Note about Mac OS X 10.7-10.11 compatibility

Recent versions of Mac OS X (since 10.7 Lion in 2011) no longer support PowerPC-based Mac applications. This affected a number of applications available from Fontlab Ltd.: some older FontLab applications do not work on 10.7 or later operating systems. For ScanFont and BitFonter, we have provided a workaround by packaging the Windows application in a WINE wrapper that allows it to run on Mac OS X. Buying ScanFont or BitFonter "for Mac" means getting the Windows version with the WINE wrapper in a single installer. We considered discontinuing these applications, as they do not sell enough units to justify new versions, but as there are no alternatives available on Mac OS, we continue to make the WINE-wrapped versions available as an imperfect but useful workaround.

(Windows versions of FontLab products are not affected by this in any way.)

Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) and later created some minor issues for FontLab Studio, which were addressed in version 5.1.5.

If you're on Mac OS X and using Mac OS X 10.7 or newer, please read this note carefully.

Note: TransType 4 and FontLab Pad were our first apps that support the Mac Retina resolutions natively. Our other apps work on Retina Macs, but do not use the high resolution. The apps will look the same on Retina screens as on non-Retina screens.

Due to Apple?s decision to remove support for PowerPC-based Mac applications in Lion, many FontLab applications no longer work on Mac OS X 10.7. We have prepared some solutions that will allow you to continue using our applications on Lion, and are continuing to work on improving the situation.

The products developed or sold by Fontlab Ltd. fall into three categories when it comes to Lion compatibility: some products are already fully compatible, some products will be fully compatible soon and some products will not be made fully compatible in near future. However, we will be offering workaround solutions for most of the products from the last group.

Before you continue reading, please keep in mind: all the current versions of our products will continue to work on current Mac OS X versions (that is, 10.6, 10.5 and in many cases 10.4). Also, all the current Windows versions of our products will continue to work on current Windows systems.

So the easiest solution for you right now is not to upgrade to 10.7 Lion at this point, or to use a Windows version of our products if you already have them as well. We realize, however, that many users are interested in upgrading to Lion. If you are, please continue reading.

Products that are fully compatible with Lion

• FontLab Studio 5.1.2 ? all FLS 5.0.x should install the free update to 5.1.2.
• Fontographer 5.2.1 ? all FOG 4.7 should upgrade to 5.2.1, all 5.0 users should install the free update to 5.2.1.
• DTL OTMaster 2.4 (developed by DTL and URW ++) ? we recommend users of earlier versions to update to version 2.4.
• TypeTool 3.1 ? all 3.0 users should install the free update to TypeTool 3.1.

Products that are mostly compatible with Lion

• TransType SE and Pro ? a prerelease version of TrasType Pro 3.1.1 is available for all TransType 3.x users. We have also developed a workaround solution for those who do not wish to use the prerelease version. Please read the section ?Workaround solution: Lion Compatibility Pack? below for details.
• Photofont WebReady 1.0 ? at the end of the installation, the installer reports a failure. However, the actual application installs and runs fine. It?s just the sample photofonts that fail to install. Please download the sample photofonts and install them from within the application.
• Photofont plugins (Start and ID) ? they are universal binaries and should work fine on Lion. However, please observe the compatibility notes on the plugin pages (Photofont ID does not work in InDesign CS5. Photofont Start does not work in Photoshop CS5 if it's run in 64-bit mode, you need to launch Photoshop CS5 in 32-bit mode).

Products that will not be made fully compatible with Lion in near future (but workaround is available)

• BitFonter 3, ScanFont 5 and SigMaker 3 ? we don?t have immediate plans to issue Lion-compatible Mac native versions of those products. The functionality of these products will be folded into the next-generation version(s) of our products which are under development. However, we have developed a workaround solution for users who must use the current versions of these products with Lion. Please read the section ?Workaround solution: Lion Compatibility Pack? below for details.

Products that will not be made fully compatible with Lion in near future (no workaround available)

• AsiaFont Studio, FontFlasher, FogLamp ? we don?t have immediate plans to issue Lion-compatible Mac native versions of those products. The functionality of these products will be folded into the next-generation version(s) of our products which are under development. Unfortunately, we don?t offer any workaround solutions for these products. The only solution which will allow you to continue using these products is to use them with earlier versions of Mac OS X (10.6, 10.5 or 10.4).

Workaround solution:
Lion Compatibility Pack

Again, please keep in mind: all the current versions of our products work with Mac OS X 10.6, 10.5 and in many cases 10.4. So the easiest way to keep using these products not to upgrade to 10.7 Lion. However, if you decide to upgrade to 10.7 Lion, we have developed a workaround solution which will allow you to use the current versions of most of our products in Lion. We call this workaround solution the ?Lion Compatibility Pack?. If you?re using TypeTool 3, TransType Pro 3, TransType SE 2.5, BitFonter 3, ScanFont 5 or SigMaker 3, you may consider requesting this workaround solution.

Since this is a workaround solution, it?s not perfect. The nature of the Lion Compatibility Pack is the following: we have bundled the Windows version of the product with the Wine environment, which is an open-source framework which allows you to run Windows applications on Mac OS X. The Wine environment does not require a Windows license or a resource-hungry virtual machine software, it integrates directly with Mac OS X (so the applications run very fast). However, the applications running in the Wine environment have a typical Windows ?look and feel?, they do not behave exactly like native Mac applications.

Also, some of the applications running in the Wine environment may have stability problems. Some features of the application may not work. So, this is not a perfect solution, but nonetheless a workable one.

Fortunately, the Lion Compatibility Pack versions of our applications are very easy to install: just drag-and-drop the application icon into the Applications folder.

If you own a Mac OS X version of TransType Pro 3, TransType SE 2.5, BitFonter 3, ScanFont 5 or SigMaker 3, please visit our Request Replacement Serial Number or Installer section, fill out the form and select the ?I need the Lion Compatibility Pack? option there. You?ll be requested to pay a handling fee of US$5.95, after which you will receive a new serial number and an installer for the Lion Compatibility Pack version of your application.

Download the installer, install it on Lion, launch the application, enter your new serial number ? and you?ll be able to work with the application.

Conclusion

As an independent software vendor operating in a specialized market, Fontlab Ltd. does its best to invest our available resources into developing best possible products and solutions. The Mac and Windows versions of our applications were released at the same time. While the Windows operating system is being developed in such a way that compatibility of the majority of existing 3rd party applications (including ours) is ensured, developing for Mac OS X is more challenging and requires more resources. The release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion has affected a number of 3rd party developers around the world. We at Fontlab Ltd. dedicate our limited resources to upgrade our applications to the requirements of the new Mac OS X version, and we?re focusing on our most popular products first. Unfortunately, some of our current application won?t make the transition smoothly.

At the same time, we?re investing our time and effort into developing completely new products which will no longer suffer from those limitations, and will further leverage the creativity of type designers and font developers around the world. Until these new products become available, we hope that the solutions described above will allow Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.8 users to continue working with our existing products, although in some cases the users may need to get used to the reduced functionality or different look-and-feel of the products.

? Adam Twardoch
Fontlab Ltd.
product and marketing manager