Fonts can cause program glitches
Although many users may not change fonts, or even examine the fonts they have installed, those who do could cause potential issues by changing too much. Some programs rely on system fonts to be in a particular folder (or at least activated) in order to pr
Apple Support Discussions user stevesant describes the issue:
"This is an odd one...I normally clear out my font folders on a new machine as I manage my fonts using a third-party app, as my business is design based. All has been going fine with my new Mac Pro, but today I tried to make something bold in an e-mail and it would work...I opened the font dialog, and tried to change the font there---no luck. I then tried to change the point size with the slider on the right...regardless of whether I dragged the scroll button up or down, the font size got bigger and bigger! It was totally screwy...
I checked on my MacBook and mail was fine there; the only difference on the MacBook is that I hadn't cleansed the font folders.
I went though each system font one by one and eventually found that unless time.dfont was active, that mail.app just goes totally nuts in terms of font selection..."
Possible fixes
As stevesant describes, determining the system font causing the error may be the best way to solving the issue. In this case, the times.dfont needed to be active in order for Mail to function properly. If you have recently changed how your fonts operate and are experiencing font-related issues, reactivating all your system fonts is a great place to start your troubleshooting.
Apple Support Discussions user Kurt Lang relays a similar programming issue with Adobe's CS4:
"Some apps expect a font, or other items to be in a specific folder. If it's not there, it doesn't work. Adobe did that with the CS4 apps. The Extension Manager and the File Info field in Illustrator come up blank if you remove the profile "sRGB Profile.icc" from the /System/Library/ColorSync/Profiles/ folder. It doesn't matter if you put that exact same profile in the /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/ folder, where it is just as active system wide as it is in the System folder. If it's not specifically in the /System/Library/ColorSync/Profiles/ folder, the apps show nothing but a blank box."
Resources
Read the Apple Support Discussions thread regarding font issues causing glitches.
Experiencing problems? Have feedback? Let us know!
Resources