Very nice!

Geez Adam, I already bought it! :-)

Thanks for all your good work and for being a good sport about my friendly jibes about when the Mac version would be available. I asked if would be available by Christmas. You didn’t answer then but you did it!

I downloaded it within seconds of your post after seeing Miss Tiffany’s announcement. As soon as the serial numbers arrive, I will take it for a spin.

ChrisL

Just got my serial numbers. That was way faster than the couple of hours your web site said it would take!

Thanks FL Gang!

ChrisL

I have it! Really good!

BTW what about printed user manual?

David,

the printed user manual will be available soon from OnDemandManuals.com.

Adam

where’s the color (nodes - no more green, red) ; and the nodes - too small; any way to change that?

edit: Thank you Adam.

another question:
where’s: Tools > Transform —> Select an action:

Check the Glyph window page in Preferences.

Very nice!

...except for FogLamp, which —at $79.00—is somewhat of a rip...

Thanks Yuri

edit: false alarm. I see the ’ Tools > Transform —> Select an action:’

Congratulations and thank you Yuri and the FontLab team for bringing this great new tool to us Mac users.

I do have one comment about a new feature which was (I believe) based on a suggestion of mine...the “neighbors” feature.

Would it be possible to make it just a bit more interactive?

As it is, the “neighbors” are loaded when FontLab starts up from the file “neighbors.txt”. If you want to see different neighbors next to a glyph, it seems that you must quit FontLab, alter the text file, and start FontLab up again. However, I did discover an undocumented feature (at least it’s not mentioned in the manual): Control-clicking on a neighbor and choosing “Choose...” from the pop-up menu opens a “Choose neighbor” dialog box. Wonderful, except this choice only applies to the right-hand neighbor. There does not seem to be any way to choose a different left-hand neighbor.

There ought to be an easy way to choose neighbors as you are working. The undocumented “Choose neighbor” function is close. Ideally, there would be two text fields at the top of the Glyph window or on a palette in which you could type the names of the two neighbors.

The separate text file is a nice idea, but having a different semi-permanent pair of neighbors for every glyph is not really how I imagined something like this would work. For me, it would be better if there was a global pair of neighbors which remained the same as I go from glyph to glyph, especially if they could easily be changed as I worked. An external list could be used the same way as the metrics strings, where you can choose them from a pop-up menu.

Anyway, this is not to diminish what a big step forward this new version represents, but I hope you think about my suggestion. There is a lot to like about this release. I’ve already purchased and installed the upgrade.

In Win version you can also drag-drop glyphs from FW onto right or left neighbors. But I need to check if it is implemented on Mac the same way :-)

support++

Btw, this is important info for all beta testers: you have to remove this file before installing release:
/user/library/application support/fonlab/studio5/workspaces/currentworkspace.rc

Also you cannot import any saved workspaces or preference files, due to some bug (fixed in late beta versions) .rc files and preferences files are not compatible with the release version.

support—

In Win version you can also drag-drop glyphs from FW onto right or left neighbors. But I need to check if it is implemented on Mac the same way :-)

Brilliant! Yes, it does work on the Mac version, too. That’s a big help. Thanks!

But also think about the global neighbors idea if you would. Maybe it could just be a check box somewhere that makes the current pair persist as you move through the glyphs.

I’ve got one, and maybe I’m missing something when it comes to “Customize” but...
Is there a keystroke, or a way to make one, that will open a new metrics window?

...and I have a problem with ’Import > EPS’ (AI CS2)

open new metrics window: there is no standard shortcut, but you can easily add one using the Customize feature.

import EPS: it should be AI8 EPS. If it will not read it, send me one.

Working fine with AI8 EPS. Thanks Yuri.

Yuri -

Ok, got it. It was just a little sticky at first. Thanks

> you must quit FontLab, alter the text file,
> and start FontLab up again

Entering and leaving Preferences should do the trick as well (if you modify the neighbors.txt file externally). Otherwise, just drag-and-drop onto the neighbor.

Adam

You left out the part where I said “it seems that...” :-)

Thanks for the tip, Adam. I’ll try that.

> You left out the part where I said “it seems that…”

:) In my last eight years of using FontLab, I learned that there are things in it that were not dreamt of...

When Yuri does his presentations, I always watch him carefully. Sometimes, he presses an akward keyboard combination and — ta da — a top secret feature is revealed that I never knew it existed.

I can’t promise it, but I’ll try to make sure that Fontlab Ltd. don’t have _undocumented_ features! :)

Adam

I still keep hoping that if I stumble across the occult key combination I will activate the interactive, voice activated ’design my typeface for me’. I have not found it yet. Maybe you need to be double jointed.

John: FYI, Letterror just announced a new python plugin, Robointern. It is a voice activated “design my typeface for me” feature in .ufo format. You draw 10 signature glyphs, then say: “make it so, number one” and it spits out the Devanagari companion font.

Randy,
Sounds like a one trick pony to me :-)

ChrisL

This is probably not the correct time and place for this kind of question, but could someone explain what has happend to the Zoom feature under the View menu? I was using Command-+/- to zoom in and out. I guess I should RTFM some more, but I’m not finding it.
Do other users simply not zoom around as much as me, or do they have another way of doing it? There’s not magnifying glass tool, is there?

Try Command-spacebar with plus or minus or command -spacebar and drag a rectangle.

ChrisL

The z and x keys by themselves allow for zoom in and out, and they function while you are using other tools. Easily one of the best features of FontLab, and it has been around forever.

James

I use both.
You can customize “Command -” and “Command +” into the FLS5.

Eric, the Command+ wasn’t working on my Mac for some reason. Either way, it’s good that I asked because I didn’t know about the Command-Spacebar. Thanks a lot. Again, I’m sure this stuff is in the manual... I think I once saw a single page with most of the useful FL keyboard shortcuts, but now I can’t recall what happened to it.

Since shortcuts in FLS are customizable, we don’t have single table which lists all shortcuts (in FL 4.6 they were listed in separate tech note). Instead, Customize dialog box has Print option :-)

Speaking of Command-Spacebar (another zoom I use all the time) has anyone noticed that just pressing Command brings up the Magic Wand? Kind of a problem because unless you hit the Command-Spacebar just right, you may end up with the Wand. Additionally, after doing the initial zoom-in with Command-Spacebar the magnifier will turn into the Wand even though the keys haven’t been released yet. Is there a way to Customize away the Wand from this key? It’s already mapped to the 4 key so this seems redundant.

Adam and/or Yuri,

Do you happen to know when TypeTool will be updated? Thanks!

> Do you happen to know when TypeTool will be updated?

When it is ready ;)

A.

“When it is ready ;)”

Hmmmm, that sounds familiar :-)

ChrisL

Is there an update planned for FLS 5 for Mac?
Man, this thing is buggy.

Adam,

Thanks, that means you’re working on it? :-)

Selecting a point and right clicking, under various mice and various typefaces, will cause FLS 5 to crash each time. Is this happening to anyone else?

Right clicking on a point seems to be working okay for me.

>Selecting a point and right clicking, under various mice and various typefaces, will cause FLS 5 to crash each time. Is this happening to anyone else?

Try to kill preferences and .rc file (as suggested in one of my messages above).

Btw, we are working on 5.0.1 update and hope to have it released before end of the year.

> Try to kill preferences and .rc file (as suggested in one of my messages above).

This works. Thanks Yuri.

I’ve got another one. Is there a way to open the font window without it appearing so wide each time? After it’s open you can right click and select Width but is there a way to have it open as in 4.6 (roughly 16 cells)?

I’ve been trying to continue working on an in-progress face using FLS5 Mac. I must admit that it is frustrating. It is such a huge change in interface from 4.6 that it is like a completely new program to learn. Mostly, I just can’t find things without a search. I bought 4.6 about a year and a half ago and quickly learned it well enough out of the box to design a multi-lingual type family in 5 weights and italic. I am having more trouble with the transition from 4.6 to 5.0 than I did starting off on 4.6 cold. Is this just my post sedation induced stupidity or does any other Mac user who was not a beta tester have problems too?

I would be curious to know from FL developers what rationale they used to overhaul the interface?

A simple example: in 4.6 I could select a point and hit delete and the point and the 2 line segments on either side would be deleted. In FLS5, when I do the same only the points go away as if I had used the eraser tool on them in 4.6. Where is the eraser tool? How do I now delete line segments? Why is this better?

ChrisL

I’m having a tough time too, but I’m hanging in there... mostly.
I’v been in FLS5 for a few hours each day all week before I get frustrated and switch back to 4.6.

Aside from the giant font window I mentioned above, the layers are bugging me. If I copy something from the outline layer, switch to the mask and hit paste I get nothing. You have to click on the actual glyph window that’s now the layer. Yikes. Same goes for vice versa.

Additionally, I swear some key strokes have to be hit twice before they work. Simple things like Select All. All this said, I’m still hanging in there, mostly...

Hello Chris,
you can go back to the old delete function in the preferences/Glyph window/advanced/edit/delete command breaks conture. I could not live without it. Do you know where the arrows are to go to next and previous characters?
Hubert

“Do you know where the arrows are to go to next and previous characters?”

Nope, and I don’t know where the “font info” button is either.

Thanks for the deletion tip you found buried 5 levels deep in preferences. :-)

ChrisL

Font Info button — click into the little button top-right of the Glyph Window (right above the vertical scrollbar), then the Glyph Window’s toolbar looks like in FL4.6. (I find the new bottom toolbar more logical though. I don’t know the shortcut, but this may be another option to access it.)

Same for the Metrics/Kerning Panel — there’s everything to “simulate” the FL4.6 interface. E.g. try the three buttons to the right of this window’s top toolbar.

It’s worth consulting the manual. It may have some pages more, but is better than the former one. Also, it has very useful technical background information, like the information on unicode or recommendations for naming fonts, even many links to specifications.

It took me quite a while to get accustomed to FLS5 too. Moreover, I used it first on a WinXP PC — and the last Windows I touched was 3.1. That was rather horrific at first.
However, once you got it, you would not want to return to FL4.6, just as I never dreamed of going back from FL4.6 to Fontographer, or from OS X to OS 9, or from InDesign to PageMaker ... It’s different worlds.

Karsten

Thanks Karsten, I’ll try to persevere. It is just hard to take the productivity drop :-)

ChrisL

PS: I never dreamed of going back to Quark either :-)

Adam Twardoch referred to this PDF in another thread:
http://www.twardoch.com/download/unicode2005_fontlab5.pdf
Aside from information in condensed form, p17 shows Lucas de Groot’s one-image manual for the Metrics/Kerning Panel. Very useful.

About kerning in FLS5, see Adam Twardoch’s posts to this recent thread:
http://typophile.com/node/16413
Especially the description of three kerning modes — search for “there are three kerning modes”.

For those who use it, this is about installing RoboFab with FLS5 Mac:
http://just.letterror.com/ltrwiki/RoboFab_2fFontLabStudio5?

Oh yes, it is dangerous to update anything if you have to finish something in time.
But it seems that both versions can be installed at the same time (I hope I don’t tell nonsense), so you can draw and finish a job in FL4.6, and play with FLS5 at night or use it for generating fonts which is much easier than with FL4.6 — and by the way find that FLS5 is much better. :)

Karsten,
THANK YOU! You addressed many of my most urgent concerns in your last 2 posts! I am sure others will also benefit from your taking the time to post.

You are a true gentleman and a scholar:-)

ChrisL

Do you know where the arrows are to go to next and previous characters?

comma and period (i believe)

“comma and period (i believe)”

Curious choice.

ChrisL

well if you hold shift down, you get < and > respectively. >^P

“well if you hold shift down, you get < and > respectively. >^P”

Doh! :-)

ChrisL

Paul,

I think what hubertjocham and I were really refering to is the icon “Next/Previous” arrow iconbs that used to be in the upper left corner (not the keyboard command).

ChrisL

aha. you’ll find those buried in preferences too. under customize> commands, you’ll see the arrows in a box to the right. drag them from there to your toolbar. i think i had to do that for a couple things as well, including the magic wand...

I guess I am wondering about the decision making as to what was to be default and what was to be banished to the bowels of preferences. I know I am not the model user so I don’t expect FL5 to be designed for me. I just wonder what prompted removal of certain things. I would have welcomed removing the typical ” cut copy paste print save” icons which I never use since keyboard commands for all Mac programs cover the same turf.
I think the default settings should present what was there before with everything open so you can see it. The Metrics window should come default with the table of metrics above it open. Why the text entering field was moved below and right and made smaller makes no sense to me.

Oh well, I’ll just have to forget everything I learned in 4.6 last year and start over as if I never touched the program.

ChrisL

you want the text up top? hit the button at the top right of the text field that looks like a grey & white window. although i like it on bottom and i like all the new features available with this configuration.

Thanks Paul!

ChrisL

>Do you know where the arrows are to go to next and previous characters?

On Mac OSX, use the scroll wheel with the command key to go back and forth on characters. Really efficient.