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Storm's Czech Type Library
Posted by matteson in
2 Dec 2003 — 1:17pm
2 Dec 2003 — 1:17pm
So I'm thinking of buying the Czech Type Library from Storm & I was wondering what people's opinions were of it. I did a quick search through Typophile & saw that a few people actually have it, and some have used some of the faces in it.
Specifically, are there faces that work really well for long amounts of text? I'm thinking specifically of Tyfa & Regent. I'm mildly worried about how mannered Storm's faces are - i.e., Serapion & Biblon - and how that would affect their suitability for longer copy. Oddly, my eye finds Preissig easier to cope with than either of these.
Anyhow, just thought I'd ask before my wallet becomes $200 lighter ;-)
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2 Dec 2003 — 2:14pm
The Storm types exhibit a rare combination of high craftsmanship and free spirit. They also tend to exhibit very individualistic takes on historical models (which is great because we already have too many straight-laced takes on most models). Plus they're rare.
Buy recommendation.
hhp
2 Dec 2003 — 2:21pm
too many straight-laced takes on most models
That's a good point. In fact, I've been wavering between getting the Czech Library or, instead, the Jannon/Baskerville/Walbaum collection. I think I'll stick with the Czech Library for now & probably [hopefully] get JBW sometime next year.
Thanks for the recommendation.
3 Dec 2003 — 11:48am
Hmm. So I bought the Czech Library last night. Love it, but there are a few odd problems. Some of the fonts are missing, and several don't show up in PDFs. Or, rather, they show up as a line of dots.
I'm figuring the self-extracting archive might be corrupted (?). Never run into this before, so what's the protocal for something like this? Should I contact MyFonts where I bought it, or Storm Type directly? Or does it matter?
And thanks for the recommendation of Týfa, Tiffany. I'll definitely keep that in mind.
3 Dec 2003 — 1:25pm
Consider MyFonts contacted.
Please send full configuration setup to <help at myfonts period com>. We'll run some tests and perhaps forward your mail to Storm if that's ok with you.
-- Laurence (from MyFonts.com)
3 Dec 2003 — 1:47pm
<font class="dontLookLikeCrap">I bought the Czech Type Library last month... it is fantastic. My favourite is Tyfa. Yes, very ideosyncratic. I love Serapion, but what to do with it? Not setting long texts, surely (?).
I ran into some problems with some of the fonts in the library... family linking, etc. But I solved it by re-juggling them in FontLab. But for some reason the OSF and SC fonts of Regent live with the multilingual fonts at the bottom of my font menus. Why is that? They did cause a few glitches as well (qutting Word). Laurence, could you tell Storm this while you're at it as well? Thanks!</font>
3 Dec 2003 — 2:26pm
Thanks Laurence. I'll be sending this directly.
4 Dec 2003 — 10:02am
The row of dots in pdfs means the font hasn't embedded; some foundries disable font embedding in PDFs.
So it might not be just a Distiller issue.
4 Dec 2003 — 10:24am
I thought that Storm allowed embedding though. Well, that is, I haven't read anything in the EULA that explicitly disallows it. Plus, when you open them in FL it says that the font's embeddable.
What's also wierd is that most of the fonts in the Library show up fine in the PDF. And Regent II Caps Regular doesn't embed, but the other 3 styles in the family do. Wierd stuff like that.
Anyway, I'm waiting to hear from MyFonts. That is an interesting question about the differences between Acrobat 5 & 6 - I'd be curious to know.
4 Dec 2003 — 10:31am
Tiff, I don't know.
I try to avoid "upgrading" software if it does everything I need it to. I'm still using Acrobat 4.
3 Dec 2003 — 9:29am
I can recommend the Czech Type Library. And, further, I can testify that Tyfa is a wonderfully idiosyncratic face in which to set a book.
3 Dec 2003 — 3:51pm
Nathan,
I had the same problem, the fonts becoming rows of dots, with a different font from a different foundry. The solution that I found, although a right pain in the bottom, was to use acrobat distiller 5 ... the fault was with using distiller pro (6).
4 Dec 2003 — 10:16am
Do you think, Nick, that Acrobat Pro is more a respecter of fonts that allow, or not, embedding? Is this why I couldn't get a certain font to embed, but when I distilled it through Acrobat 5 it did work? I'm always amazed and impressed by technology.
4 Dec 2003 — 10:48am
Nathan --> I've just tried embedding a few of the Storm faces and it worked.
Nick --> And I'm the idiot that upgrades the second it is available. =D