename you opened, without confirmation, and bypassing the "Save As..." dialog box.

Type1 only:

When saving a Type1 font you usually are only saving the .PFM file. You can set an option on the CNFG window to automatically copy (and/or rename) the accompanying .PFB file, if one exists. Note that Font Monster and Adobe Type Manager expect the filenames of the .PFM and the .PFB files to be the same, and they must reside either in the default ATM font directories or in the same directory.

On an average 486-33:

Saving a Type1 font takes about 1 second.

Saving a TrueType font takes about 3 seconds.

Saving a TrueType font with checksums enabled takes about 6 to 15 seconds.

East Asian language TrueType fonts, which can often exceed 8 megabytes in size, may take as long as 2 minutes to save, with checksums enabled.


Editing kerning pairs

Kerning pairs in a font can greatly increase the readability of a font by moving the relative positions of any two letters a little closer together, or further apart, than normal. Take this example:

Notice the letters "Aw" and "Ty" in this example without kerning.

With kerning. Notice how the letters "Aw" and "Ty" overlap a little bit.

A properly kerned font makes a big difference in the appearance of your work. If you have two or more similar looking fonts, compare the kerning pairs, if they have any. A text font without any kerning pairs is often an indication of a poor quality font.

Kerning data can be imported from other Type1 or TrueType fonts. This is a very quick and dirty way to add kerning pairs to a font. Kerning data from one font is not likely going to match perfectly when imported into a new font. By the way, Type1 font kerning data can be imported into TrueType fonts, and vice-versa.

The UNDO button will undo all the kerning pair changes you have made to a font.

You can adjust the kerning within a range of -2xEm to 2xEm, or to put it another way, -1000 to 1000 Em units for Type1 fonts, and -2048 to 2048 Em units (usually) for TrueType fonts.

TrueType and Type1 fonts index their kerning pairs differently. Type1 fonts order the kerning pairs by the right character, while TrueType fonts order the kerning pairs by the left character.

It IS possible to kern a right character so far left that it appears before the left character. Watch out.

Type1 fonts allow a maximum of 512 kerning pairs. TrueType fonts do not have a limit for kerning pairs.

Not all applications support the display and printing of kerning pairs.


Font groups

Font groups are macros which allow you to automatically install and uninstall fonts, even without having to start up Font Monster. Create font groups for every situation where you need specific fonts installed.

Font Groups are also used by the font print utility. Create groups of fonts you want to print out, then select the group from the font print utility before printing. You can create font groups specifically for printing, for example if you want to print out all your fonts in a catalog, simply add all your fonts to a single group and select that group for printing later.

Save changes to a font group

You must save changes before you can activate, or do anything, with a font group. Font groups are always stored in the same directory as the FMONSTER.EXE file. Their file extension is .FM!.

How to add or remove fonts from a group

Select fonts in the list using the standard Windows method of using the left mouse button in conjunction with the SHIFT and CTRL keys.

Or use the right mouse button and choose "Select All" or "Deselect All" from the pop-up menu.

Use the right mouse button and select "Add fonts to group" or "Remove fonts from group" from the pop-up menu.

When a font is added to a group, it is removed from the available fonts list. You can not add a font to a group more than once. This is why the values preceding "Available fonts" and "Number of fonts found" may differ. Fonts with identical names can be added to the same group, however.

Adding a font to a group does not actually install or uninstall the font, that won't happen until you activate the font group.

When a font is removed from a group, it may, or may not, be added to the available fonts list. This depends on whether the removed font is located in the current directory or search list.

Windows limits the maximum number of fonts in a group to approximately 1300, or when the .FM! file size reaches approximately 64Kb. Extremely large lists of fonts can take a few seconds for Font Monster to process in some instances. Be patient.

Shortcut: Double click on any single font name in a list to move it to the other list.

Delete group

This will delete the current font group's nnnnnnnn.FM! file from your Font Monster directory. It will not delete the fonts, only the group!

Add font group to Program Manager

This will create an icon in Program Manager which represents your font group. The current group name will be the name under the icon.

You can activate the font group at any time simply by double-clicking on its icon. A Font Monster font group is essentially a macro, it loads in only a very small portion of Font Monster. It gets to work pretty quickly, and when its finished it automatically quits Font Monster.

Right click on the icon/button to select a different icon. Font Monster allows you to use your own custom icons. Simply add icons to the FMONST.DLL using a icon editor or resource editor, and Font Monster will automatically be able to use them.

Activate afterwards

Allows you to link font groups together, or run a program or open a specific file after activating the group.

When another font group is indicated, when the activated font group is finished, it will activate the font group indicated. Likewise, if the second font group is linked to yet another font group, it will be activated, and so on.

When "[Program or file...]" is selected (always at the bottom of the list of groups), a dialog box will appear requesting the name of the program or file you wish to open after activating the group.

The options, "Uninstall all TrueType" and "Uninstall all Type1", if set in a font group, will not take effect when they are activated after the initial font group. For example, if "Group A" activates "Group B", and "Group B" has "Uninstall all TrueType" checked and "Group A" does not, all TrueType fonts will not be uninstalled because "Group A's" settings take precedence. However, all other settings, "Uninstall only", "Install fonts permanently", and "Autodownload all Type1 fonts" will be used from a following group's settings.

When using the font print utility, this function, and all other font installation settings in a group, have no effect.

Type1 only:

The "Autodownload Type1" option can be set differently in each font group when you activate one after another. This can be an advantage in some situations where you can set up fonts in one group to be downloaded to a PostScript printer, and other groups not, yet they can all be installed from a single icon.

Prompt first

When a font group is activated, if this setting is checked, you will be able to confirm and change the settings in the font group. In fact, you can change the font group itself. Note that any changes you make are temporary and will not permanently affect the font group.

Uninstall only

The fonts in the font group will be uninstalled, rather than installed which is the default. When this setting is checked, the other install options will be disabled.

Uninstall all TrueType fonts

TrueType only:

When the current font group is activated, all TrueType fonts presently installed will be removed from the system. This allows you to create font groups that install either cumulatively or exclusively, and optionally, exclusively from Type1 fonts.

Uninstall all Type1 fonts

Type1 only:

When the current font group is activated, all Type1 fonts presently installed will be removed from the system. This function allows you to create font groups that install either cumulatively or exclusively, and optionally, exclusively from TrueType fonts.

If your default printer is a PostScript printer, Font Monster can not remove the basic PostScript fonts that are permanently installed (Helvetica, Times, Courier, etc.). Thus, these fonts will always appear in the fonts menu of your applications.

Install fonts permanently

You can create a font group whose fonts are active only during the current Windows session (Yes, this really is possible!). The next time you start Windows, those particular fonts will no longer be active. The default setting, however, is "permanent", which installs fonts for the current session as well as later sessions. This setting applies to both TrueType and Type1 fonts.

Autodownload all Type1 fonts

Type1 only:

This option will add the .PFB file to any PostScript printer entries in the WIN.INI file. This allows Windows to download the font as a soft font while printing. For example the following example does not autodownload the font:

softfont1=d:\win31\pfm\davyscat.pfm

The following example autodownloads the same font:

softfont1=d:\win31\pfm\davyscat.pfm,d:\win31\pfb\davyscat.pfb

See also:

Font group installation status

Using Norton Desktop or PCTools For Windows

Tips and shortcuts


Activate Group
Font group installation status

If a group fails to install a font (because it has been deleted, or moved, or renamed), or if the font is already installed, you will not see any error messages. This is done to keep user interaction to a bare minimum.

TrueType only:

Note that Windows' Control Panel normally copies fonts to your WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory, Font Monster groups do not. Wherever the font was kept at the time it was added to a group is where Font Monster will expect to find it later when it installs it. So don't freak out Windows by trying to install a font stored on a floppy or CD-ROM that isn't in the drive.

The location where the .FOT files are created can be set from the CNFG window.

Type1 only:

Font Monster automatically detects if Adobe Type Manager (ATM) is installed, and active, and acts accordingly when installing and uninstalling Type1 fonts. Font Monster will automatically install or uninstall the font to every PostScript printer installed on your system. Thus, if you don't use ATM and you have no PostScript printers installed, installing a Type1 font with Font Monster achieves absolutely nothing.

Unlike ATM, Font Monster can install a Type1 font residing in any directory. Font Monster expects both the .PFM and .PFB files to have the same name, and to reside in the same directory. However...

...a more likely situation for ATM users is that all their Type1 fonts were copied and separated into different directories by ATM when it originally installed them. Font Monster handles this gracefully by determining the default directories ATM uses for storing fonts. Then if a user installs a .PFM file residing in ATM's default PFM directory, it will automatically install the corresponding .PFB file in ATM's default PFB directory. That is assuming
"Autodownload all Type1" has been enabled. Otherwise, only the .PFM file will be installed.

Foreign language versions of Windows 3.1 only:

If you are using an unregistered version of Font Monster, and you want to install a font group from it's Program Manager icon, the font group may not install properly because the specific platform and language default to US English in the unregistered version. Once your copy is registered, you can set the default specific platform and language to whatever is suitable for your system. You can still, however, install a font group from within Font Monster using the unregistered version, assuming you have set the specific platform and language correctly.

See also:

Tips and shortcuts


Restart Windows

Return to current Windows session

ATM versions under 2.5 only:

If you activated a font group which either installed or uninstalled Type1 fonts, or if you installed or uninstalled Type1 fonts some other way, you will need to Restart Windows before the changes can take effect.

You have the option of not restarting Windows right away. You may want to do so if you plan to install or uninstall more Type1 fonts right away. Font Monster will remind you once again to Restart Windows before you exit the program.

You also have the option of switching Adobe Type Manager (ATM) on or off before restarting Windows.


Font Monster configuration

This panel controls how Font Monster behaves. The registered version of Font Monster will allow you to save all these settings from one session to the next, otherwise you may need to change the settings each time you start Font Monster. Yet another good reason for registering today, wouldn't you say?

SmartLink

TrueType only:

Enabling this allows you to link any changes you make in one field to other appropriate fields. For example, clicking on the Bold, Actual Style will automatically enter the word "Bold" in the Style text field. Likewise, typing in a Family Name will change the Windows Name simultaneously. By default, this is turned "Off" in the unregistered version.

This is an invaluable feature because the data in the string fields should generally not conflict with one another, or with the settings elsewhere. Yes, there are a few exceptions, though unpredictable things can happen in your font menus if you're not careful. If you need to work on an "exception" font, turn off SmartLink temporarily.

Fonts with optional foreign language platforms are one of these exceptions. SmartLink has been designed to work with English language font names only.

Note that changes you make in one font table will not affect the string data in the other font tables (such as a different language) in the same font, whether you use SmartLink or not. If you edit a font name, you should similarly edit the other Platform names in order to maintain compatibility with all other applications. For example, if you modify only the Macintosh platform name of a font, but not the Microsoft platform, Windows will still use the original Microsoft platform name. If you later copy the font to the Macintosh, it will use the modified name.

It is highly recommended you turn on "SmartLink" and leave it on, always.

Install Type1 fonts as autodownload for PostScript printers

Type1 only:

This option will add the .PFB file to any PostScript printer entries in the WIN.INI file. This allows Windows to download the font as a soft font while printing. For example the following line does not autodownload the font:

softfont1=d:\win31\pfm\alphabet.pfm

The following line will autodownload the same font:

softfont1=d:\win31\pfm\alphabet.pfm,d:\win31\pfb\alphabet.pfb

Font groups are not affected by this setting.

Associate ".TTF" and ".PFM" files

Every time Font Monster starts it will read the WIN.INI and check that the extensions .PFM and .TTF are associated to Font Monster. If this setting is enabled, it will reassociate these extensions if they have been changed or deleted, or if Font Monster has been moved to a different directory.

By assigning these extensions to Font Monster, you can double click on a font in File Manager and Font Monster will automatically start and read in that font's data.

Use Font Group icon

If you use Program Manager as your Windows shell, this setting defaults to "on", otherwise it defaults to "off". Setting to "on" will give font groups one of the custom icons contained in the FMONST.DLL file, setting to "off" gives font groups the default Font Monster icon. Norton Desktop v2.0, for example, can not use custom icons when creating font groups. If your shell can accept custom icons, change this to "on". Note that you can add your own custom icons to FMONST.DLL by using a icon editor or a resource editor.

Copy ".PFB" when saving

Type1 only:

When you edit a Type1 .PFM file and save it in a different directory or with a new name, Font Monster will automatically copy the corresponding .PFB file to the new directory, and rename the .PFB to match the new .PFM file name if necessary. For example: Let's say that after you edit "c:\psfonts\pfm\architxt.pfm" you save it as "c:\newfonts\arch2.pfm". Font Monster will automatically copy "c:\psfonts\architxt.pfb" to "c:\newfonts\arch2.pfb". Note that the original .PFM and .PFB files remain where they originally were, unaltered.

Compute TrueType checksums

TrueType only:

The TrueType specification requires each internal table to be given a checksum, and then the entire font should be given a sort of 'master' checksum. In reality, neither Windows 3.1 nor Apple's System 7 bother to even look at these checksums. You could safely leave this setting turned off, and as a consequence, Font Monster will take a little less time when saving. The default setting is "off".

Note that some font utilities designed to check for invalid fonts may report a "bad" font if they detect that you did not compute checksums when saving a font. You should be aware that your font is NOT bad despite what these utilities may say.

Should there ever be a case in the future where an operating system or application requires these checksums to be correct (not very likely at all, in fact, forget about it), you can open and then resave your fonts with this setting turned on to create the correct checksums.

Play sounds if available

You can disable the sound effects by setting this to "No". The default is "Yes".

Save settings on exit

Registered users only:

With this button enabled, Font Monster will save settings automatically in a file called FMONSTER.INI in your WINDOWS directory. Settings include the status of all the buttons on the configuration window, the current directory, custom text, window size and placement, and various other items. Note that this feature works only if you are a registered user.

Create ".FOT" files in:

TrueType only:

SYSTEM directory is the default. Whenever you install a font, the corresponding .FOT file will be created in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. This option mimics the behavior of Windows' Control Panel.

Font's directory allows you to keep your matching .TTF and .FOT files in the same directory. This option is useful for network users who don't have write access permission to server's WINDOWS directory, or for people who just hate to have a cluttered WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Note that this option will fail if you install fonts from a CD-ROM or from a network directory without write access.

Specific directory allows you to specify a directory where all .FOT files will be created, no matter where the original .TTF file resides. After selecting this option, you must enter in the full path.

This setting also affects font group installation.

Copy ".TTF" when installing

TrueType only:

When installing a TrueType font you may wish to copy it to a specific directory for whatever reason. When this option is "on" the .TTF file will be copied to the directory specified by the above options. For example: if you install the font "e:\cdrom\fonts\alexisb.ttf", and the "Create .FOT files in SYSTEM directory" is checked, that file  will be copied to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Likewise, if "Create .FOT files in specific directory" is checked, and the specific directory is "c:\newfonts\", then the font file will be copied to that directory.

Note that this option is disabled when "Create .FOT files in font's directory" is checked.

It is highly recommended that you keep your TrueType fonts in a directory (or directories) other than the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Doing so makes your fonts easier to organize.

Font groups are not affected by this setting. Font groups install TrueType fonts in their current directory only.

Copy ".PFM" and ".PFB" when installing:

Type1 only:

Directories specified in ATM.INI will copy and separate the two files into the same directories as used by ATM. This option mimics the behavior of ATM.

Never is the default. Fonts installed will not be copied anywhere.

Specific directory allows you to specify a single directory where both font files will be copied. After selecting this option, you must enter in the full path.

Font groups are not affected by this setting, they install Type1 fonts in their current directory only.

Program Manager group name

This is the name of the Program Manager group (sometimes called a "folder") in which Font Monster will put the font group icons when you add them to Program Manager. You can enter the name of an existing group, or enter a new group name. The default is "Font Monster".

Default Specific Platform

Foreign language versions of Windows 3.1 only:

Used by Font Monster to determine the name table to use when installing and viewing a font. By default, and in the English language version of Windows, Font Monster will look for the UGL character set. If this is set to some other value, Font Monster will look for that table first, then if it is not found it will look for the UGL character set. If that is not found, Font Monster will look for the first Macintosh platform string table.

Nearly all fonts, except Dingbat fonts (such as WingDings) will be UGL character set.

For example: Chinese TrueType fonts require Trad. Chinese/Big5 to be the default.

Font Monster also uses the Default Language to determine the name table to use.

Default Language

Foreign language versions of Windows 3.1 only:

Used by Font Monster to determine the name table to use when installing and viewing a font. By default, and in the English language version of Windows, Font Monster will look for the US English string table. If set to some other value, Font Monster will look for that table first, then if is not found, Font Monster will look for the US English language name table. If that is not found, Font Monster will look for the first name table in the font.

Basically all fonts contain a US English name table.

Not many fonts contain name tables other than US English.

If your localized version of Windows uses a default language other than English, such as Traditional Chinese or Japanese, you should set this setting to the appropriate language in order to make fonts install and preview properly.

Registering

Now that you have paid your twenty five bucks, you can register. You only need to do this once. Enter your name and your ID number exactly as printed on your registration certificate which you received. Press OK and you should see a message thanking you for registering. By the way, thanks again for registering.

Registering enables the FMONSTER.INI file, allowing you to save your settings.

Registering immediately disables all "nags".

Registering allows you to save changes in the Copyright, Trademark, VendorID, and Protection fields.


Installing or uninstalling a font

If the caption reads:

"Install font", clicking on this will install a font permanently in your system.

"Uninstall font", clicking on this will remove the font from Windows. It will not be deleted from your hard disk, but that can be done with the "Delete font" button.

"(no font)", then no font is currently open, either because one has not been opened yet (as might occur when you first start the program), or an error occurred when opening a font.

TrueType only:

Note that Windows' Control Panel normally copies fonts to your WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory, Font Monster groups do not. Wherever the font was kept at the time it was added to a group is where Font Monster will expect to find it later when it installs it. So don't freak out Windows by trying to install a font stored on a floppy or CD-ROM that isn't in the drive.

The location where the .FOT files are created can be set from the CNFG window.

Type1 only:

Font Monster automatically detects if Adobe Type Manager (ATM) is installed, and active, and acts accordingly when installing and uninstalling Type1 fonts. Font Monster will automatically install or uninstall the font to every PostScript printer installed on your system. Thus, if you don't use ATM and you have no PostScript printers installed, installing a Type1 font with Font Monster achieves absolutely nothing.

Unlike ATM, Font Monster can install a Type1 font residing in any directory. Font Monster expects both the .PFM and .PFB files to have the same name, and to reside in the same directory. However...

...a more likely situation for ATM users is that all their Type1 fonts were copied and separated into different directories by ATM when it originally installed them. Font Monster handles this gracefully by determining the default directories ATM uses for storing fonts. Then if a user installs a .PFM file residing in ATM's default PFM directory, it will automatically install the corresponding .PFB file in ATM's default PFB directory. That is assuming
"Autodownload all Type1" has been enabled. Otherwise, only the .PFM file will be installed.

See also:

Restart Windows


Font print utility

All the print routines use previously created font groups. You can not select individual fonts for printing, however, you can select individual fonts from within an existing font group.

It is not necessary for a font to be installed in order to print it. You can, in fact, printout an entire catalog of uninstalled fonts if you want to.

You can select individual fonts in a group for printout by clicking the left mouse button (in combination with the Ctrl and Shift keys). Be sure to also click on the "Selected fonts only" box.

Use the right mouse button to insert variables into any text fields:

Variable	Description	Example
^a	Font file date & time	March 10, 1992, 3:10:00 AM
^d	Current date	Monday, June 6, 1994
^f	File name	arialbi.ttf
^g	Group name	Standard Windows fonts
^l	Total fonts in the group	14
^m	Paragraph break	(prints subsequent text on a new line)
^n	Font name	Arial Bold Italic
^p	Path name	c:\windows\system\arialbi.ttf
^r	Current font number	3
^s	Font file size	71,880
^t	Font type	TrueType
^u	User name	Ren Hoek
^#	Current page number	3
^^	Caret symbol	^

Use the right mouse button to insert the text "(Don't print)" into any text field and that text field will not print.

A font group doesn't have to be active in order for it to be installed. You can printout TrueType and Type1 (with ATM 2.5 or higher) fonts in a font group even if they are not installed.

Create a font group specifically designed for printing, but not for installing. Unlike when installing fonts, when printing, there is practically no limit to the number of fonts in a font group.

When using the Font Print utility, font group links, and all other font installation settings, have no effect. Only the font names from a group are used.

If your printer runs out of memory while printing a page, set your Windows printer driver to "Print TrueType as graphics", if supported. You may also need to set ATM (2.5 or higher) to "Print ATM fonts as graphics" if you are printing Type1 fonts with ATM.

You can not print uninstalled Type1 fonts to a PostScript printer, even if you use ATM (2.5 or higher). This is because the Windows PostScript printer driver must check the WIN.INI file for installed fonts, if it can't find a font there, it won't print it. Stupid huh?! Your best bet is to either install the fonts before printing, or switch your printer to a different mode, such as PCL, if possible.

You can select more than one style of page to be printed during a single print job. For example, you can printout a Character chart, a Sample page, and a Font catalog, all at the same time.

All buttons and selections are "live" during printing. For example, if you change the custom text while printing a font catalog, all subsequent text will be the changed text.

The "STOP" button can be quite slow to respond during printing. This is due to the way Visual Basic handles printing. Be patient, clicking once on the STOP button will eventually stop the print job. However, any pages already sent to the printer can not be stopped.

Use "Page pause" to temporarily interrupt printing between pages. Some laser printers print more reliably if you do this.

Dot matrix printers often print with different margins than what you might expect. If you get borders or text printing off the edge of the page, try experimenting with the Page Margin settings to optimize printing on your dot matrix printer.

Each page during a printout is treated as a separate print job. Thus, if you look at Print Manager during printing you may see several print jobs queued up there. The reason for this is to force Windows and Visual Basic to clear all unneeded resources between pages. This increases printing speed and system reliability.

All printouts automatically scale to the printer's selected paper size and orientation. However, you can adjust the page margins to allow a larger amount of space on the left side, then you can easily bind all the pages later for future reference. Note that these settings are relative to the printable portion of the page, not the physical page; setting all the margins to "0" will use the maximum amount of printable area available to your printer, which may not necessarily be the entire page. Use the right mouse button to toggle between inches or centimeters.

The "Sample page" function will use the custom text in a file called FMONSTER.TXT, which should be found in the same directory as the FMONSTER.EXE program. You can edit this text file by clicking on the "EDIT..." button, which will use your default text editor. Note that you can also use the variables, described above, in this text file. This file can be up to 8192 characters long.


Sounds

 Sound test...

Font Monster supports Windows 3.1 multimedia sounds. Copy the following lines to the [Sounds] section in your WIN.INI file. Then use Windows' Control Panel to assign sounds to .WAV files already in your system. The Font Monster Multimedia Upgrade Kit includes a collection of interesting and original samples and will also do all the work of modifying your WIN.INI file for you. You can obtain the Font Monster Multimedia Upgrade Kit as freeware, probably from the same place you got Font Monster 3.5.

FMActivate=,Font Monster-Activate group

FMAdd=,Font Monster-Add icon

FMCancel=,Font Monster-Cancel

FMClick=,Font Monster-Click

FMDelete=,Font Monster-Delete

FMExit=,Font Monster-Exit window

FMDrag=,Font Monster-Font list change

FMGrid=,Font Monster-Font grid

FMGroup=,Font Monster-Font groups

FMHelp=,Font Monster-Help

FMInstall=,Font Monster-Install font

FMKeep=,Font Monster-Keep image

FMNew=,Font Monster-New

FMOk=,Font Monster-Ok

FMOpen=,Font Monster-Open font

FMPrint=,Font Monster-Print fonts

FMCnfg=,Font Monster-Program config

FMQuit=,Font Monster-Quit

FMSave=,Font Monster-Save font

FMStart=,Font Monster-Startup

FMStop=,Font Monster-Stop!

FMUndo=,Font Monster-Undo changes

FMUninstall=,Font Monster-Uninstall font

FMView=,Font Monster-View font

FMWho=,Font Monster-Who?


Tips and shortcuts

Drop any font group icon into your StartUp folder and every time you start windows that font group will take effect.

You can use a previously created font group as a template for a new font group. Simply select the font group, type in a new name, and press the "SAVE" button. You can then add/delete fonts, change settings, etc.

Use the "Activate afterwards" feature to link one Type1 font group marked as Autodownload, to a second Type1 font group marked as NOT Autodownload. This will allow you to install fonts, some of which already reside in your PostScript printer's ROM, and some of which must be downloaded as soft fonts, as if they were all in a single group.

If you have a common set of fonts which you use regularly, create a font group containing just those fonts. Then use the "Activate afterwards" feature in other groups to ensure all your other font groups keep those fonts installed.

If you need specific fonts only for a specific project; a newsletter, for example; use the "Activate afterwards" feature to install the fonts and then start your application and open your newsletter file -- all by clicking on a single icon.

If you own CD-ROMs with collections of fonts, create a font group for each CD-ROM, and then add it to Program Manager. After inserting the CD-ROM, activate its font group to install the CD-ROM fonts.

Create a font group containing just the standard font families that come with Windows 3.1; Arial, New Times Roman, Courier New, and WingDings. Uncheck the "Remove all TrueType" and "Remove All Type1" settings, then add the font group to Program Manager. This way you can install those fonts quickly whenever they are needed, such as by this help file, but still retain the fonts you are using presently.

Create a font group containing the same standard fonts as the above tip, but instead, check the "Remove all TrueType", and optionally check "Remove All Type1". You can use this group to quickly uninstall all installed fonts, and reduce all your fonts to the bare minimum.

When viewing fonts in the VIEW window, use the right mouse button to change the case of the user text. This is useful when viewing "Caps only" fonts.

Setting the "Family Type" field to Symbol will allow your font to be recognized by Word For Windows or CorelDRAW! as a symbol font.

Creating a KEEP window uses large amounts of Windows' system resources. Avoid having too many on screen at once, and close them when they are no longer needed.

The GRID is relative to the current size of the View window. To get the largest grid, maximize the View window. The display point size will automatically adjust itself relative to the size of the grid.

The first time you run Font Monster, it will associate Font Monster with the file extensions .PFM, .TTF, and .FM! by automatically editing your WIN.INI file. This will enable you to click on any font file, using File Manager, and Font Monster will start up and present that font's data on the screen right away. Files with the .FM! extension are not fonts, they are font groups which are kept in the same directory as the FMONSTER.EXE file.

TrueType only:

When editing TrueType data, always enable "SmartLink". This can prevent you from changing names or style settings incorrectly.

Some TrueType fonts originally created on the Apple Macintosh do not implement all of the available tables. These settings will be disabled (grayed) when you open such a font.

Font Monster will always present the platform and language table used by Windows to determine the font name, upon opening the font. If you edit a font name, you should similarly edit the other platform and language names in order to maintain compatibility with all other platforms and languages. For example, if you modify the Macintosh platform name of a font, but not the Microsoft platform, Windows will still use the original Microsoft platform name. If you later copy the font to the Macintosh, it will use the modified name.

Changed fields in the name tables are colored red. Once changes are saved, the color will revert to black.

Type1 only:

It is strongly suggested you do not change the "PostScript Name" field. Its primary use is to match the name of a PostScript printer's internal ROM font. If it does not match you will not be able to print on a PostScript printer.

ATM (versions under 2.5) users only:

You can not view uninstalled Type1 fonts, or Type1 fonts that you have installed during the current session. You will need to restart Windows before Type1 fonts can be viewed. Upgrading to ATM 2.5 would be a wise investment.


Known bugs

Although this list is rather long, I'm just trying to document every little thing I've come across. The fact is, Font Monster seems to be fairly stable. Practically all these bugs are related to Font Monster having trouble interacting with OTHER applications that are not behaving properly. This version of Font Monster has been more extensively tested than any previous release. Big thanks to my beta testers around the world for doing such a fantastic job.

The #1 problem people write to me about: Make sure you have the Visual Basic 3.0 compatible THREED.VBX and CMDIALOG.VBX, supplied with Font Monster v3.5 in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Some older Visual Basic programs may reinstall an older version, which isn't compatible with Font Monster v3.5, in which case Font Monster will refuse to work anymore, or will look really yucky. Also make sure you don't have an older version of those two .VBX files anywhere else on your hard disk. A LOT of people have reported this problem. You won't need the older versions anymore, so you can delete them without worry.

Some printers will refuse to print well with Font Monster. Many users have written in and included some pretty yucky looking samples. Unfortunately, so far no one has mentioned specifically which printer they were using. I can't personally test every possible printer, but it appears dot-matrix printers cause the most trouble for people.

If Font Monster crashes with the dreaded "General Protection Fault in...", check to see that your DOS memory manager (QEMM, EMM386, etc.) is configured optimally, and is an up to date version. Also try changing your video drivers.

The colors of some of the buttons and text often randomly changes if you are using 24-bit video drivers.

Some video drivers may totally freak out Visual Basic and cause Font Monster to display the buttons out of place, and the startup screen may appear really off center, among other things. In fact Font Monster will look pretty bad. I've seen this happen on systems which both were using a Super VGA resolution drivers with large fonts, instead of the usual small fonts. Font Monster has been designed for systems using the small fonts drivers simply because it's the more common setup, not to mention the standard setup. I once tried to optimize for both large and small fonts but it can't be done. I don't know if the fault of this bug is due to Visual Basic, the THREED.VBX file, or the VGA drivers. So, if Font Monster looks weird, change to small fonts.

Always run Font Monster from a drive or directory that is not write protected. Font Monster creates font groups and temporary files in its own directory. For example, you should not run Font Monster from a CD-ROM, or on a network without full read/write privileges. Instead, copy it to your own local hard disk first. Use the SETUP.EXE program to install Font Monster correctly on your hard disk.

Don't install or remove PostScript printers while Font Monster is running. Font Monster scans the WIN.INI file for PostScript printers only when it starts up. If you must install or remove a PostScript printer, quit Font Monster first. Any changes of the PostScript printers while Font Monster is running may have unpredictable results.

You cannot run two copies of Font Monster at one time. Thus, you also cannot activate a font group icon from Program Manager while Font Monster is running.

This is not a bug with Font Monster, but with Windows: Don't try to install too many fonts in your system. Windows supports only a limited number of fonts at any time. In addition, adding fonts adds a lot of lines to the WIN.INI file. If you add too many fonts, the WIN.INI will grow so large that it will become inaccessible, causing all sorts of problems for Windows.

Two fonts with exactly the same name can not be added to the same font group. Since Windows doesn't really support fonts with the same names anyway, you can work around this "problem" by renaming one of the fonts before adding it to a group.

If you are using Norton Desktop v2.0 and you use the font group function to add or remove an icon, and then you exit Font Monster right away, Windows sometimes pops up a dialog box mentioning a DDE problem, usually around 1 minute later. Choosing "Close" gets rid of the dialog box and doesn't seem to cause any further problems.

Also related to Norton Desktop 2.0, the custom icon for font groups do not work. To work around this, Font Monster checks the shell name and if it's not Program Manager it will use the regular Font Monster icon for font groups. If you use PCTools For Windows you can still force Font Monster to use the group icon by changing the settings in the CNFG window.

PCTools For Windows will insist on creating a new "Font Monster" folder on your desktop when you create a font group icon, even if this folder already exists elsewhere.

TrueType fonts containing UNICODE (DBCS) string data are not guaranteed to save properly under English language Windows 3.1 due to an as yet undetermined quirk somewhere. It is recommended you use an international version of Windows of the same language as the fonts, i.e., Chinese Windows 3.1 to edit Chinese language fonts.

Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are currently the only languages Font Monster supports when saving TrueType UNICODE (DBCS) strings. All other languages are assumed to be 8-bit ANSI characters, and will be translated to UNICODE by setting the high byte to 0 and the low-byte to the ANSI character. I may be wrong, but it looks like this is a workaround Windows 3.1 itself apparently uses in order to avoid doing real UNICODE encoding/decoding of European languages. In any case, such code conversion doesn't exist in the Windows 3.1 API, and Microsoft's own fonts use the same method, so I had to take this route.

Font groups containing over 400 fonts can often cause the Font Monster group manager to slow down considerably when adding or removing fonts. Be prepared to wait. Windows limits the maximum number of fonts in a group to approximately 1300, or when the .FM! file size reaches approximately 64Kb.

If you rename a TrueType font which is currently listed in a font group with the original name, installing that group may generate an annoying "Invalid TrueType font detected" error which immediately switches off all TrueType fonts in your system. To avoid this problem, simply remove that font from the font group, then add it again with its new name.

The VIEW window and the font printing functions do not utilize any kerning pairs in a font.

You should have a default printer selected before you can run Font Monster. You can set your default printer from Windows' Control Panel.

Font Monster has never been tested on Windows NT, and is not guaranteed to run at all. If you're using Font Monster with Windows NT, send me e-mail, I'd love to hear how it works, or doesn't work.


Shareware registration

Font Monster is distributed as shareware. This gives you the privilege of trying out this program before you pay for it. It doesn't mean it's free. Of course, you already know this.

It's only $25 !!!

In order to encourage you to register, the shareware version of Font Monster is not crippled in any way*. All controls and options are fully functional. Registering Font Monster will give you peace of mind, and, you will receive the special code which will enable the FMONSTER.INI file so you can save your customized settings. Registering will also turn off the flashing neon sign that you must be quite familiar with by now, and disable the printing of the reminder page from the print function. Unlike some other shareware utilities, your registration code is guaranteed to be valid for all subsequent versions of Font Monster for Windows 3.1!

You can register Font Monster with Master Card, Visa, American Express, or Discover, from Public (software) Library (PsL), a very reputable, and well established, shareware distributor which offers a registration service to shareware authors. You can also order the current version of Font Monster from PsL for a few bucks more. Ask them for details.

If you don't have a credit card, you can send them a cheque by regular mail, make the cheque payable to "Public (software) Library", not Leaping Lizards.

Toll-free (voice)	Outside the US (voice)	Fax
1-800-2424-PSL	1-713-524-6394	1-713-524-6398
CompuServe E-Mail	Internet E-Mail	Regular mail
71355,470	71355.470@Compuserve.Com	Public (software) Library P.O. Box 35705 Houston, TX 77235-5705, USA

THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR ORDERS ONLY.

Any questions about the status of the shipment of the order, refunds, registration options, product details, technical support, volume discounts, dealer pricing, site licenses, etc., must be directed to Steven Fox at Leaping Lizards.
Please don't call PsL for anything except registering or ordering.

PsL will notify me by e-mail the day of your order, and I will send your registration directly to you by regular mail, or by e-mail. Allow only 2 to 3 days for delivery by e-mail, but you must allow 2 to 4 weeks for delivery by regular mail (don't forget, it's coming from Taiwan), PLEASE BE PATIENT. It costs me money every time you call PsL and ask where your registration is. Anyway, they can only just pass your message on to me, so if possible, contact me directly if you have a question about the status of your order.

Your special code, and the latest news about Font Monster, will be delivered all the way from Taiwan, with some pretty neat looking Chinese stamps on it, and if you're lucky, it'll come in heavily perfumed envelope (let me know if you're allergic to such things). Not bad for 25 bucks, right? Please note that I don't send out disks anymore because I've had too many problems with them being intercepted or damaged enroute. It's really hit and miss. Anyhow, the "unregistered" version is exactly the same as the "registered" version, only minus your ID code. Once you enter your code, it will automatically update itself to the "registered" version.

* Actually, the unregistered Font Monster is crippled in one minor way. You can't change the copyright, trademark, protection, or vendor information of a font. This is because several shareware distributors won't distribute Font Monster unless these features are disabled -- because it allows anyone to too easily modify fonts and stick in their own copyright. The registered version of Font Monster allows these fields to be changed, however.

How to obtain a new version of Font Monster

How to contact the author for product support


Obtaining new versions of Font Monster

Wherever you obtained your copy of Font Monster is probably the best place to find updates. Updates are issued usually every two to three months.

Those of you with cheap long distance rates are welcome to call the local English language BBS, World Data Exchange (WDE), a PCBoard 15.x system, where the latest updates, and betas, of Font Monster will always be posted first: 886-2-695-2326. Login with your real name, and use the password: WDECHINAROC to have instant, free, download access for Font Monster files, plus some limited access to other files and data on the BBS. Check the Conference 17 (TWNWINDOWS) upload directory for files named FMON*.ZIP. Please leave me e-mail and say "Hi" if you call! WDE is also a useful BBS if you have any interest in Chinese, Taiwan culture, or being an expat in Taiwan.

INTERNET users can find updates in the usual Internet Windows archive sites, CICA, SIMTEL and WUARCHIVE, and their mirrors. I currently have Internet ftp access so I'll make sure updates are posted immediately.

CompuServe users can usually find the latest version of Font Monster in the DTPFORUM. But if you don't see the latest version, please don't write to me to complain. I really can do nothing about it since I don't have access to CompuServe at the moment.

How to contact the author for product support


Contacting the author
User assistance

By e-mail:

I can respond to questions asked by non-registered users of Font Monster only by e-mail. I can be contacted on-line in the public networks RIME Windows (RIME Node: TWWDE) conference, the FIDONET-Windows conference. I no longer get the I-Link DTP conference on a regular basis as the reception in this part of the world stinks.

The best and most reliable way to send a private message quickly, and get a response back just as quick, is via Internet, my e-mail address is:

riboflavin@twwde.com

This e-mail service is available to users of nearly all the major on-line services around the world, like CompuServe, BIX, FidoNet, AOL, Prodigy, as well as many BBS systems.

By fax:

I welcome comments and suggestions by fax. My fax number is: 886-2-729-0863. However, due to the high cost of overseas calls from Taiwan, I cannot respond via fax unless you are a registered user, you are offering huge sums of money, or you want to review Font Monster in your magazine.

How to obtain a new version of Font Monster


Copyright, distribution, & disclaimers

Font Monster and this documentation were written by me, Steven Fox. I am the sole owner of this piece of intellectual copyright and you must abide by all the legal mumbo-jumbo that always goes along with such things. Got it?

IF THIS PROGRAM MESSES UP YOUR SYSTEM, SUE ME.

Shareware dealers*: You are permitted to distribute Font Monster as long as you distribute the unaltered FMONST35.ZIP archive file you received. You may charge a fee for such distribution as long as it is less than US$5, and that it is made quite clear before distribution that this software is shareware and that an additional fee is required by the author. If you can not abide by this notice, I reserve the right to refuse further distribution of Font Monster by your company.

CD-ROM, magazine and book publishers*: Please contact me directly for more information if you want to include Font Monster on your CD-ROM, book or magazine. Please include details about your publication including list price, est. number of readers/users. Without written or e-mail permission from me, you do not have the right to publish Font Monster. Period.

Free or subscription on-line services, archive sites, and BBS's*: If you fall into this category, you can post FMONST35.ZIP. No sweat.

Everyone else: Free distribution is most important to the success of Font Monster. If you like Font Monster and have a modem, please do everyone a favor and upload the unaltered FMONST35.ZIP to as many sites or BBSs as you possibly can. If you don't have a modem, stand outside your local supermarket and see if you can give away a few copies. Your effort will be much appreciated by everyone.

*exceptions to the above notices:

If you received this program on a disk, directly from me, that means I am already familiar with your service and that I want you to distribute my software, even if you might not necessarily abide by my stated guidelines.

If you are an on-line service, or some sort of on-line archive site, and you allow the issue of CD-ROMs containing files from your archives, you have permission to include this version of Font Monster on this disk.


About the Author

(usual text deleted)

Steven Fox currently wishes to remain anonymous, or at best, somewhat vague about his background. It is believed he is growing a beard but seems unable to get his sideburns to grow at all. He was last known to be living in Taiwan and loathing the day when he must begin referring to his age as "thirysomething".

This release is dedicated to the authors of DOOM, that fantastic shareware mega-violence game. If it werent for DOOM, Font Monster v3.5 would have been finished at least a month earlier.

The top 5 audio CD's which directly inspired Font Monster v3.5 (in no particular order):

Little Deuce Coupe & All Summer Long, The Beach Boys

Negotiations and Love Songs, Paul Simon

Play, Squeeze

Anima Mundi, Philip Glass

The Beatles, The Beatles

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popShareware
Font Monster v3.5 is not free software. You are permitted to evaluate this program for a couple weeks after which you must either discontinue using it, or (preferably) register. There are reports that not registering shareware brings you lots of bad karma. Please feel free to give copies of Font Monster to your friends. If you don't have any friends, you can easily make friends by giving a copy of Font Monster to people you don't know.


Sound test

Click on the icon to hear the assigned sound. If you hear no sound, either the Font Monster extensions have not been added, or no sound has been assigned, or system sounds are disabled, or you have no sound card, or you have no speakers, or possibly, you are deaf.

Start program  Quit program  Open font  Save font  Undo changes  View font  Keep image button  Grid button  CNFG button	Install font  Uninstall font  Ok button  Cancel button  Delete button  Exit button  Font list change  Button click	Print button  Stop button  Font group button  New button  Activate font group  Add font group icon  Help  Who?

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