Chuck Bjorgen is the forum assistant and file librarian for the Mac Desktop Publishing/Word Processing Forum on America Online. He's been a part of the America Online staff since the early beta testing days of 1988. Chuck runs his own small DTP company in Minnesota and also is Sysop of his own Macintosh BBS called "DTP Exchange BBS." He is a veteran staff photographer of the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis. He's a good guy to know if you use America Online! He always has a good tip... and can always point you in the right direction.

Welcome Chuck Bjorgen

DT&G:

Thanks for taking time to be part of our March FONTS edition. You have uploaded more than 116 fonts files to the DTP forum on America Online. As an "AFA" myself, I know that's a lot of work! Tell me, did you look at every single one! (grinning)
 

Chuck:

Providing files for the Mac Desktop Publish/Word Processing Forum on AOL is what I do here, Fred -- and I do indeed look at every file. In fact, I print sample pages of each font that I upload or that is uploaded by other font authors. I generally use the fine program "theTypeBook" by Jim Lewis to produce these sample printouts. And I do indeed reject some font uploads that are either poorly done or contain certain errors... mostly PostScript errors in the case of Type 1 fonts. I also occasionally suggest that authors make changes or corrections to fonts before I release them. That's all behind the scenes and is never noticed by the average downloader.
 

DT&G:

Chuck, since you're the "uploader," you're probably also the guy who fields comments about the software. What's the general feeling you get from people who download and use these fonts?
 

Chuck:

I get lots of questions from Mac beginners who simply don't know how to manage fonts or who don't understand the differences among the various font formats.
      We also get questions that start with "my font menu is 200 fonts long..." I'm a great believer in font managers such as Suitcase and Juggler. That's why I recommend using either of these programs to create working sets of fonts that can be loaded or unloaded on the fly rather than having all fonts installed at one time.
 

DT&G:

Agreed! I couldn't live without SuitCase! What's the most rewarding part of working with all these fonts, and the people who create them?
 

Chuck:

We have a number of font authors online who are very creative and productive. They're great people! I'm amazed and pleased that we can keep a steady flow of new fonts moving through our DTP/WP libraries. Of course, I'm a font junkie myself so I'm always interested in new designs.
 

DT&G:

For our readers just getting into AOL, or perhaps those just getting into DTP, can you point us towards some "recommended" items in the library that you classify as "must have" files?
 

Chuck:

I already mentioned Jim Lewis' "theTypeBook" for creating sample pages of fonts that you download from our forum. I like this program. Another favorite is ASCII Chart DA by Jon Wind. Along with creating font samples, it offers an easy way to access hidden characters (diacriticals) that may be needed in your type setting. Of course, PopChar, an extension, is even more popular with our downloaders, although I prefer ASCII Chart DA because it won't contribute to any INIT conflicts at startup. I'd also recommend the NIH Image program. It's free and has several of the features of Adobe PhotoShop for processing TIFF format files. Two versions are available for FPU or non-FPU Macs.
      Fred, one last thing I'd like to mention for your readers: in AOL's DTP/WP Forum, we support and respect the wishes of our valued font authors. We do not allow third-party conversions of fonts without the original author's express permission. Ready access to commercial font conversion utilities makes it too easy to use another's creative work. Please don't. Everyone needs to support shareware authors. If you use shareware, please honor the wishes of the authors. That's the only way to stimulate a continuing flow of great software for everyone!
 

DT&G:

That's a great message, Chuck -- and one often overlooked by the media. I'm certainly glad you included it, and I'm hoping people take that advice! I'm also glad you came along to participate in this month's DT&G.

(our font at the header of this page is Classic Goudy and Goudy Italic from Adobe)