History Behind The TG version of "Yanone Kaffesatz": Koffee TG!

**urednik** · 23 August 2012, 10:28 AM

My website template uses Yanone kaffesatz fonts (I love them) and I was wondering if I could somehow edit or add one special character that displays ugly (the char. is "č" - I guess it gets replaced because it is absent in the font).
As I can see in the template files, there are many font related files such as .ttf etc.
So if I edit that and add a letter Č in let us say .ttf file, then it would display as such?
Additionally, how do I edit that? (I have the Typelight font editor).

Thanks for any help!

BTW a complete newby, so please handle with care (search all forums here but did not find any similar threads yet).

**angelize** · 24 August 2012, 02:27 AM

Hello urednik, Welcome to Talkgraphics

There is a lot more to editing a font than simply typing in a missing character. you have to create the missing glyph in the font editor. Perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge on this than me will come along and help out

**mwenz** · 24 August 2012, 03:22 AM

The first task is to obtain written permission from the author of the font. I have asked some authors before and been given gracious permission by all but a single author. So please contact the author.

What may complicate the issue is the author has created a "Pro" set of that font that I suspect has a full set of glyphs.

In any case, you will need a font editor to make the composite glyph or a discreet one. If you get the permission and a font editor, we can walk you through how to go about this.

Take care, Mike

**Soquili** · 24 August 2012, 03:23 AM

Hi urednik, welcome to TalkGraphics.

As Frances said there is much more to adding a glyph to a font than simply typing in a character. Adding to an existing font is a little more complicated than if you create a font from scratch. Do you have a vector graphic editor you use or are proficient using?

I have never used the font editor you have so I can only provide some generic tips. You will need to dig into your product's documentation for specifics.

If you have not checked out the software's site you will need to start there and find out all you can about the requirements and the specifications.

A quick look at the site told me the free version can only save the first 50 characters so the paid version will be required for what you want to do.

If you have the pdf documentation look into it and find what vector file format it can import for the individual glyphs. You may be able to draw the glyph within the Typelight font editor, it will require you to learn the drawing tools.

One think you will need to know is what dimensions the existing font is using for the glyphs otherwise your added character will be either too small or too large. Some testing can get dimensions that can be used if exact values are not available.

Let us know if you have any questions.

**urednik** · 24 August 2012, 09:27 AM

Thanks guys. I contacted the author. Well the author has obviously not yet created that glyph, however it should not be hard to make one, since we already have the letter "C", and the letter "Č" just misses a kind of a circumflex that is already used in his (provided) letters "Š" and "Ž". So it seems to be a matter of copy and paste. My Typelight font editor seems not to have that limitation as you mentioned, however if I get the authors permission, would any of you be so kind to do this for me? Regular, bold and italics (6x copy paste as I understand???

.

**Gare** · 24 August 2012, 11:37 AM

Hi Urenik—

If you have the permission of the font creator, and can post a screen capture of what you'd like the character to look like, a visual example, and post the font as a zipped up attachment, I can add it to the typeface. Bold, italic, and so on.

My Best,

Gary

**urednik** · 24 August 2012, 12:13 PM

Well he autoreplied that he is gone out of computer reach for 3 weeks now ...
GreAAAT!.
Gare, thanks, how about a testdrive? I will not publish it public until he answers. He seems like a decent German young guy, who has not had enough time to make the font complete

If we do not make it public then we are not working against copyright anyway.
Attachment 91747

Gsry thanks in advance. And I sure will report his answer shortly.

As said above the letter č is always the same as letter "c" + a circumflex that can be copied from the letter "š" which is in the font.

**Gare** · 24 August 2012, 12:58 PM

What I'll do is see if this is possible.

Given my success, I'll wait until you get the author's permission before I post the font, and in that act, sort of release it to the world.

My Best,

Gary

**Gare** · 24 August 2012, 01:42 PM

Okay: I've created the characters within a FontLab (*.vfb) file. Technically, this took a little time, but I have absolutely no idea how to call up the Unicode registers for:

Lowercase Latin letter c with caron U+010D
Uppercase Latin letter C with caron U+010C