Insider Software’s Smasher

Review: Innovative, clever font utility eliminates suitcase clutter, quickly cleans font caches

The Smasher UI under Mac OS X, showing a Mac True Type font extracted from a dfont file

It may be a tired observation so far on, but the difference between font managment in OS X versus earlier versions of Mac OS is as different as night and day. You have TrueType and Type 1, FONDs and DFONTs, and suitcases which no longer look like suitcases. Not just that, but you have font folders for the system, the individual users, and the individual applications. Font managers like Extensis’ Suitcase X1 and FontAgent Pro can help you corral your fonts, but they don’t do things that you also might need; clearing stale font caches, extracting Mac TrueType fonts from DFONTs, and the like.

If you’re plagued by font headaches such as these, Insider’s Smasher may just be what you’re looking for. It’s marquee function–”smashing” font suitcases down to thier simplest form–is remarkable by itself. It does other nifty little things too, which you may find yourself using if you don’t go about smashing your fonts.

Store fonts simply, so that fonts can be simply stored

The main function of Smasher is the process of suitcase simplification known as smashing. As briefly as possible, smashing takes existing suitcases and smashes them into smaller, more efficient single-font suitcases. In Mac OS X, while the term font suitcase is still used to describe font folders, many of these suitcases contain fonts which may be corrupted or duplicated. Smasher takes these suitcases and breaks them down to the face and style level, getting around the inability to modify suitcase contents. Smahser aims to liberate your fonts.

A Multifunction Tool That Plays Well With Others

Smasher does more than font simplification, and these are reasons to look into themselves. Need to convert DFONTs to Mac TrueType for use in Mac OS X or Pre-Mac OS X computers or RIPs? Smasher does this. The interface is simple and direct, and works well for previewing and identifying fonts (for those who use Font Book instead of Suitcase or FontAgent, this can be a big plus). Need to clear your QuarkXPress, Adobe, or MS Office, or stale OS X caches? Smasher does this too.

A through, explanatory but approachable help system explains all features and why you might need to do any of them.

Perhaps most impressively, Smasher works with whatever font managmement scheme you have now. It joins your toolkit rather than replaces it, helping to form a united front for highly tuned font managment.

A little flair

Judging by the sound effects included, Insider knows how to have fun with the software. When a font is smashed, a great glass-filled smashing sound can be heard-startling at first, but certainly positive feedback. But the most delightful filip (and most unique) would probably be the Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s Il Trovatore, which happens when the About sheet appears. This alone made me smile. They are a little loud, however, but don’t panic-if the sounds don’t quite work for you, they can be turned off in the preferences.

The bottom line

Smasher for Mac OS X is available now from Insider Software (makers of FontAgent Pro) for $49.95 with special pricing for 10-seat licenses and, for a limited time, $24.95 pricing for upgraders. For the price asked and the functions provided, we find that Smasher is a ver good value and recommend considering adding it to your font managment arsenal.

Insider’s Smasher Page can be found here; follow the purchase link to buy or the download link to download a trial version.