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<H1 ALIGN=Center>
The Metrics View
</H1>
<P>
<IMG SRC="MetricsView.png" WIDTH="479" HEIGHT="331">
<P>
The metrics view allows you to examine how glyphs look together and to alter
the spacing between them. You may apply various OpenType features to those
glyphs and see how they are altered.
<P>
If the metrics view is created from the font view then any selected glyphs
(well, the first 15 or so) will be displayed in the view in the order they
were selected. If it is created from an outline or bitmap glyph view then
only that glyph is displayed. If it is created from a bitmap glyph view (or
from the font view when that view is displaying a bitmap font) then the metrics
view will display bitmaps, but will not allow you to edit the bitmaps metrics
(you must do your metrics editing in a view displaying outlines).
<P>
Underneath the menu bar is a series of fields. The first shows the current
script and language combination being used to determine what lookups to apply
within the selected features, the next is a text field which allows you to
enter additional unicode characters to be displayed, and finally there is
a pulldown list of lookup subtables, this will be used if you create a kerning
pair (the kerning pair will become part of that subtable). Underneath that
is a list showing all features defined in the font. You may select which
ones you want to be active in this display. (Note the features are listed
in alphabetic order -- this is not the order in which the lookups will be
executed (or not usually the order)).
<P>
If you wish to enter non-unicode characters you may drag them from the font
view and drop them into the metrics view where you want them to go.
<P>
The mid portion of the view is taken up with the displayed glyphs. For outline
glyphs these are sized so that the em-height of the font just fits in this
region. There are grey lines between the glyphs marking the origin of the
glyph on the right and the width of the glyph on the left. The baseline is
also drawn in grey.
<P>
One of the glyphs is active. That glyph has a green line on its left (at
its origin) and a blue line on its right (its width). You may change the
width by dragging this line. You may change the left side bearing (lbearing)
of the glyph by clicking on the glyph and dragging it left or right. You
may change the kerning between this glyph and the one to its left by dragging
the green line around. (If you wish to create a <A HREF="#DeviceTable">Device
Table</A> for small pixel sizes you must use the
<A HREF="metricsview.html#kernpair">Kern Pair Closeup dialog</A>)
<TABLE BORDER CELLPADDING="2">
<CAPTION>
Kerning
</CAPTION>
<TR>
<TD><IMG SRC="To-unkerned.png" WIDTH="204" HEIGHT="323"></TD>
<TD><IMG SRC="To-kerned.png" WIDTH="204" HEIGHT="323"></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
The active glyph may be changed by clicking on any of the glyphs.
<P>
Underneath the display area are a set of text fields. You may type in new
numbers for any of these fields to change the corresponding metrics of the
glyph.
<P>
If the first glyph to be displayed is in Hebrew or Arabic (or any other right
to left language) then the entire display area will be shown right to left
<P>
<STRONG>Note</STRONG> there is a very complicated algorithm given in the
Unicode spec for displaying mixed right to left and left to right passages.
This is not followed here. The direction determination is done by the first
glyph alone.
<P>
<IMG SRC="VerticalMetrics.png" WIDTH="270" HEIGHT="573" ALIGN="Right"><IMG
SRC="HebrewMetrics.png" WIDTH="511" HEIGHT="323">
<P>
You can make the window display vertical metrics and kerning by
View->Vertical. (This is only available if your font has vertical metrics
enabled, Element->Font Info->General->Has Vertical Metrics). In
this mode you can change vertical width, vertical kerning, etc.
<P>
If you double click on one of the displayed glyphs then FontForge will bring
up a outline glyph view to allow you to edit that glyph.
<P>
<IMG SRC="MetricsView-features.png" WIDTH="463" HEIGHT="330" ALIGN="Left"><BR
CLEAR=RIGHT>
In the example at left, the input text is an "f" followed by an "i", and
as the 'liga' feature is turned on, this becomes the "fi" ligature. Then
an "a" followed by a "b", but as the 'smcp' (small caps) feature is on these
become small-caps letters rather than lower case. Finally "1", "/" and "2"
were entered, and as the 'frac' (diagonal fractions) feature is turned on
these three input glyphs become the onehalf glyph on output.
<P>
Note: This windows is not a full blown layout engine. All the glyphs will
be treated as if they were in the same script, and all features will be applied
to all glyphs.<BR CLEAR=ALL>
<H2>
<A NAME="Entering">Entering non-ASCII characters</A>
</H2>
<P>
Most of us are stuck with keyboards that only have ASCII characters on them.
Or at best some sub-set of ISO 8859-1 characters. How can the full range
of unicode characters be entered?
<P>
X supplies a sophisticated mechanism for entering CJK characters via stand-alone
<A HREF="xim.html">input method servers</A>. FontForge supports this to some
extent now.
<P>
Aside from that, many versions of X supply a "Compose Character" key, or
something equivalent. The X software will map a sequence of keystrokes to
one character in whatever the native encoding may be.
<P>
My keyboard doesn't have such a key, and my X doesn't do this. But I have
implemented something along those lines for those of us with less expensive
keyboards. If you are in a mode where text entry is possible then press the
F12 key and follow it by a series of keystrokes. Accented characters may
be built using the following:
<TABLE CELLPADDING="2">
<TR>
<TD> </TD>
<TD>`</TD>
<TD>grave accent</TD>
<TD> </TD>
<TD>0</TD>
<TD>ring</TD>
<TD> </TD>
<TD>"</TD>
<TD>double grave (or tonos)</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>'</TD>
<TD>acute accent</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>/</TD>
<TD>slash</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>.</TD>
<TD>dot above</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>:</TD>
<TD>diaeresis (umlaut)</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>7</TD>
<TD>breve</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>,</TD>
<TD>dot below</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>^</TD>
<TD>circumflex</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>6</TD>
<TD>caron</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>5</TD>
<TD>cedilla</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>~</TD>
<TD>tilde</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>_</TD>
<TD>macron</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>4</TD>
<TD>ogonec</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
So  may be built by <KBD>[F12] ^ A</KBD>, and A with diaeresis and
macron may be built with <KBD>[F12] : _ A</KBD>.
<P>
Greek letters may also be created. If you start with <KBD>[F12] @</KBD> and
follow with:
<TABLE CELLPADDING="2">
<TR>
<TD> </TD>
<TD>A</TD>
<TD>Alpha</TD>
<TD> </TD>
<TD>B</TD>
<TD>Beta</TD>
<TD> </TD>
<TD>C</TD>
<TD>Chi</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>D</TD>
<TD>Delta</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>E</TD>
<TD>Epsilon</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>F</TD>
<TD>Phi</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>G</TD>
<TD>Gamma</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>H</TD>
<TD>Eta</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>I</TD>
<TD>Iota</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>J</TD>
<TD>(technical) Theta</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>K</TD>
<TD>Kappa</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>L</TD>
<TD>Lamda</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>M</TD>
<TD>Mu</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>N</TD>
<TD>Nu</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>O</TD>
<TD>Omicron</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>P</TD>
<TD>Pi</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>Q</TD>
<TD>Theta</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>R</TD>
<TD>Rho</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>S</TD>
<TD>Sigma</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>T</TD>
<TD>Tau</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>U</TD>
<TD>Upsilon</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>V</TD>
<TD>final sigma</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>W</TD>
<TD>Omega</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>X</TD>
<TD>Xi</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>Y</TD>
<TD>Psi</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>Z</TD>
<TD>Zeta</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
This is the mapping used by the Symbol font. (Lower case letters are created
similarly so <KBD>[F12] @ a</KBD> yields a lower case alpha). Accented greek
letters may also be built up, <KBD>[F12] @ " A</KBD> yields Alpha tonos.
<P>
Finally the following special characters may be built:
<TABLE CELLPADDING="2">
<TR>
<TD> </TD>
<TD>[F12] <space></TD>
<TD><no break space></TD>
<TD> </TD>
<TD>[F12] *</TD>
<TD>°</TD>
<TD> </TD>
<TD>[F12] @ *</TD>
<TD><bullet></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] @ <space></TD>
<TD><em space></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] #</TD>
<TD>£</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] @ #</TD>
<TD>¥</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] $</TD>
<TD><euro></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] @ $</TD>
<TD>¢</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] !</TD>
<TD>¡</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] +</TD>
<TD>±</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] -</TD>
<TD><soft-hyphen></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] @ -</TD>
<TD><en dash></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] @ .</TD>
<TD>·</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] 7 2</TD>
<TD>½</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] ;</TD>
<TD>. . .</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] <</TD>
<TD><less or equal></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] ></TD>
<TD><greater or equal></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] @ ></TD>
<TD><triangle bullet></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] =</TD>
<TD><quote dash></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] ?</TD>
<TD>¿</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] A</TD>
<TD>Å</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] C</TD>
<TD>Ç</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] H</TD>
<TD><right index></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] O</TD>
<TD><OE lig></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] P</TD>
<TD>§</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] [</TD>
<TD><single right quote></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] ]</TD>
<TD><single right quote></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] \</TD>
<TD>«</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] @ \</TD>
<TD><single guillemot></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] a</TD>
<TD>å</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] c</TD>
<TD>ç</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] f</TD>
<TD><female sign></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] g</TD>
<TD>©</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] h</TD>
<TD><left index></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] m</TD>
<TD><male sign></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] o</TD>
<TD><oe lig></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] p</TD>
<TD>¶</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] r</TD>
<TD>®</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] s</TD>
<TD>ß</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] t</TD>
<TD>TM</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] z</TD>
<TD><long s></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] {</TD>
<TD><left dbl quote></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] }</TD>
<TD><right dbl quote></TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] |</TD>
<TD>»</TD>
<TD></TD>
<TD>[F12] @ |</TD>
<TD><right single guillemot></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
This still misses most unicode characters. But pressing [F12] twice will
bring up a dialog which will allow you to select any character in unicode.
<P>
If you type [F12] by mistake then an Escape will get you out of accent mode.
<H2>
<A NAME="kernclass">Kerning By Class</A>
</H2>
<P>
Often it is a good idea to create classes of glyphs which kern alike. For
example A, À, Á, Â, Â, Ã and Ä probably
all kern alike (but note that o and ô probably kern quite differently
after a T), and rather than create separate kerning pairs for each of the
"A"s above, they could all be placed in a class of glyphs which kern alike.
<P>
<IMG SRC="kernbyclasses.png" ALIGN="Right" WIDTH="314" HEIGHT="271">The
Metrics->Kern By Class command (or indirectly through Element->Font
Info->Lookups) provides an interface to this. It brings up a dialog showing
the kerning classes currently defined for the font (it labels them according
to their lookup subtable). You can create new classes (by creating a new
lookup subtable), delete existing classes, or change existing classes.
<P>
<IMG SRC="kerningclass.png" WIDTH="564" HEIGHT="492" ALIGN="Left">Each kerning
class belongs to to a <A HREF="lookups.html">lookup subtable</A> and the
subtable name is displayed at the top of the dialog.
<P>
But the more interesting stuff follows this. A kerning class actually consists
of two sets of classes -- one set for the first glyph of the pair and one
for the second glyph of the pair. Under each list of classes are buttons
for adding new classes, and editing or deleting old ones. A glyph class consists
of a space separated list of glyph names.
<P>
Pressing [New] or [Edit] displays another dlg containing a text field with
a list of glyph names. You may type in glyph names, or you may [Set] the
glyph list to the names of the glyphs selected in the font view. Similarly
the [Select] button will set the font view's selection to match the list
of glyph names.
<P>
The kerning classes can be fairly complex. You can search for a glyph by
typing its name in the "Select Glyph" field. This will highlight the class
containing that glyph.
<P>
Class 0 is usually magic. You almost never set it, it contains any glyphs
not mentioned elsewhere. In OpenType, class 0 of the first character can
be set and behaves normally.
<P>
Underneath the classes is a display of kerning values. The possible first
glyph classes are listed vertically, the possible second glyph classes are
listed horizontally. When you select a class (in one of the class lists above)
the display of kerning values will scroll to display that class. If you move
the mouse into the display and let it rest, a popup window will appear showing
the glyphs that make up the classes which intersect at that point. If you
click on a kerning value in the display, the dlg changes to a kerning dialog.
<BR Clear=ALL>
<P>
<IMG SRC="kerningclass-kern.png" WIDTH="515" HEIGHT="337" ALIGN="Right">The
kerning dialog displays a representative glyph from each class and allows
you to adjust the kerning between them (and all other class members of each
class). You can select which glyphs to display in the pulldown menus. You
can enter a new kerning offset by typing in a value, or you can click on
the second glyph of the kern pair and drag it around.
<P>
You can also create something called a "<A NAME="DeviceTable">Device
Table</A>", a name which is not very informative. When a font is rasterized
at small pixel sizes rounding errors become important, and this is particularly
true of kerning, there are three things that get rounded: The locations of
the outlines (to fit them to a pixel grid), the advance widths of the glyphs,
and the kerning value itself. The result is that something which looks perfectly
kerned at 150pixels may be either too close or too far apart at 12pixels
<TABLE ALIGN=CENTER CELLPADDING="2">
<TR>
<TD><IMG SRC="kern-We-150.png" WIDTH="170" HEIGHT="131"></TD>
<TD><P ALIGN=Center>
<IMG SRC="kern-We-12.png" WIDTH="32" HEIGHT="26"></TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN="Top">
<TD><P ALIGN=Center>
Kerning at 150 pixels</TD>
<TD><P ALIGN=Center>
Kerning at 12 pixels<BR>
(magnified by 2)</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
You could adjust the kerning value slightly until it looked right at 12pixels,
of course, but that might break it at 14 pixels. So OpenType has the concept
of a Device Table which allows you to add small corrections at particular
point sizes. Simply set the Display Size to a small, but common, value (say
10-24) and examine the kerning. If the results are ugly type a value into
the "Device Table Correction" field, and this will change the spacing by
that many pixels at the given display size (and no other). In the case above
a correction of 1 would be appropriate for the 12px display.
<P>
Because small pixel sizes can be hard to examine you can change the magnification
(rasterized at the same size, but each pixel made twice as big).
<P>
<A HREF="metricsview.html#DeviceTable">Device Tables</A> may also be created
in a number of other cases. The example above was for a kerning class.
<A NAME="kernpair">Kerning pairs</A> may also have tables attached to them
with the Metrics->Kern Pair Closeup dialog, which looks similar to the
Kerning Class dialog above.
<P ALIGN=Center>
<IMG SRC="kernpairclose.png" WIDTH="560" HEIGHT="284">
<P>
<BR>
<P>
<P>
<P ALIGN=Center>
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