Font Book validation error explanations

AbrahamLee

Hi, all! Does anyone happen to know how to get in contact with the Font Book developers at Apple? I don’t own a Mac so I have the least reason to ask for support from them. Anyway, I’d really love to know what criteria it uses in its pre-installation validation checks. I’ve read several support threads on the web and users portray them, particularly the “serious” ones, like false alarms—nothing actually serious. I myself have had mixed results from clients and coworkers. Some seem to go through just fine, others are fine except there’s some “System Validation” check it throws a red flag for and recommends NOT installing the font. it’s quite frustrating! I can’t imagine I’m the only one here who’s experienced this. If anyone knows what the checks are actually looking for, I’d sure appreciate knowing, though I don’t really expect anyone to readily have that info. But a contact email or a phone number for someone at Apple that can explain it, boy that’d be nice so I can find out.

James Puckett

AFAIK Apple keeps the developers and Font Book validation criteria secret. They’re real assholes about it.

AbrahamLee

Well, that’s really unfortunate! Anyone have a different story? Seems like they would want type designers to know so they could make their fonts work well with Apple products, but maybe not...

Marc Oxborrow

FWIW, as a user, I routinely ignore Font Book warnings and have yet to run into any problems with print-based projects.

Jens Kutilek

If you had access to a Mac, you could use ftxvalidator from the Apple Font Tools to test your fonts. This should give similar results as the Font Book validation. Example:

<p>$ ftxvalidator -T MyFont.ttf 
Fontname
	Fontname
	8DCD8131|
	kATSFontTestTrueTypeFontData
	Fatal Major Minor Info 
	com.apple.TrueType.cmap.usability
		‘cmap’ table usability
		This test ensures the ‘cmap’ table has at least one usable subtable.
		NA
			(No messages)
	com.apple.TrueType.hmtx.usability
		‘hmtx’ table usability
		This test ensures the horizontal metrics table, ‘hmtx’, is valid.
		Minor Info 
			hmtx: Glyph 1 has a width of 218; it should be zero
				kATSFontTestSeverityMinorError
			hmtx: Glyph 36 has a width of 1191, which is greater than the font's em (1000); this may be incorrect.
				kATSFontTestSeverityInformation
			hmtx: Glyph 38 has a width of 1208, which is greater than the font's em (1000); this may be incorrect.
				kATSFontTestSeverityInformation
			hmtx: Glyph 42 has a width of 1127, which is greater than the font's em (1000); this may be incorrect.
				kATSFontTestSeverityInformation
	com.apple.TrueType.name.usability
		‘name’ table usability
		This test ensures the ‘name’ table is valid.
		Fatal Major 
			'name': The PostScript name (Unlicenced font from LucasFonts.com) is invalid
				kATSFontTestSeverityMajorError
			'name': The table has no full name, which is required
				kATSFontTestSeverityFatalError
			'name': The table has no family name, which is required
				kATSFontTestSeverityFatalError
	com.apple.TrueType.post.usability
		‘post’ table usability
		This test ensures the ‘post’ table is valid.
		NA
			(No messages)
	com.apple.TrueType.usability
		‘sfnt’ required tables
		This test ensures the ‘sfnt’ has all the required tables.
		NA
			(No messages)
	com.apple.TrueType.head.structure
		‘head’ table structure
		This test ensures the structure of the header table, ‘head’, accords with the specification.
		NA
			(No messages)
	com.apple.TrueType.hhea.structure
		‘hhea’ table structure
		This test ensures the structure of the horizontal header table, ‘hhea’, accords with the specification.
		NA
			(No messages)
	com.apple.TrueType.maxp.structure
		‘maxp’ table structure
		This test ensures the structure of the maximum profile table, ‘maxp’, accords with the specification.
		NA
			(No messages)
	com.apple.TrueType.name.structure
		‘name’ table structure
		This test ensures the ‘name’ table is structurally sound.
		Fatal Major 
			'name': PostScript name (index 2) has an illegal character, ' ' (0x20), at position 10
				kATSFontTestSeverityMajorError
			'name': The table has no unique name, which is required
				kATSFontTestSeverityFatalError
			'name': The table has no family name, which is required
				kATSFontTestSeverityFatalError
			'name': The table has no full name, which is required
				kATSFontTestSeverityFatalError
	com.apple.duplicates
		Duplicate fonts
		This test verifies the presence of installed fonts with the same name.
		NA
			(No messages)</p>

AbrahamLee

@Marc Oxborrow, I get it, and that’s what others are saying too, but a less computer/font savvy person will see the red error with its fierce “DO NOT INSTALL THIS FONT!!!” warning and they will think I’m trying to plant a virus on their computer.

@Jens Kutilek, that looks awesome! Does that come stock with Apple computers? That may at least allow me to have someone I trust run the test and give me the results, but I wouldn’t expect a casual user to know what they are doing there. 

Dave Crossland

https://github.com/googlefonts/gf-docs/blob/master/ProjectChecklist.md#apple-os-x-font-tools has install details, if it got stale please send a pull request