By Samuel Litt

MacOS X handles fonts quite differently from MacOS 9. Unlike OS 9’s single fonts folder, that resides in the system folder, MacOS X has multiple font folders that are located throughout the system. Where fonts are installed determines who has access to them.

The concept of paths is a central component of the OS X file system. OS X has a very structured file hierarchy, what drives this is OS X’s security and resource-sharing model. Most long-time Macintosh users are accustomed to the single-user/single-computer paradigm. They have total reign over all content on their hard disk. OS 9 has a very limited implementation of multiple-users/single-computer sharing.

Because OS X’s roots lay in the days of the UNIX/monolithic computing world, it takes a completely different approach compared to what most Macintosh users are accustomed. OS X is a true multi-user operating system. When an OS X machine is shared among many users, each user can be provided his own work environment. For example, a particular work environment could contain specific applications, documents, fonts, and preferences for a single user.

It is because of this security and resource-sharing model that OS X contains many different locations for its customizable resources and preferences. As a result it is important to understand the concept of search paths. A search path is an ordered search for resources within an OS X system. For instance, OS X looks for installed fonts in five locations. The location where the fonts reside determines who has access to them.

A simple way of looking at OS X’s security model is to compare it to the security model of network file sharing. Within network file sharing, it is possible to have various users and groups that have different levels of file access on a server. This is analogous to OS X in the sense that it, too, has users and groups with various levels of file access. However, its security model not only applies to network access but to local system access as well. Just as users who cannot access files on a server to which they do not have permission, OS X protects its local content in similar manner. This is the security model in which OS X protects a user’s content from being accessed by another user. This is also how OS X protects its system components from being tainted by unruly software and user inexperience.

A search path is a hierarchically ordered acquisition of system resources. This hierarchy stems from OS X’s security model. In general, most search paths work their way from user-specific resources to system-wide resources.

Within OS X, it is possible to have four or more Fonts folders. The number of Fonts folders is predicated on the total number of users and whether or not the Classic application environment has been installed. Refer to Table 1.1 for a more detailed look at how this works. The Fonts folders have been listed in correct search order.

Note: If multiple OS 9 System Folders are present, MacOS X will only recognize the Fonts folder of the System Folder that is selected for the Classic application environment. Note: Although MacOS X applications can access the Fonts folder of the Classic application environment, Classic applications cannot access fonts outside of their own environment.

MacOS X supports many different font technologies, including Mac PostScript, TrueType, and Open Type formats and most Windows TrueType and OpenType formats. As a result of OS X’s advanced Quartz graphics-rendering system, Adobe Type Manager is no longer needed for the proper rasterization of PostScript fonts and will only be needed if you are running the Classic compatibility environment.

The installation of fonts is quite simple. Just copy or drag the desired font files into an accessible Fonts folder that you have privileges to. If you desire the fonts to be globally accessible between user accounts on a local system, the place to store them is in fonts > library. If you only want to provide access to a single user account you will need to store them in [user’s home] > library > fonts. Currently, in order to get fonts to be recognized within an open OS X application, you will need to quit and relaunch the application in order to make them accessible within the program.

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