Re: Standard space again

[Mark Barratt <markb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Victor Caston wrote:
> >The actual visual value of the space also depends on the kern-pair
> >settings. Some fonts have kern values for letter-space and
> >punctuation-space pairs. If you want to be appalled, try setting 'off.
> >When' in Monotype Bembo with kerning switched on.
> 
> That is pretty striking. But what do you do in this case? Have you
> gone in and modified the kerning values (with FontLab or
> Fontographer)?
> 
> I've been interested in learning more about how to kern properly, but
> haven't found any good references so far.

If I'm working in Frame with a badly-kerned font I either switch kerning
off or fix everything manually using fixed-width spaces where there are
unfortunate results.

For me, life's too short to start rebuilding kern-pairs within the
fonts, and I get very nervous about managing font-variants that are
almost identical.

If you have the dedication, you might find Association Typographique
Internationale (http://www.atypi.org) useful. Most professional font
designers (as well as lots of typographers and font-tool builders) are
members and it has a private member mailing list where people are
patient and helpful. 

-- 
Mark Barratt
Text Matters
phone +44 (0)118 986 8313
fax +44 (0)118 931 3743
email markb@textmatters.com
web http://www.textmatters.com

** To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@omsys.com **
** with "unsubscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.   **