best font manager for mac?

[jAQUAN]

Alright mac print guys, what are you using to manage fonts? I sure as hell know it's not font book.

Preferably I'd like something that automatically opened fonts used when opening AI files like the old atm used to. But nothing that leaks all over the place like suitcase.

[herr_dada]

font book here aswell, but this one looks nice:

Suitcase Fusion

Main Features in Suitcase Fusion

* Precise font auto-activation in every major creative application

EDIT: nvm, didnt read the last part of the suitcase thingy xD

EDIT2:

Linotype’s Font Explorer X
Insider’s Font Agent Pro

Both seem to have the auto-activation feature, using plugins (the FAQs explain how to do it)

[lefteyewilly]

suitcase FTW. supports all platforms and can be networked as well. Been using it for a few days (on PC), and so far so good.

[chrismitchell]

I use fontbook (comes as standard on Mac OS X), been using it for about 10 years now, does the job... no need for Suitcase of FontManager .. just my opinion.

[gerbick]

Suitcase, dude. You should have known that before you typed your question.

[jAQUAN]

Hey, I personally have not used a mac for production in ten years. When I stopped, ATM had just stopped being supported and suitcase on PC has never been all that hot. Rather sh*tty as a matter of fact. IMO extensis had gone down hill since I last used their product in OS 9.

My hesitance is increased by the havoc I've seen the mac users I know in person wreak on themselves when Font Book hit. I've been around it enough to know that it is NOT recommended for sizable collections.

Those same people have come to trust Font Agent Pro, but I remember its predecessor, FontBox which treated your fonts like a crazy person treats his poo.

So yeah, I consult the seasoned before risking a re-install of the OS just to un-f*ck it.

[gerbick]

Ah, ok. I thought you were... well, one of the seasoned users to be honest.

[pooon]

I use maintype on PC, which is great. I don't know if there's a mac version though.

[jAQUAN]

Ah, ok. I thought you were... well, one of the seasoned users to be honest.

Oh I am, just haven't been ON a mac since OS 9. I've sat down at other peoples work stations to help troubleshoot something but god knows how they'd treated their systems up to that point so I took what I saw with a grain of salt. I figured I'd be the true test of what's buggy and what isn't. Hearing my boss cry about AI unexpectedly quiting because of a certain helvetica that was loaded makes me not want to learn the hard way some easy lessons daily mac artists already know.

So far, I've found that flash cs3 for mac sh8ts the bed when opening from and saving to a windows server. Like, delete's-your-files bad.

[gerbick]

Flash and Zinc from a Mac to a shared network drive is asking for problems. In fact, today had the oddest error in Zinc today... it was only because I had mapped a network drive and tried to build. It corrupted the original *.swf dude... wild stuff.

[jAQUAN]

Same thing happened to me yesterday. First I couldnt publish over the .swf, then when I tried to save the .fla is said it couldn't find it. So I look through the finder and sure enough it's gone. Peek at the folder on my PC and its not only there but it runs. Needless to say I'm working on the desktop today.