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FontLab version 6.0.3.6611»

7 February 2018

New Features: User interface»

New Commands dialog & custom keyboard shortcut editing»

The new Help > Commands dialog box lists all commands available in the main app menus, including custom workspaces and scripts.

Use CmdShiftP to open the dialog, and type in a phrase to locate a command.

Then, navigate to the command with cursor keys and press Enter to execute that command. Inspired by similar solutions in apps like Sublime Text or Atom, this is a very fast way to invoke various commands which does not require to use the mouse or to remember keyboard shortcuts.

And (yes!) you can also customize (assign and change) the keyboard shortcuts associated with any of these commands. Use the shortcut field below the command list to remove an existing keyboard shortcut or assign a new one.

Note: there are some keyboard shortcuts, e.g. the single-letter keystrokes used to invoke the tools, which are not customizable. But most menu commands are now customizable, and you can export and import those customizations easily.

New Features: Drawing»

Swap Outline with Mask»

Tools > Swap Outline with Mask (CmdAltH Mac, CtrlAltH Windows). Added this command familiar to FontLab Studio 5 users

Node coloring for vertical and horizontal handles or line segments»

Under Preferences > Glyph Window > Node Style there is a new setting (in the middle), which is also the new default. When this “auto fill” setting is selected, nodes will be rendered as fully filled (darker) or semi-transparently filled (lighter), depending on the position of the node and its handles.

If a node is between curve segments and its handles are aligned perfectly vertically or horizontally, the node is fully filled (darker in color). If a node is between line segments and both segments are perfectly vertical or horizontal, the node is also fully filled. Otherwise, the node is semi-transparently filled (lighter in color).

This helps identify points that are not quite where you intended, or are not quite proper extrema.

Shift-double-click to align nodes and handles»

If you have a node or handle that is nearly aligned (in either X or Y) with an adjacent node, this will shift it to become aligned. When applied to extrema nodes with handles that are not perfectly aligned to X or Y direction, shift-double-click will fix that.

New Suggest Guides option»

When View > Suggest > Suggest Guides option is activated, hidden guides, hints, zones or font metrics temporarily appear when you move a node or contour near them. This only works with guides/hints/zones which have “snap to” allowed (View > Snap menu or in the View panel). This allows you to keep a clean workspace where guides, hints, zones or metric lines are invisible, but they become visible just when you need them.

This feature combines well with View > Metrics & Hinting Shadows option for easier navigation.

Nodes on alignment zones are optionally highlighted»

If you move a point into an alignment zone, the node is highlighted with a light gray circle if the node is on the edge of a zone or with a light gray rectangle if the node is inside the zone.

This behavior is on by default, but can be turned off as the fourth option under Preferences > Editing > Highlight nodes on alignment zones.

Snap to glyph metrics»

This new option under View > Snap > Glyph Metrics causes snap to sidebearings, and applies to all operations where snap works.

New Features: Languages and Production»

Import Ikarus (.ik) Files»

Support for import of Ikarus font files (which typically come with .cha file containing glyph names and Unicode indexes) is back in this build of FontLab. To keep precision of the source data, low-error-tolerance approximation is applied to Ikarus contours when they get converted to cubic Bezier splines. This results in high accuracy but more points; consider Simplify or Clean Up operations after the import.

Codepages & Unicode ranges»

Font Info now has two new sections for setting code pages and Unicode ranges, much like FontLab Studio 5. You can still use the “auto” (diamond) button to have FontLab generate what it thinks are the right flags, and you can set them manually. The information will be stored in the OS/2 table of the exported OpenType font.

Features checkbox in the content sidebar»

The Features checkbox in the content sidebar not only allows you to enable and disable OpenType Layout features, but also activates the HarfBuzz-based Unicode text preprocessing (script itemization, bidirectional support and Unicode normalization).

Previously, you could only enable the Features checkbox if you had features defined in the Features panel. Now, you can enable the checkbox even if you don’t have any features defined, so you can use the Unicode preprocessing and bidirectional support.

Note: Bidirectional/RTL support is still flaky in this release, we’re working on it!

CID-keyed glyph names»

When importing CID-keyed PostScript fonts, there is a new option for whether glyphs should be named based on FontLab’s regular glyph naming heuristics, or by CID number, in Preferences > Open Fonts: “Change CID names to Unicode names when Unicode index is known.” This preference is on by default.

Enhancements»

Mask»

  • Previously, with mask layer visible and Edit Across Layers mode off, nodes from the mask layer were visible while editing outlines on another layer. Now, if you select nodes on the mask layer and switch back to another layer with Tools > Edit Mask, the associated handles from the mask layer are still visible (as in FontLab Studio 5). Handles on your drawing layer can then snap to the handles from the mask layer.

Drawing»

  • Edit > Find Outline search can be done for all glyphs or just for glyphs with a given tag.
  • Contour direction no longer affects the reported angle of node handles (visible on mouse hover or when handles are selected).
  • Free Transform now has a proxy to select the origin of the transformation, like the other transform modes/tools.

Guides»

  • You can now select different elements with the Guide tool, which is useful for quickly editing element guides.
  • When Element tool is active and Edit Across Elements mode is on, all element guides are visible.

Stroke»

  • FontLab applies strokes to elements after element transformations, similar to most drawing programs.
  • Expand operation produces more predictable results, works with element groups, and can be applied in the font window.
  • New Element > Remove Stroke command will remove stroke from the currently active element, or from all glyphs selected in font window.

Bug Fixes»

  • No longer causes a crash
  • Importing SVG artwork into more than one glyph cell at a time no longer causes a crash.
  • Tracing some particular image elements no longer causes a crash.
  • Repeatedly deleting elements no longer causes a crash.
  • Removing glyphs from an OpenType class no longer causes a crash.
  • Scripts listed in Scripts menu work properly, including submenus for folders.
  • When opening an existing font in OTF format, FontLab maintains the existing glyph index (GID) order.
  • In text sidebar, fixed interaction between escaped glyph names using “/” in main area, and glyphs entered in “left” and “right” fields.
  • Preferences for distances moved by cursor keys now also apply to moving guides, anchors and pins.
  • Right handle for sidebearing shows the resulting metrics live, while it is being moved.
  • Guides
  • Tags for guides are properly saved with the font, avoiding changes in guide colors.
  • No crash when adding several tags to guides using pop-up field from property bar.
  • Copy and paste are accepted in guide tag fields.
  • Typing is not slowed in guides pop-up field from property bar.
  • Element guides don’t move while editing contour.
  • Glyph position and zoom in glyph window are better preserved while cycling between glyphs with comma and period keys, including blank glyphs.
  • Zooming/scrolling in the glyph window works correctly even with unusually large elements.
  • Recompile OpenType features works even when ssXX features are named.
  • PythonQt nested widgets within widgets now have correct behavior for error messages and print commands, in the inner widget (directing stdout/stderr).
  • An “Instance font” created in variations panel retains glyph flags.
  • Text no longer “jumps” when its size is changed in a glyph window in metrics mode, but remains more centered/visible.
  • Improved centering of glyph when cycling through different glyphs in a Glyph Window.
  • Changing the OpenType class of a glyph is saved correctly in VFC files.
  • Changing glyph advance width to zero is saved correctly in VFC files.
  • Minimized glyph window does not become unreachable.
  • Edit > Paste Glyph Reference now correctly pastes a glyph reference instead of an unlinked glyph.
  • Placing a guide over a locked alignment zone no longer allows the locked zone to be moved.
  • Unusual/arbitrary weight values (usWeightClass) such as “401” are preserved in exported fonts.
  • Improved/fixed snap behavior with vector guides.
  • Glyph metrics now processed correctly when horizontal mirroring is applied to glyphs in the Font Window.