OSX 10.7 Safari 5.1 font rendering problem

Ah I see, when you mentioned upgrading, I assumed you meant from 5 to 6, not from 3.6 🙂

Admitedly 3.6 IS very different from 6; and ultimately won't have the sandboxing issue as Mozilla would have only just added it as it's a new feature in Lion. However when I mentioned from a web dev perspective, I of course include the user; I more mean that nothing changes at the user-end… but that was between 5 and 6 🙂

I wonder if there'll be any acknowledgment that whatever team works on Safari completely forgot about 3rd party font managers during development. Although not the most ridiculous of oversights, it is pretty embarrassing.

Hello everyone,

A couple quick points.

1. To those who find this thread with this issue, the solutions presented earlier (modifying a single file as per the YouTube video) conclusively, absolutely solves the problem, provided you use the path(s) to whatever custom folder houses your fonts, etc.

2. Apple is never going to fix this, as it is not Apple's problem, it is the developer's problems. Sandboxing is here now for Safari in Lion, just as it was in the developer previews. The developers knew this, and didn't update their font manager apps to accomodate for this, despite the fact this problem existed in the Lion developer preview. As far as I can imagine, the solution for them is to update their programs so that whenever you setup or change the setup of your font management software, it needs to scan these sandbox files, and make sure that entries where you have stored your fonts are present. It is virtually impossible for Lion to know what font manager you have installed, and how you decided to configure it, and name your font folder, or any other 3rd party software modifications you might make. That's not the OS's responsibility, that is the app developers. So it might be more useful, rather than whining about Apple, to start putting pressure on Extensis, Insider, Linotype, etc. to work with Apple and get a systematic solution, as this problem is going to get worse and worse as more sandboxed apps come forth. And while you are at it, you might want to express your displeasure that despite this issue existing in the Lion developer previews, none of the major font management developers seem to have identified or prepared for it.

sincerely,

-Adam

I am seeing this problem, and the you tube video is for Font Agent. I use Fontexplorer X Pro, and this fix does not work. Is anyone else using my type of font management software, and know a solution?

I also use font explorer, I found the solution that involved adding the paths to your font locations worked… not sure if that's the same as the youtube one.

This isn't the first time Safari has had font conflict problems. It seems as if with every major system evolution, Safari gets fouled up over some persnickity font issue. Wasn't it Helvetic Neue that was the problem before? Can't remember exactly.

It's not my problem or my place to influence font management companies to change their software to work with Apple's. If all browsers were having difficulty that would be one thing, but Firefox works brilliantly. After years of bumping into these kinds of silly issues with Safari, I won't be spending another minute trying to fix it.

Firefox does NOT work brilliantly in many cases. I am using an older, pre-Webkit2 version that does work, but is in danger of losing support. I use Quickbooks online, and they have publically warned their users they will no longer be supporting Firefox 4.x. Upgrading to the new version (along with other assorted issues that do not belong in this thread) is not a workable solution for me. There are far to many font resource issues with Firefox 6.x, apparently conflicting with my font manasgement tool (Extensis Suitcase Fusion), the result being the display of the "Last Resort Font," and inability to fill out many online forms (istockphoto, for example). The issue is clearly not Safari specific, but effects Safari, Chrome and Firefox (any browser that uses Webkit 2 and "sb" files).

Turning off the font management tool does seem to solve the font resource problem for the browsers. Unfortunately for me, I need and use that tool extensively to make my living. Turning it on and off is not as simple as many programs because of the deep level of integration. An easier and more practical solution (for me) would be to use another computer for web browsing (it just bugs me that I am being forced to do this–other than this issue, I don't need two computers running at the same time). This solution is expensive and complicated.

As mentioned previously, it has nothing to do with webkit; Firefox isn't even a webkit browser.

All I know is that Firefox 6.0.2 works perfectly on my Lion install along with FontAgent Pro. I made the swtich to Firefox sometime during the latter era of Snow Leopard because Safari was so sluggish. I learned to love it. When I installed Lion, I thought I would give Safari another chance and discoverd the font issue (just like old times). After trying almost every one of the fixes prescribed in this thread and not getting a fix, I've had enough. Safari is *poof* gone from the dock, probably forever.

I heard you about the webkit. Got it. Mozilla uses some other rendering engine - gecko or whatever they call it. But they all do about the same thing, and they all are trying to integrate the mobile and desktop operating systems, and they are all trying to outsell each other.

In their haste, they are writing crappy code that leaves people like me in the dust.

You know what, I really don't care. I can still do my work (I've figured out work-aounds). I fully understand that the new market for this technology is toys and playthings. I have far more to do than waste my time with facebook, downloading *****, or keeping everyone up-to-date on my last breath.

I am indeed happy for you, T-Ray! I wish my experience was the same. Maybe I should switch to FontAgent Pro.

But then, others on this thread have already done that (with mixed results).

The problem with font managers is the way they integrate into your system and workflow. I have thousands of documents and thousands of different fonts (representing years of work and tens of thousands of dollars of font licensing - my fonts and font management sytem are by far the most irreplaceable and expensive parts of my sytem). I could buy dozens of computers for the investment I have in fonts.

For years commercial printers have kept their font servers seperate from the computers they use to go online. Installing fonts is somewhat of an ordeal, with a strict protocol, hierarchy and proceedure. Casual font users and amateur designers have little idea what goes into this.

It just irks me that now I have to have a seperate server running my design programs and font management. That's just another computer to feed and care for. Ugh!

I understand how you must feel. I guess I'm lucky that my simple switch to another browser works. I am in a similar situation with fonts since I own and use the entire Adobe font library as well as many additional fonts purchased over the years. It has always seemed ironic to me that Apple has such a strong market in the design field, yet they repeatedly have OS problems that are font-related.

I hope there is an easier solution to your problem than what you've indicated. Not knowing your complete situation makes it more difficult to provide a solution, but I think if I were in your shoes, I might consider returning to Snow Leopard rather than fight with Lion. Lion is nice but the advantages over a stable Snow Leopard aren't so great as to make me feel I had to go to any length to accommadate its quirks.

Whatever you end up with, I hope Apple will eventually recognize that elegant font handling is a must-have feature for one of their largest market segments.

This solution did indeed work for me, but I had to clear my system font cache and restart.

However, each time I restart (i.e. after performing routine maintenance) I have a new problem - Safari and other apps that use Webkit only display italic fonts!

I can solve the problem by clearing the font cache and restarting, but that's obviously not an elegant solution. Any idea why this keeps recurring?