Scribus, the open source publishing program, will soon support OpenType. No details, though.
https://www.scribus.net/new-text-layout-engine-with-full-opentype-support/
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Scribus to support OpentType
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Weird Windows 10 font issue: installs fine, previews fine, defaults to Arial in Word
Hi all –
Is Windows 10 goofy with TTFs in some way? I am testing out a font I hinted but I'm getting a wacky issue. The font installs fine. It looks correct in the small preview of an Explorer window of the Fonts directory. It is correct in the small drop-down font selection preview in Word. Type with it, though, and you get Arial. Never seen anything like this before.
The font passes validation (including rasterization). I deleted the font cache and restarted. impallari.com show it fine. There are zero issues with it working properly on the Mac side.
Any ideas? I am stumped. I have diffed with properly working files pre-hints and the only differences are:
- a few glyph list changes, making glyf, loca, and UnicodeRange & ulCodePageRange diffs in OS/2
- checksum and date modified in head
(besides the obvious diffs one would create due to hinting in VDMX, LTSH, gasp, hdmx, prep, fpgm, cvt, maxp)
Thanks for any thoughts...
Micah
Is Windows 10 goofy with TTFs in some way? I am testing out a font I hinted but I'm getting a wacky issue. The font installs fine. It looks correct in the small preview of an Explorer window of the Fonts directory. It is correct in the small drop-down font selection preview in Word. Type with it, though, and you get Arial. Never seen anything like this before.
The font passes validation (including rasterization). I deleted the font cache and restarted. impallari.com show it fine. There are zero issues with it working properly on the Mac side.
Any ideas? I am stumped. I have diffed with properly working files pre-hints and the only differences are:
- a few glyph list changes, making glyf, loca, and UnicodeRange & ulCodePageRange diffs in OS/2
- checksum and date modified in head
(besides the obvious diffs one would create due to hinting in VDMX, LTSH, gasp, hdmx, prep, fpgm, cvt, maxp)
Thanks for any thoughts...
Micah
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Copy and scale uppercase kerning to small caps with a script
One more simple Robofab script to copy and scale uppercase kerning to small caps. With the 'factor' variable you can decide how much the kerning should be reduced to better fit small caps.
#FLM: ReType CopyKerningUC2sc V 1.0
# Copy & scale kerning from UC to sc
from robofab.world import CurrentFont
font = CurrentFont()
kerning = font.kerning
left = ['A','AE','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','OE','P','Thorn','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z']
middle= ['A','AE','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','OE','P','Thorn','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z']
#Modify this variable to adjust small caps kerning
factor = 10
for A in left:
for B in middle:
if kerning[A, B] is not None:
kerning[str.lower(A)+'.sc', str.lower(B)+'.sc'] = (kerning[A, B]) - factor
print 'Klaar!!'
font.update()↧
Fun type draft
I have started this typeface yesterday, to clear up my mind a bit. At the beginning I thought about making only the upper case set but then decided to see how it goes with a relatively standard lower case set. I quite like it.
Any feedback welcome.
Any feedback welcome.
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OpenType labels in software
I understand that Adobe products, in particular Photoshop, now have the ability to display custom name for style sets.
So for example, instead of Style Set One, you could have "Art Deco Alternates" or the like. How is this accomplished? Code examples are preferred. Thank you,
JDooley
So for example, instead of Style Set One, you could have "Art Deco Alternates" or the like. How is this accomplished? Code examples are preferred. Thank you,
JDooley
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The Value of a Font Buyout
I have a question regarding the value of a copyright buyout for a custom font. This subject has come up earlier on Typedrawers, but this case is a bit different. Here is the situation:
I made a set of highly specialized custom fonts for a client under five-year exclusive licenses, with all the usual restrictions. Before the license period was over, the client, who sees the fonts as essential to their identity and future work over the next decade or two, expressed the desire to buy all rights to the fonts.
On what basis does a designer establish the value of such a sale? Is there a formula that is customary in the type industry? If so, how does the type designer document this custom? Does anyone have cases I can cite?
Thanks in advance.
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Start Grotesque
Hi everyone
We are two young graphic designers from Switzerland that are obsessed with type. We just started designing our first typeface and our biggest problem is that we don’t really have anyone experienced to critique our typeface and show us “how it’s done”. So please, rip it to shreds![:)]( ":)")
Also English is not our first language so excuse us if we used the wrong typographic terms. We hope it’s still readable.
The idea of the typeface:
We wanted to create a modern typeface that references and gets people interested in the history of how the individual letters developed and came about. Thats why there are uncoventional characters for a grotesque typeface and also why a lot of characteristics (hard counters that connect to the stem) reference old blackletter style.
For example the diaeresis (¨) was first an e that was written above the letter to modify the sound of the vowel.
Also we used the old characters of the long s and the old variant of the hyphen.
For the look and feel we referenced the classic german grotesque typefaces of the 18th century (venus, royal, ideal grotesk to name a few).
The typeface is in no way finished or even close to it, so most of it is up change. Our current plan looks like this(if in your experience a different workflow would be better please tell us):
- Create a basic typeface weight with all Letters (numbers still missing)
- Get as much feedback and critique as possible and also take a hard look at the typeface ourselves (current stage)
- Finish the first weight (additional Glyphs, Kerning, Hinting)
- Expand it, create Light, Italics, Bold and more versions of the first weight
We don’t really think that we will have a final version in the next months so we are just beginning!
We are really excited to hear your feedback on our first attempt on a typeface![]()
We are two young graphic designers from Switzerland that are obsessed with type. We just started designing our first typeface and our biggest problem is that we don’t really have anyone experienced to critique our typeface and show us “how it’s done”. So please, rip it to shreds
Also English is not our first language so excuse us if we used the wrong typographic terms. We hope it’s still readable.
The idea of the typeface:
We wanted to create a modern typeface that references and gets people interested in the history of how the individual letters developed and came about. Thats why there are uncoventional characters for a grotesque typeface and also why a lot of characteristics (hard counters that connect to the stem) reference old blackletter style.
For example the diaeresis (¨) was first an e that was written above the letter to modify the sound of the vowel.
Also we used the old characters of the long s and the old variant of the hyphen.
For the look and feel we referenced the classic german grotesque typefaces of the 18th century (venus, royal, ideal grotesk to name a few).
The typeface is in no way finished or even close to it, so most of it is up change. Our current plan looks like this(if in your experience a different workflow would be better please tell us):
- Create a basic typeface weight with all Letters (numbers still missing)
- Get as much feedback and critique as possible and also take a hard look at the typeface ourselves (current stage)
- Finish the first weight (additional Glyphs, Kerning, Hinting)
- Expand it, create Light, Italics, Bold and more versions of the first weight
We don’t really think that we will have a final version in the next months so we are just beginning!
We are really excited to hear your feedback on our first attempt on a typeface
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[OTVar] Introducing Amstelvar
Google Fonts has commissioned a new variable font project, a serif dubbed "Amstelvar," from Font Bureau.
Led by the experience and insight of the Font Bureau co-founder David Berlow, who worked extensively on the Variable Fonts format back when it was initially developed at Apple in the early 90s, the fb team are pushing the envelope of this cutting edge technology. They posted a blog post introducing the serif project - https://www.typenetwork.com/brochure/opentype-variable-fonts-moving-right-along - that includes an SVG animation of the novel variation axes involved.
Led by the experience and insight of the Font Bureau co-founder David Berlow, who worked extensively on the Variable Fonts format back when it was initially developed at Apple in the early 90s, the fb team are pushing the envelope of this cutting edge technology. They posted a blog post introducing the serif project - https://www.typenetwork.com/brochure/opentype-variable-fonts-moving-right-along - that includes an SVG animation of the novel variation axes involved.
And as a libre font, its all on Github to take a full look inside: https://github.com/TypeNetwork/fb-Amstelvar
Also, I'm super happy to see Type Network folks are doing lots of other interesting Variable Fonts projects, such as https://djr.com/fit/variable.html - and, not sure if it was mentioned on TD yet, but there is a great twitter account by Nick Sherman where all VF news is posted, https://twitter.com/variablefonts
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Textured Type
I would like to add some texture to some of my existing brush fonts. I'm wondering how designers deal with the beziers in this case. It's a lot of points and finding things like overlaps and twists is almost impossible. The file size is also a big issue. Looking at some of the highly detailed and textured fonts that have been recently released, makes me wonder if these fonts might cause issues like crashing software, printer problems. Also, what's the best way to autotrace? Any tips or opinions? Thanks for any help!
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Intellectual Property Licensing Suits - A question for Type Designers/Lawyers
Here's a question a few out there might be wondering about:
I do not control my licensing; that is handled by distributors. (Myfonts, fonts.com, HypeforType, etc.) As you may know, these distributors do not provide a easily searchable list of who licensed what.
If I come across a prominent use of one of my fonts, how do would I go about authenticating that a license was purchased to use the font?
Most font related lawsuits have to do with uses - for example, a certain license is required, and the use was clearly infringing.
Would I ask all of my distributors to do a search of their records? How would this be effective, if, say, a generic LLC licensed the product?
Do you just have your lawyer demand the documentation through the legal process?
Thank you,
I do not control my licensing; that is handled by distributors. (Myfonts, fonts.com, HypeforType, etc.) As you may know, these distributors do not provide a easily searchable list of who licensed what.
If I come across a prominent use of one of my fonts, how do would I go about authenticating that a license was purchased to use the font?
Most font related lawsuits have to do with uses - for example, a certain license is required, and the use was clearly infringing.
Would I ask all of my distributors to do a search of their records? How would this be effective, if, say, a generic LLC licensed the product?
Do you just have your lawyer demand the documentation through the legal process?
Thank you,
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Out of print books
Hello type designers, show me a sign though – I was book hunting trying to find:
The stroke: theory of writing Gerrit Noordzij
Counterpunch: making type in the sixteenth century, designing typefaces now Fred Smeijers
I can't get them any more, that's a sign of the times though.
I have contacted Hyphen Press and no future plans to republish, if anyone comes across them on the cheap and not going for crazy money could you please message me.
Regards,
Luke
The stroke: theory of writing Gerrit Noordzij
Counterpunch: making type in the sixteenth century, designing typefaces now Fred Smeijers
I can't get them any more, that's a sign of the times though.
I have contacted Hyphen Press and no future plans to republish, if anyone comes across them on the cheap and not going for crazy money could you please message me.
Regards,
Luke
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Sailboat – a grotesque
I began designing this typeface (my first) last November, and would really like to get some critiques by people who are more experienced. My only type education is Designing Type by Karen Cheng, which I began reading last November, and otherwise I’m only familiar with typography from Bringhurst and general online reading. So please by all means tear it apart.
Concept:
For a while I’ve been trying out various typefaces for one that would match the landscape and community I am in. This area began to be developed towards the beginning of the last century, near a lake in the mountains where sailing, swimming, etc., are popular. I came across Bold Monday’s Trio Grotesk which seemed to match perfectly, but it was too eccentric and too wide (doesn’t fit with the many tall trees in this area as well as the significant human presence).
So I began designing this font with these traits in mind: civilized but used to the outdoors; reminiscent of monospace typewriter fonts to recall the roots and simplicity of the community (some of the printed materials in this area were typeset with typewriters).
Its intended use is print, ideally both display and body text, but at the moment it displays poorly at small sizes (see page 4 of PDF) so unless I can fix that it may only be suited to display usage.
It is obviously a work in progress, but I thought it would be better to get feedback now rather than later. Your thoughts?
![]( "Image: http://stephenbenedict.com/sailboat-proof-1.0.jpg")
Concept:
For a while I’ve been trying out various typefaces for one that would match the landscape and community I am in. This area began to be developed towards the beginning of the last century, near a lake in the mountains where sailing, swimming, etc., are popular. I came across Bold Monday’s Trio Grotesk which seemed to match perfectly, but it was too eccentric and too wide (doesn’t fit with the many tall trees in this area as well as the significant human presence).
So I began designing this font with these traits in mind: civilized but used to the outdoors; reminiscent of monospace typewriter fonts to recall the roots and simplicity of the community (some of the printed materials in this area were typeset with typewriters).
Its intended use is print, ideally both display and body text, but at the moment it displays poorly at small sizes (see page 4 of PDF) so unless I can fix that it may only be suited to display usage.
It is obviously a work in progress, but I thought it would be better to get feedback now rather than later. Your thoughts?
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Script to generate kerning strings for MetricsMachine
Hi there,
I love using MetricsMachine, but I've never liked the fact I can't use my Fontlab kerning text files. Metrics machine uses 2 different kind of kerning text files: one for single pairs and another one that let you set and compare strings.
Setting strings is key (e.g. when setting the kerning in capitals, when comparing kern symmetry and when kerning quotes), but the problem is making string kerning lists for MM by hand is a pain and tools like Impallari's kerning list maker (http://www.impallari.com/testing/) only let you make the simplest kind of kerning text files.
So I've made a simple Python script to automatically generate string kerning text files. Feel free to use/improve it.
I love using MetricsMachine, but I've never liked the fact I can't use my Fontlab kerning text files. Metrics machine uses 2 different kind of kerning text files: one for single pairs and another one that let you set and compare strings.
Setting strings is key (e.g. when setting the kerning in capitals, when comparing kern symmetry and when kerning quotes), but the problem is making string kerning lists for MM by hand is a pain and tools like Impallari's kerning list maker (http://www.impallari.com/testing/) only let you make the simplest kind of kerning text files.
So I've made a simple Python script to automatically generate string kerning text files. Feel free to use/improve it.
# ReType's Make string kerning lists for MetricsMachine
# Tweak / Comment from line 4 to 7 if you are using a PC.
import sys
sys.dont_write_bytecode = True
f = open(title + '.txt', 'w')
sys.stdout = f
# Set the title
title = 'UC_symmetry'
# Set your own strings
string_1 = 'AVAWATAYAVSVSWSW'
string_2 = 'AOAQAPAFASAYSY'
string_3 = 'OVOWOTOYO'
print '#KPL:W: '+ title
for x in range((len(string_1))-1):
stringlist = list(string_1)
stringlist.insert(x+1,' ')
print ''.join(stringlist)
for x in range((len(string_2))-1):
stringlist = list(string_2)
stringlist.insert(x+1,' ')
print ''.join(stringlist)
for x in range((len(string_3))-1):
stringlist = list(string_3)
stringlist.insert(x+1,' ')
print ''.join(stringlist) ↧
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Using emoji cuts my post off
I tried to add some emoji and when I press 'Post', it gets cut off after the emoji?
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TrueType-based fonts and post table version 3.0
A word of warning ...
It’s really tempting to switch the post table version to 3.0, which then doesn’t store any glyph names in the font, saving file size especially for web fonts.
But for TrueType-based fonts (also packaged in WOFF, WOFF2), doing this will prevent the macOS autohinting from doing its job. Fuzzy contours and uneven stem weights are the result.
I was reminded of this after wondering why some fonts from a well-known monopolist didn’t look very good in the browser.
It’s really tempting to switch the post table version to 3.0, which then doesn’t store any glyph names in the font, saving file size especially for web fonts.
But for TrueType-based fonts (also packaged in WOFF, WOFF2), doing this will prevent the macOS autohinting from doing its job. Fuzzy contours and uneven stem weights are the result.
I was reminded of this after wondering why some fonts from a well-known monopolist didn’t look very good in the browser.
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Type Network
http://www.fontbureau.com is now redirecting to http://www.typenetwork.com
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Monotoype Award - Grant for Reading MATD - anyone here been successful?
I am looking into doing the MATD at Reading though cannot afford it, I was wondering if anyone here has had success in getting the grant from Monotype and what you had to do to make it successful? Any advice would be great.
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MyFonts and families
Have any of you with families on myFonts noticed a drastic reduction in sales since Monotype started pushing their subscription service? Before they took over my family sales were pretty healthy, now it's mainly singles with the occasional family. Anybody else noticed the same?
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OpenType 1.8.1 errata
Last week, we posted an erratum (for both OT1.8 and OT1.8.1) regarding a serious technical error in the 'avar' chapter: a reserved uint16 field has been added to the version 1.0 header before the axisCount field.
This week, another, not quite as serious error was reported in the 'avar' table chapter: the description of the SegmentMaps record does not clearly reflect that axisValueMaps is an array. An erratum for this will be posted.
This week, another, not quite as serious error was reported in the 'avar' table chapter: the description of the SegmentMaps record does not clearly reflect that axisValueMaps is an array. An erratum for this will be posted.
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Slashed zero with downstroke?
I've been looking into legibility issues and some such characters which quite easily can be made explicitly unmistakable. When looking at slashed zero variants there is a chance of replacing one confusable character with another by adding the slash or dot (found this to be an informative paper).
Is there a reason why slashed zeros are not more commonly drawn with a downstroke (like in this font, for example) and instead the variant with the slash is used that resembles above all else the slashed O and empty set / average sign? It seems to me ironic that a feature intended to reduce letter identification errors might actually increase them, so I was wondering if there is an equally problematic catch with the downstroke I am not aware of.
Is there a reason why slashed zeros are not more commonly drawn with a downstroke (like in this font, for example) and instead the variant with the slash is used that resembles above all else the slashed O and empty set / average sign? It seems to me ironic that a feature intended to reduce letter identification errors might actually increase them, so I was wondering if there is an equally problematic catch with the downstroke I am not aware of.
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