Extensis Universal Type Server
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Workgroups and users

The flexibility of Universal Type Server allows the administrator to create a font-management configuration that simply provides universal access to single-source fonts — or a highly restrictive and customized environment in which defined user access carefully controls who is using what fonts — and what they are doing with them. In a typical configuration, fonts are divided into workgroups according to project or department and user permissions are assigned according to job descriptions and skill levels. So, for example, a magazine publisher might have a workgroup of fonts for each title it publishes along with a separate workgroup for any ad fonts. The art director may be the only user with permission to add new and delete old fonts while all users can collect fonts for output. Font-management activities such as the ability to create keywords and save license information with fonts might be assigned to project coordinators while only experienced designers can share sets and change font classifications.

Figure 4 The administrator can control precisely what each user is able to do with fonts. Some users may be limited to font activation while other users can add and remove fonts, combine fonts into different families, assign keywords, share sets, and more.

User roles

To ease the configuration process, Universal Type Server provides a significant feature unseen in either Font Reserve Server or Suitcase Server: user roles. A sort of style sheet for users, assigning a user a role is a quick, consistent way to give similar users the same permissions. Plus, as you'd expect with a style sheet, you can override settings for some users and changes to the role are implemented for all users.

Compliance with font licenses

Fonts are software that companies license according to usage. Using unlicensed fonts and exceeding font usage carries significant risk for corporations. "Rogue fonts can inject tremendous complications — not to mention license compliance issues — into any production process," says Berson. "This is why centralized font management is so important in creative and publishing environments."

The license features in the 1.0 version of Universal Type Server are largely cosmetic. These include the ability to create detailed license definitions, save license definitions with fonts, and search for fonts by license. To ensure compliance with a limited font license — say ten users — the administrator may store those fonts in a separate workgroup that only ten users belong to. Many more features for actually tracking font usage and reporting for license violations are on the horizon for future versions.

Do you need it?

New architecture, new interface, new features. If you're a current Font Reserve Server or Suitcase Server customer, it's a no brainer. You need to upgrade today. Any other workgroup fumbling along with single-user software should take a serious look at how Universal Type Server can improve their workflow, protect fonts, and help with compliance issues. Visit www.extensis.com for more information, including pricing and system requirements.

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