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  1. #31
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    Default Re: It's not just a good idea: it's the Rule

    The answer is "yes", Frances, but not necessarily, "Yes, you should."

    There is literally no difference in coding between a font you create and any other font you want to embed using Web Designer MX. So in practice, it works.

    But just as you need a compelling reason to post a 5MB JPEG image on a website, you need a compelling reason to (sometimes marginally) slow down the loading of your website, if it's "glamour factor", and you don't have a solid artistic and/or commercial reason for embedding a typeface.

    The way a font destined for the web needs to be crafted takes time, skill, patience, and a little learning. The very first thing you need to know is about unit height and how a typeface displays on a webpage. If, for example, you build a font whose cap height is 627 units, I think you might be able to image how the font will render onscreen at 12 or 14 points. "The math is wrong", and you'll probably get a line of pixels within the font that is unwanted because the web browser can't reconcile the math.

    You are also well-advised to pack everything you can imagine into a typeface used on the web. For example, on the Xara Xone, one of the fonts has a complete set of bulleted numbers and other glyphs you see all the time done as GIF bullets. This means that only one fetch needs to be done to get the font and a lot of the re-occuring dings we have on the pages.

    And I'm not an expert on this stuff, but I do know how to do web fonts inexpertly and just plain wrong. I'm still working on one of the fonts we use, the hinting isn't quite right, but all website building is a WIP anyhow, isn't it?

    My Best,

    Gary

  2. #32
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    Default Re: It's not just a good idea: it's the Rule

    Thanks for this Gary, right now I'm just looking at options and one thing I was thinking is that if a custom font is done well it could give a website a unique look. Of course if not done well it could be quite the opposite!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    My current Xara software: Designer Pro 365 12.6

    Good Morning Sunshine.ca | Good Morning Sunshine Online(a weekly humorous publication created with XDP and exported as a web document) | Angelize Online resource shop | My Video Tutorials | My DropBox |
    Autocorrect: It can be your worst enema.

  3. #33
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    Default Re: It's not just a good idea: it's the Rule

    You are 100% correct in theory!

    I mean this sans any sarcasm.

    -g-
    Last edited by Gare; 01 April 2012 at 09:00 PM.

  4. #34

    Question Re: It's not just a good idea: it's the Rule

    Hi again.

    I've been asked a question I can't answer about this new font.

    I must be thick, but the thing I still don't know is this:

    In TT, for example, how do I assign one of the new squiggles to, say key combination Alt+f, for example?

    How would I find out which 'box' to put the squiggle in? I can see how it all goes for all the ordinary keys (that is, can't, but I don't have to), but how do I find out all the possible key combinations and which keys they map to? Sorry if this sounds obvious, but at the moment it still isn't to me!

    Regards

    Staggers

  5. #35
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    Default Re: It's not just a good idea: it's the Rule

    Hi Staggers,

    Most programs use the Alt keys and a letter to access menu items for example Alt-f accesses the File Menu in most applications.

    I would recommend you stay away from using Alt and Ctrl key combinations because their use will conflict with the Operating System/Application keyboard shortcuts.
    Soquili
    a.k.a. Bill Taylor
    Bill is no longer with us. He died on 10 Dec 2012. We remember him always.
    My TG Album
    Last XaReg update

  6. #36

    Question Re: It's not just a good idea: it's the Rule

    Quote Originally Posted by Soquili View Post
    Hi Staggers,

    Most programs use the Alt keys and a letter to access menu items for example Alt-f accesses the File Menu in most applications.

    I would recommend you stay away from using Alt and Ctrl key combinations because their use will conflict with the Operating System/Application keyboard shortcuts.
    Yes, I thought that was probably the case. That was just a top of the head example.

    But in any event, some combinations will be needed, and are completely unavoidable, in fact, short of an entirely new keyboard being invented with several extra keys!

    And, as I say, how on earth do I discover what combinations are possible, and where they are in the font? Or do I literally have to go to a key combination that I may want to use, see if that produces anything on the screen, and then find that in the map, and replace it with the character I do want?

    I don't especially care what combinations would need to be used (as long as they're logical to the purpose) but I just can't find that information.

    Regards


    staggers.

  7. #37
    Join Date
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    Default Re: It's not just a good idea: it's the Rule

    Use Google search.

    Windows keyboard shortcuts brings up over 2 Million hits. One is this Microsoft location:
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449

    If you know which application the font is to be used you can search for the keyboard shortcuts for that application.
    For example a search for Word keyboard shortcuts returns over 3 Million hits. The Microsoft page is at:
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290938

    Check with the person requesting the font about what applications he will use.
    Soquili
    a.k.a. Bill Taylor
    Bill is no longer with us. He died on 10 Dec 2012. We remember him always.
    My TG Album
    Last XaReg update

  8. #38

    Default Re: It's not just a good idea: it's the Rule

    Thanks, but Windows keyboard shortcuts to do things in the system or programs isn't what I want, except for elimination purposes (!). Believe me, I've never stopped Googling for what I'm trying to find out, to no avail so far.

    Very simply (although I'm starting to think this may not be the case), in the same way that, in the new font, I type letter 'A' and get the new font version of it, I also need to be able to type some new characters that have never existed before. SO somehow they have to be mapped to key combinations. My problem is, how do I find out where on the keyboard (if anywhere) I can map them to?

    When creating a font using Type Tool, for example, I can replace the letter A with something else, and I know that if I now hit the letter A key, that this something else will come up instead. But how do I know what other keys and key combinations relate to particular places in the font, so that I can put things in previously empty places and know which key(s) to hit to produce them?



    Regards


    Staggers.
    Last edited by staggers; 02 April 2012 at 01:35 PM. Reason: Hit send key before ready.

  9. #39
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    Default Re: It's not just a good idea: it's the Rule

    Hi Staggers—

    Bill provided some good links there.

    As they apply to Type Tool, what you might want to do is assign squiggles to extended keyboard registers.

    If you're not familiar with this, some (but not all) typefaces carry the ¼, ½, and ¾ fractions. Obviously, if you can read what I've written, your browser supports a typeface with these extended characters. Other extended characters are daggers, ellipses, guillemots (French quote marks), and about 20 or more neat glyphs.

    The point I'm making here is you take your squiggles and assign them to these registers. Set the button at top right on your font to DECIMAL instead of NAME, and you'll clearly see the key codes, for example, the ellipse slot is 133 (you press Alt, tap 0133, release Alt) Then to access the squiggles, you have your client:

    1.) Hold Alt.

    2.) Type out a four number sequence on the num keypad.

    3.) Release the Alt key.

    Right now, with the font you're seeing on the forum, try 0162....it will produce a ¢ (cents) symbol.

    Then you can charge your client extra for a key guide to the typeface.

    —Gary

  10. #40

    Question Re: It's not just a good idea: it's the Rule

    Quote Originally Posted by Gare View Post
    Hi Staggers——Gary

    Great, the long reply I just typed you vanished into the ether. So here's a shorter version. Will sound abrupt but don't mean to, just a bit fed up!

    the Alt+Code option is simply not an option to the client. They want the new stuff available on the keyboard in as few strokes as possible. THey will be used permanently and often. There's talk of marking the keys with the extra symbols if usable combinations can be found.

    So, it looks as if I can't directly map things that aren't on the kb - either normal key or Shift+key, except if I replace stuff that's already there. The problem is that this is all in addition to everything on the existing keyboard.

    So then, is it possible, once a font has been created, to have a program where new combinations can be created (e.g, Ctrl+Alt+Letter produces a squiggle)?

    I'm going slightly mad.

    Staggers.

 

 

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