Change this from the default Unspecified to Pair Positioning (kerning).
Fontforge kerning windows#
(For what it’s worth, I’m running Windows 7.) The Solution: No matter how many Lookups and Subtables I created-either via these dialogs, or by going to the E lement > Font Info > Lookups menu-I always got prompted again. (A Lookup is sort of like a database for information on glyphs and glyph combinations, and a Subtable is a data table that is assigned to a Lookup.) I was not really sure what Lookups and Subtables even were, let alone why I needed to create new ones just to add kerning values.
Then I was prompted to name the new Subtable, with the default being the Lookup name with -1 added to the end.
The Problem:Įvery time I tried to type a value into the “Kern” part of the table, I immediately got a popup that said something like, “Add Subtable to which Lookup?” with the option, “Create New Lookup.” If I clicked that option, I was prompted to name the Lookup (the names I used became progressively more desperate-sounding and/or profane as I tried to get things to work). The space between these unkerned glyphs is 30, but visually that leaves a huge gap between the letters. The left and right side bearings can be adjusted numerically by typing values into a table at the bottom of the window.* The space between any two glyphs (in a left-to-right font) consists of the right side bearing of the left glyph added to the left side bearing of the right glyph. In this window, the user can type text into a box and have the corresponding glyphs of the font under development appear. The Background:įontForge has a convenient way to adjust letter spacing (tracking), called the Metrics Window. The problem seems to have been caused by my own enormous ignorance on the technical aspects of digital fonts and font editors, but I am sure that there are other amateur type designers outside who are likewise lacking in technical know-how. So when I had problems getting any kind of kerning to work, and procrastination (predictably) didn’t make the problems go away, I buckled down and finally came up with this.
Fontforge kerning how to#
As far as I can find, the only help information available for FontForge is a few tutorials and an Issues site on GitHub, which is geared more towards fixing bugs and other software problems, not helping inexperienced users like me figure out how to do things. It often assumes you already have some expertise in the subject, which may not be the case. I love open-source software, but one of the downsides is that the help information available for it is sorely lacking, at least compared to commercial software. I’m writing this post for two reasons: so that I can look up the solution I figured out if I have this problem again, and so that if when someone else runs into the same problem, maybe they will find this on Google and be saved some grief.
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