Discussion:
[fontforge-users] Kerning
marcelo magalhaes
2015-09-23 00:50:08 UTC
Permalink
After having some problems with kerning in fontforge I found this tutorial:

https://archetypogrophy.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/a-solution-to-kerning-problems-in-fontforge/

I think that designwithfontforge.com is a very good font of information but
this tutorial has instructions that really worked for me when trying to fix
a kerning issue.

I'm just wondering if the actual information is good and this was a kind of
problem that just happened to me using mac os and linux or not.

Just a question for the Fontforge's users of the group before I suggest an
update to kerning section of designwithfontforge.com

Cheers,

Marcelo
Robyn Broyles
2015-09-23 06:03:17 UTC
Permalink
*Wow, that is actually my blog post!* I am glad it helped you. I remember
feeling so frustrated, and so relieved when I figured that out, that I
wanted to spell out detailed instructions. Ironically you say you use Mac
and Linux, while I only used Windows.

However, I later had a major technical issue with kerning. *I cannot say
whether it had to do with my solution you found on the blog*. It’s so bad
that I put my font project on hold indefinitely (not forever, but for the
foreseeable future). It has something to do with *multiple *kern values for
most glyph pairs. The Metrics window, where I did the actual kerning work,
always shows the correct values, but if I pull up the subtable, there are
at least *two or three* values for every single glyph pair that was kerned!
When I generated the font, this problem caused all kinds of kerning havoc.
To repair it seems like a monumental task that may require either (1)
writing down the correct kern values for every glyph pair (via the Metrics
window), completely clearing all kerning data from the subtable, and
manually re-entering the values for every glyph pair, or (2) completely
clearing all kerning data, then starting over from scratch, re-kerning
every glyph pair.

I wish you the best of luck with the font you are developing!
Post by marcelo magalhaes
https://archetypogrophy.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/a-solution-to-kerning-problems-in-fontforge/
I think that designwithfontforge.com is a very good font of information
but this tutorial has instructions that really worked for me when trying to
fix a kerning issue.
I'm just wondering if the actual information is good and this was a kind
of problem that just happened to me using mac os and linux or not.
Just a question for the Fontforge's users of the group before I suggest an
update to kerning section of designwithfontforge.com
Cheers,
Marcelo
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monitor Your Dynamic Infrastructure at Any Scale With Datadog!
Get real-time metrics from all of your servers, apps and tools
in one place.
SourceForge users - Click here to start your Free Trial of Datadog now!
http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=241902991&iu=/4140
_______________________________________________
fontforge-users mailing list
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fontforge-users
http://fontforge.10959.n7.nabble.com/User-f8781.html
--
✥ Robyn

*A.M.D.G.*
Max Rabkin
2015-09-23 13:46:39 UTC
Permalink
However, I later had a major technical issue with kerning. _I cannot
say whether it had to do with my solution you found on the blog_. It’s
so bad that I put my font project on hold indefinitely (not forever,
but for the foreseeable future). It has something to do with /multiple
/kern values for most glyph pairs. The Metrics window, where I did the
actual kerning work, always shows the correct values, but if I pull up
the subtable, there are at least /two or three/ values for every
single glyph pair that was kerned! When I generated the font, this
problem caused all kinds of kerning havoc.
I'm having difficulty understanding exactly what you mean, but this
sounds like a bug. I notice your previous email about this topic was
also on the -users list; the developers are generally hanging out on
fontforge-devel and github. If you file a detailed bug report (rather
than a general description that something might or might not be a bug;
with complete steps to reproduce the issue) on the FontForge Github, you
might get more attention from the developers.

Best,
Max
Dave Crossland
2015-09-24 04:08:49 UTC
Permalink
I agree with Max.

Would you be willing to share the SFD file with the developers? :)
Post by Robyn Broyles
However, I later had a major technical issue with kerning. *I cannot say
whether it had to do with my solution you found on the blog*. It’s so bad
that I put my font project on hold indefinitely (not forever, but for the
foreseeable future). It has something to do with *multiple *kern values
for most glyph pairs. The Metrics window, where I did the actual kerning
work, always shows the correct values, but if I pull up the subtable, there
are at least *two or three* values for every single glyph pair that was
kerned! When I generated the font, this problem caused all kinds of kerning
havoc.
I'm having difficulty understanding exactly what you mean, but this sounds
like a bug. I notice your previous email about this topic was also on the
-users list; the developers are generally hanging out on fontforge-devel
and github. If you file a detailed bug report (rather than a general
description that something might or might not be a bug; with complete steps
to reproduce the issue) on the FontForge Github, you might get more
attention from the developers.
Best,
Max
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monitor Your Dynamic Infrastructure at Any Scale With Datadog!
Get real-time metrics from all of your servers, apps and tools
in one place.
SourceForge users - Click here to start your Free Trial of Datadog now!
http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=241902991&iu=/4140
_______________________________________________
fontforge-users mailing list
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fontforge-users
http://fontforge.10959.n7.nabble.com/User-f8781.html
--
Cheers
Dave
Robyn Broyles
2015-09-24 22:04:14 UTC
Permalink
Thanks for the tips on how to reach the developers. Yes, I'd be happy to
share the .SFD file. The reason I was vague was actually for the
embarrassingly simple reason that I don't *remember *the exact details,
since the problem occurred several months ago and I've been working on
another major project since then. When I'm done with this project,
hopefully I'll be able to return to the font project.
Post by Dave Crossland
I agree with Max.
Would you be willing to share the SFD file with the developers? :)
Post by Robyn Broyles
However, I later had a major technical issue with kerning. *I cannot say
whether it had to do with my solution you found on the blog*. It’s so
bad that I put my font project on hold indefinitely (not forever, but for
the foreseeable future). It has something to do with *multiple *kern values
for most glyph pairs. The Metrics window, where I did the actual kerning
work, always shows the correct values, but if I pull up the subtable, there
are at least *two or three* values for every single glyph pair that was
kerned! When I generated the font, this problem caused all kinds of kerning
havoc.
I'm having difficulty understanding exactly what you mean, but this
sounds like a bug. I notice your previous email about this topic was also
on the -users list; the developers are generally hanging out on
fontforge-devel and github. If you file a detailed bug report (rather than
a general description that something might or might not be a bug; with
complete steps to reproduce the issue) on the FontForge Github, you might
get more attention from the developers.
Best,
Max
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monitor Your Dynamic Infrastructure at Any Scale With Datadog!
Get real-time metrics from all of your servers, apps and tools
in one place.
SourceForge users - Click here to start your Free Trial of Datadog now!
http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=241902991&iu=/4140
_______________________________________________
fontforge-users mailing list
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fontforge-users
http://fontforge.10959.n7.nabble.com/User-f8781.html
--
Cheers
Dave
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monitor Your Dynamic Infrastructure at Any Scale With Datadog!
Get real-time metrics from all of your servers, apps and tools
in one place.
SourceForge users - Click here to start your Free Trial of Datadog now!
http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=241902991&iu=/4140
_______________________________________________
fontforge-users mailing list
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fontforge-users
http://fontforge.10959.n7.nabble.com/User-f8781.html
--
✥ Robyn

*A.M.D.G.*
Carlo Rubini
2015-09-25 00:25:42 UTC
Permalink
To the developers: please fix the import command for kerning tables. At present it imports only the tables without the kerning pairs.
Thanks,

Carlo
Dave Crossland
2015-09-25 00:35:48 UTC
Permalink
Post by Carlo Rubini
To the developers: please fix the import command for kerning tables. At
present it imports only the tables without the kerning pairs.
I filed this for you:

https://github.com/fontforge/fontforge/issues/2502
Carlo Rubini
2015-09-25 07:35:37 UTC
Permalink
Very much appreciated. Thank you.
Post by Carlo Rubini
To the developers: please fix the import command for kerning tables. At present it imports only the tables without the kerning pairs.
https://github.com/fontforge/fontforge/issues/2502 <https://github.com/fontforge/fontforge/issues/2502>
Carlo

marcelo magalhaes
2015-09-23 13:03:23 UTC
Permalink
Hi Robyn,

Thanks for your blog post! Good to know this first step it's working
win/mac/linux! I'm not in the kerning moment of my project but I did a few
tests with your instructions and it worked. Let's see what happens now,
I'll keep in mind this problem of "multiple" kerning values while I work to
avoid a bad surprise.

Cheers,

Marcelo
Send fontforge-users mailing list submissions to
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fontforge-users
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
You can reach the person managing the list at
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of fontforge-users digest..."
1. OTF : bug in LibreOffice or in FontForge ? (Ivan Louette)
2. importing kern tables not working (Carlo Rubini)
3. Kerning (marcelo magalhaes)
4. Adjusting baseline of autotraced glyph (Janusz S. Bien)
5. Re: Kerning (Robyn Broyles)
6. Re: Adjusting baseline of autotraced glyph (Max Rabkin)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 20:29:47 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: [fontforge-users] OTF : bug in LibreOffice or in FontForge ?
To: Discussion Forum for Fontforge Users
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Hi,
https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=94103
But I don't know if that shouldn't be reported to FontForge first because
I discovered afterwards that if I load in FF an unbuggy OTF font not
designed in FF and I regenerate an OTF of it with FF the bugs appears also.
I use an old release of FF on my Kubuntu 14.04, but I tested it on a
recent windows version and it occurs too.
Seems to be some kind of conflict between specifications of Libre Office
and FontForge.
ivan
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2015 06:47:35 +0600
Subject: [fontforge-users] importing kern tables not working
To: Discussion area for fontforge
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
It would be appreciated if kern tables could be imported: at present only
metadata are imported, leaving out all kern-pairs values.
Thanks,
Carlo
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2015 21:50:08 -0300
Subject: [fontforge-users] Kerning
<CAKVu2rsYusBaLK3D8i+4YKNYhHfW2tq78so6nf=
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
https://archetypogrophy.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/a-solution-to-kerning-problems-in-fontforge/
I think that designwithfontforge.com is a very good font of information
but
this tutorial has instructions that really worked for me when trying to fix
a kerning issue.
I'm just wondering if the actual information is good and this was a kind of
problem that just happened to me using mac os and linux or not.
Just a question for the Fontforge's users of the group before I suggest an
update to kerning section of designwithfontforge.com
Cheers,
Marcelo
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2015 06:48:52 +0200
Subject: [fontforge-users] Adjusting baseline of autotraced glyph
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; DelSp="Yes"; format="flowed"
I'm completely new to FontForge and I try to make a quick-and-dirty
replica of an old font used in 1907 to typeset a Medieval Polish text.
After importing the glyph scans and autotracing them the quality is
quite good with the exception of baseline which is sometimes
substantially different in different glyphs. How to adjust it?
The page
http://designwithfontforge.com/en-US/Spacing_Metrics_and_Kerning.html
mentions dragging a character to adjust left-side bearing. Is it
possible to drag a character up at down?
On the other hand I must be missing something obvious, because I'm
unable to drag a character any way!
I will appreciate very much your help.
Best regards
Janusz
--
Prof. dr hab. Janusz S. Bie? - Uniwersytet Warszawski (Katedra
Lingwistyki Formalnej)
Prof. Janusz S. Bie? - University of Warsaw (Formal Linguistics Department)
http://fleksem.klf.uw.edu.pl/~jsbien/
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2015 01:03:17 -0500
Subject: Re: [fontforge-users] Kerning
To: Discussion forum for fontforge users
<CAP56mPX2=
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
*Wow, that is actually my blog post!* I am glad it helped you. I remember
feeling so frustrated, and so relieved when I figured that out, that I
wanted to spell out detailed instructions. Ironically you say you use Mac
and Linux, while I only used Windows.
However, I later had a major technical issue with kerning. *I cannot say
whether it had to do with my solution you found on the blog*. It?s so bad
that I put my font project on hold indefinitely (not forever, but for the
foreseeable future). It has something to do with *multiple *kern values for
most glyph pairs. The Metrics window, where I did the actual kerning work,
always shows the correct values, but if I pull up the subtable, there are
at least *two or three* values for every single glyph pair that was kerned!
When I generated the font, this problem caused all kinds of kerning havoc.
To repair it seems like a monumental task that may require either (1)
writing down the correct kern values for every glyph pair (via the Metrics
window), completely clearing all kerning data from the subtable, and
manually re-entering the values for every glyph pair, or (2) completely
clearing all kerning data, then starting over from scratch, re-kerning
every glyph pair.
I wish you the best of luck with the font you are developing!
Post by marcelo magalhaes
After having some problems with kerning in fontforge I found this
https://archetypogrophy.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/a-solution-to-kerning-problems-in-fontforge/
Post by marcelo magalhaes
I think that designwithfontforge.com is a very good font of information
but this tutorial has instructions that really worked for me when trying
to
Post by marcelo magalhaes
fix a kerning issue.
I'm just wondering if the actual information is good and this was a kind
of problem that just happened to me using mac os and linux or not.
Just a question for the Fontforge's users of the group before I suggest
an
Post by marcelo magalhaes
update to kerning section of designwithfontforge.com
Cheers,
Marcelo
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by marcelo magalhaes
Monitor Your Dynamic Infrastructure at Any Scale With Datadog!
Get real-time metrics from all of your servers, apps and tools
in one place.
SourceForge users - Click here to start your Free Trial of Datadog now!
http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=241902991&iu=/4140
_______________________________________________
fontforge-users mailing list
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fontforge-users
http://fontforge.10959.n7.nabble.com/User-f8781.html
--
? Robyn
*A.M.D.G.*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2015 10:28:48 +0200
Subject: Re: [fontforge-users] Adjusting baseline of autotraced glyph
To: Discussion forum for fontforge users
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
The Metrics window is for *horizontal* spacing (in horizontal fonts).
Use the glyph window to adjust vertical positioning.
Post by marcelo magalhaes
I'm completely new to FontForge and I try to make a quick-and-dirty
replica of an old font used in 1907 to typeset a Medieval Polish text.
After importing the glyph scans and autotracing them the quality is
quite good with the exception of baseline which is sometimes
substantially different in different glyphs. How to adjust it?
The page
http://designwithfontforge.com/en-US/Spacing_Metrics_and_Kerning.html
mentions dragging a character to adjust left-side bearing. Is it
possible to drag a character up at down?
On the other hand I must be missing something obvious, because I'm
unable to drag a character any way!
I will appreciate very much your help.
Best regards
Janusz
------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monitor Your Dynamic Infrastructure at Any Scale With Datadog!
Get real-time metrics from all of your servers, apps and tools
in one place.
SourceForge users - Click here to start your Free Trial of Datadog now!
http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=241902991&iu=/4140
------------------------------
_______________________________________________
fontforge-users mailing list
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fontforge-users
End of fontforge-users Digest, Vol 110, Issue 4
***********************************************
Loading...