Want a font collection?

[mwenz]

BitsDuJour is a site that offers daily deals on software. I have subscribed to their daily deals emails and one came across today that might/should be of interest to any fontaholic (such as myself).

http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/f...pro-2/src=day/

Is for quite a collection of renamed fonts--one thousand of 'em. If you do not desire to sign up to be notified, I will try my best to post an announcement of when they are free for download as early as I see the email notification. So don't feel like you need to sign up.

Gary has offered to aid in correlating the font names to the real names of these fonts.

PS. Don't try to load them all if you have a bunch of fonts already...browse them first. I'm ready for a font fix myself...

Take care, Mike

[Gare]

If anyone would like to preview what 40 of the 1,000 SummitSoft typefaces look like, and see the craftsmanship:

>>>Click here, and give up your email address to more corporate spam <<<

I need to un-offer the offer Mike speaks of, because I downloaded the 40 free fonts and to my surprise, they aren't knock-offs or renamed. They remind me of some commercial fonts, but almost all of them have some originality to them. IOW, you can't substitute Mulberry in a design when your client asked for Bauhaus Heavy. Because Mulberry as released by SummitSoft reminds you of Bauhaus but it isn't exactly Bauhaus.

Similarly:

Belltower is an expanded version of Bernhard Antigua
Adiriattica is a strange version of Present Script and/or Papyrus
Capira looks like a close version to Commercial Script
Rosenfeld looks a lot like Dom Casual or Stimpson
Tropico is very close to Kabel
Rounder might actually be Rounder
Carda is Bauhaus that someone ran some lines through
Mulberry is an ineptly edited version of Bauhaus Heavy. Really should be ashamed of this one.

Therefore, I don't think I can help play the "Font Match-Up Game" with this collection because they might have slightly edited a lot of commercial fonts so they don't look identical...for reasons not quite apparent to me.

• Are they nice? Oh, yes. If you have fewer then 20 fonts on your system, this will help flesh out your collection with Script, serif, sans serif and headline and text style typefaces. They're just not industry standard and probably don't contain an knock-off of Garamond and Antique Olive.

• Are the characters well constructed? Yep. In FontLab I can see a whole passel of guides and the control points are well-placed. They're professionally created.

• Are there kerning pairs in the fonts? No, and I don't know why.

• Is the reviewer who wrote the copy in the BitsduJour advertisement full of hooey (AKA baloney, fecal material)?

Somewhat. They're touting this package as a solution for a problem that doesn't really exist, and that is font compatibility between PCs and the Mac. Owning this font collection will probably do nothing to ensure text appears exactly on the Mac as it does on your machine, simply because their license lets you embed fonts. Writer Derek Lee asserts, "And since all of these fonts are OpenType, you never have to worry about cross-platform compatibility ever again!"

Um, you never had to worry about cross-platform compatibility with TrueType, a venture between Microsoft and Apple, now did we?

Fer-get the advertising, just stay tuned to get 1,000 fonts for free, probably at the real cost of giving away your emial address to another corporate spammer.

The collection's true worth to you is probably less than a sports car but better than a poke in the eye.

My Best,

Gary

[angelize]

You have my interest I'll be taking a look when the whole collection is available, I'm in the process of sorting out my font collection and getting rid of some that I never use and adding some fresh ones to the collection that I might actually use so this is right up my alley

[Big Frank]

cool info mike, thanks

[Gare]

The deal came up today, and I downloaded and I reviewed several of the 1,026 typefaces.

They are clean, people should be able to use them. I think if you have a font-starved collection, the script fonts will come in particularly nicely.

The thing that's a little bit of a cheat is that there are several Expanded and Condensed versions of fonts, and all they've done is made them wider or narrower, like we can do with a selection handle in Xara. A true Expanded font is completely re-rendered by the designer. You're actually getting about 300, not 1,000 truly unique fonts.

Nevertheless, for many people on this forum, Christmas comes early.

My Best,

Gary

P.S. Consider opting out of the obligatory newsletter sign-up after you've downloaded your goodies, if you want to keep your Inbox slim and trim.

[mwenz]

Thanks for the info, Gary.

I haven't had a chance to open the ZIP yet, but will do so and have a look-see.

Take care, Mike

fwiw, I don't get spammed per se. I *think* the only emails I get are the BitsDeJour offers. But one can accomplish the "same" thing by frequently visiting the site if one unsubscribes. I have gotten some really good software for little or nothing there over time.

[angelize]

I too downloaded the collection and while I haven't yet had time to sort through them thoroughly, I have made a quick look through and I have to say as a free collection I don't mind the fact that I'll probably only install and use a few of them, but if I had paid what they say is the full asking price for this collection $150 I would be very unhappy a lot of the fonts look like they are based on the same handful of fonts Take a look at the fonts Dunkirk and Henzo they look like the same font with just a name change.

Based on this I don't think I'll ever be purchasing anything SummitSoft the retailer of the fonts. As a free collection it's not so bad, but as a $150 font professional font collection? Not this kid!

To be fair I do thank you Mike for sharing this with us as a free collection I probably will get a few useful fonts, and I have now added bitsdujour to my list of places to look for good freebies

[Gare]

I'm being ungracious by not thanking Mike as well. Mike, thank you for the heads-up, you located them, you didn't create them!

I think if anyone downloads the zip file, you're getting more than you paid for, therefore, it's a good deal.

It's not Adobe. Or Linotype, ICG, ITC, Monotype, or URW, but heck they work and now a beginner in Desktop Publishing doesn't have to reflexively reach for Arial anymore.

Folks, if you're parched, here's an extra large drink. Period.

And the site has some other interesting offers coming up, so it's all good, and thanks again, Mike.

-g

[mwenz]

Y'all are welcome.

I too am pretty glad I didn't fork out bucks for this "collection." I also went through all the main names (skipping the so-called extended, etc. versions) and saw a lot of variation upon a theme.

That said, there are a few of the script fonts I will likely hang onto. Perhaps a couple others.

There are better actual collections out there. Heck, I have shareware font discs going back to 1989, mostly Type 1 fonts. The later shareware collections I have are TrueType from the mid- to later 1990s and many are Bitstream versions of then name brand fonts. Now I just need to tear apart a computer and install a 5.25" floppy disk drive...

Take care, Mike

[Gare]

Amazon has externals starting at $13 through 3rd parties, Mike. Just keyword your way to them.

SummitSoft has (unfortunately) put a pseudo price sticker of $150 on the product so 3rd parties can give it away in exchange for advertising revenue.

I'm not sure they (at least with a straight face) charge $149 for 1,000 fonts, or 300 more accurately.

If you have $100, and you need a real type collection (from Bitstream, who has made fonts for Adobe and Monotype in the past), you buy the WordPerfect Home Edition for $99 and get over 900 faces. David O'Neil, one of our members had mentioned this deal a while back. It gets "political" for me, who works for Xara, to endorse a Corel product.

So I never posted this, okay?

TIA,
Brent Elkins
Washington Teachers Co-Op