Font Folio OpenType Edition

Report · Aug 11, 2003

Press Release Source: Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe Announces OpenType Edition of Font Folio
Monday August 11, 8:12 am ET
New Version Offers the Adobe Type Library in Enhanced Cross-Platform Font Format

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 11, 2003--Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE - News), the leader in network publishing, today introduced a new version of Adobe® Font Folio(TM) featuring the Adobe Type Library in OpenType® format on one CD-ROM. The Adobe Font Folio (OpenType Edition) product contains more than 2,000 fonts in OpenType format, which allows for richer linguistic support and more advanced typographic control in any print, Web or dynamic media project. Adobe also announced the availability of a new special version with a 10-computer license, making it more affordable for small design shops to access the entire Adobe Type Library.

Adobe and Microsoft Corporation created the OpenType font format to improve cross-platform document portability and simplify font management, by introducing one font file that works on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Creative professionals benefit from extended foreign language support and the inclusion of expert typographic glyphs, such as small caps, old style figures and swashes, in many OpenType fonts.

"The OpenType font format is much more convenient than the old Type 1 or TrueType fonts," said David Blatner, co-author of Real World InDesign, InDesign for QuarkXPress Users and Real World Photoshop. "With Adobe's new Font Folio in OpenType format, I love having large character sets in the same font instead of having to work with a whole array of related font files."

Pricing and Availability

The Adobe Font Folio [OpenType Edition] product is available immediately and will be sold primarily through the Adobe store at www.adobe.com, Adobe retail and licensing channels, and includes a standard 20-computer license for US$8,999. License extensions are also available and Font Folio is included in Adobe's transactional and contractual licensing programs. Upgrade pricing from Font Folio versions 8 or 9 to Font Folio OpenType Edition is US$2,499. Adobe is also releasing a special 10-computer license of Font Folio OpenType Edition for smaller design workplaces that is available for US$4,999. International English versions are available where localized versions are not sold.

Full Press Release:
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200308/081103FONTFOLIO.html

Product page: http://www.adobe.com/products/fontfolio/main.html

List of all the fonts is here.

More information on compatibility and differences between the OpenType fonts and their Type 1 counterparts is here. Look in the right-hand column for links to the two cross-reference documents, and the font conversion FAQ.

Report · Nov 03, 2004

Have you any references for Bitstream fonts being of lower quality than Adobe's?

Report · Nov 03, 2004

Bitstream and URW both produce decent quality fonts, including those bundled with CorelDraw. I can't say how they stack up against Adobe for technical quality. The actual Corel-produced fonts are of pretty mediocre quality, but they don't bundle very many of those any more.

Regards,

T

Report · Nov 03, 2004

Thomas_Phinney@adobeforums.com wrote:

> Bitstream and URW both produce decent quality fonts, including those
> bundled with CorelDraw. I can't say how they stack up against Adobe
> for technical quality. The actual Corel-produced fonts are of pretty
> mediocre quality, but they don't bundle very many of those any more.

As I recall, most of the Corel-produced truetype fonts were introduced
with version 3 and were conversions from their original .wfn format
fonts that were supplied with Corel Version 1. Version 1.1 included
"wfnboss", a utility for converting between Type 1 (PFB/AFM pairs) and
.wfn, converting between .wfn and Z-soft OTL, and conversion to .wfn
from a variety of other proprietary formats (Agfa .FF; Bitstream
Fontware, .TDF, BCO. & .BEZ; .PFA; and Digifont .DFI)

- Herb

Report · Nov 03, 2004

But are any of these fonts OpenType? Do any of Corel's fonts have any of the OpenType features? I think that was the whole point of this discussion.

Report · Nov 04, 2004

Dominic,

I'm impressed that you remember the issue with the opening exclamation point (¡) and question mark (¿) in Bitstream fonts. :)

Report · Nov 04, 2004

As far as I know, none of the Corel-bundled fonts are OpenType, although the supplying foundries have made quite a few OpenType fonts recently. If you want lots of OpenType fonts in one package, with quite a few having lots of typographic features, Adobe Font Folio is the thing to get (or Type Classics for Learning if you're a student on a budget).

Bitstream has recently come out with some nice OpenType versions of some of their more popular original designs, and have more in the works. URW++ of course has a couple of thousand OpenType fonts available--but so far none of them have added typographic features, and instead concentrate on language support (CE, and sometimes Greek and Cyrillic).

Regards,

T

Report · Nov 04, 2004

Sorry, if I sounded a bit misleading. I was remembering historically about some of Corel's fonts' quality issues.

Neil

Report · Nov 04, 2004

Ramon, I definitely filed away that bit of information in my brain in the event I need to set Spanish in the future. (Of course, it meant I had to delete a treasured childhood memory to make room for it, but so be it ...)

Report · Nov 08, 2004

Completely understandable, Neil: there's no question that "back when" Corel had some really cruddy badly-made fonts. But these days they mostly license stuff that's decent quality.

T

Report · Nov 08, 2004

Thanks for the clarification, Thomas.

Neil

Report · Nov 16, 2004

I prefer Adobe's OpenType fonts but for someone that can't afford that and is looking for an alternative, go with Corel's Graphic Suite.

No, you won't get the same thing as in FF but you WILL get a huge variety of fonts for your money.

I am in no way suggesting that Corel is the better way to go. It's only a suggestion for users like freelancers for example.

The average freelancer can't afford to pay $ thousands $ for fonts.

The fonts that come with Corel may not be as good as what you get with FF10 but they are much better than the fonts that come in those $10 CD's you find at your local office supply or computer stores.

Corel gives you decent fonts at a decent/affordable price.

Report · Nov 16, 2004

Good point Gabriel - esp if you could find an old version somewhere - I know our company used to use Corel a lot but have now moved toward Adobe so we have 8 or so Corel Licences which are hardly ever used these days, must be others in the same boat who would be willing to sell them.

Report · Nov 17, 2004

I think the problem is that due to the fonts having licences ranging
from between 5 and 15 users, then individual users (like me) can't
benefit from the great price that Adobe is offering. As I have said
before in this thread, $5K is good value for 5 people, but I am one
person and I feel penalised that it costs me 5x more.

I understand the reasons why, but it's kinda of unfair (guess I'll
have to expand my business five fold...

Report · Nov 17, 2004

Just a thought but what about finding 4 other single users to buy as a co-op? I would check the specific details of eula but don't see why this would be a problem.

Report · Nov 18, 2004

I'm in!

Report · Nov 18, 2004

Unit and Raphael,

Read the EULA first! I believe there is a limitation as to where the fonts can be installed; generally machines would be on the same network and/or connected to the same printer(s). So, unless you guys are sharing space, I don't believe your scenario can be a legal option.

Neil

Report · Nov 18, 2004

Thanks for re-iterating that Neil, I didn't think it would be a problem, but did say to check the EULA as I wasn't sure. I would hate for someone to miss what I said about checking and end up getting burnt later down the track.

Well Raphael afraid I won't be as we have more fonts than we will ever need at the company I work for.

Cheers,
Sam.

Report · Feb 04, 2005

Hi. I read through this whole post, and looked around through the rest of the site. All the links I've found to Alex Bepple's font list seem to be inactive. Are there plans to re-post this information? I don't relish the thought of going through the library and cataloguing all 2200 fonts by hand... and my company won't buy the package until they have the whole list. (They're planning on picking up at least one of the 10 license deals, but not if they can't see EXACTLY what is in it first). Corporations. What're you gonna do? <g> Sigh. Any help would be appreciated.

Report · Feb 04, 2005

Just tell 'em you need the disc to do the job they're paying you for. <vbg> Neil

Report · Feb 04, 2005

Just tell 'em you need the disc to do the job they're paying you for. <vbg> Neil [...who also wound up at a dead end when I did a search...]

Report · Feb 04, 2005

I saved a copy of the listing. It needs a little more processing to be less rough, which I am part way through. I can then link it to the message at the top of this thread.

T

Report · Feb 04, 2005

Thanks, Thomas. Much appreciated.

Neil

Report · Feb 07, 2005

Here's the somewhat reformatted list. I've also linked to this from the message at the top of this thread.

Report · Feb 08, 2005

Thank you so much for the list!

I only got through entering 1,300 + fonts by hand into the Excel spreadsheet so far this week, so this list will make the rest of my week MUCH easier.

Thanks again,
Andy

Report · Feb 09, 2005

I just had the chance to go through the font list and drop it into an Excel spreadsheet. Someone really put a lot of time into this! Thanks again for the prompt response, and thanks also to whoever compiled this list.

Andy

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Font Folio OpenType Edition