On 12/18/2012 01:45 AM, Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:
Sorry, but what dependency are we talking about?
libicu44. I was able to get the old version of fontmatrix this way:
1) I went to
http://pkgs.org/ubuntu-11.10/ubuntu-main-i386/libicu44_4.4.2-2_i386.deb/download/
to get the dependency.
2) I went tohttp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/f/fontmatrix/
and got the old FontMatrix.
1) Why is an older version considered to be more feature complete?
You know, comparing the two version on two different computers, I can
now see that the functionality is intact in the most recent release. I
could never figure out how to use it because I thought the interface was
so counterintuitive. I still think the old interface is fantastic and
the new one leaves something to be desired (the rounded boxes, the
pop-out compare and playground windows).
2) Why is a user unable to go back to an older version? Is this about
versioning of packages on Linux?
Because my package manager couldn't find libicu44. I downloaded the deb
and it's running now.
Note that I haven't moved branches from the old SVN, and I don't think
it's a lot of fun applying any patches in a local repository. I would
rather disable optional OpenType shaping to avoid crashes and polish
UI than bring back the dead.
I think FontMatrix is exceptional, and the ONLY game in town for Linux
designers who want a real, professional font management solution. I've
used Suitcase and the other big, expensive font suites which I think are
bloated and not very good, and some cheaper windows managers like
MainType and Font Expert, which are pretty good. But so far it looks
like FontMatrix is the best manager, on linux or Windows, free or paid.
All of that said, I think I would sooner stick with this older UI until
the new one is polished, unless I'm missing some major improvements in
the new one. If I had the technical skills to polish the UI, I think I
would suggest bring back the tabs, remove the rounded borders around the
array of fonts on the main screen, add the field back in where you can
change the display text from <name> to something else (currently, I
think this can still be done in preferences) and I think that would go a
long way. Also, there's a field in the upper-left called 'filter' that
doesn't appear to do anything. Honestly, this older UI seems perfect to
me...
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