User Guide

Metrics Window. To invoke it, simply choose “Open
Metrics Window” from the Windows menu. The contents of
the Metrics Window should look something like the one
below.
You enter text in the box at the top of the window
labeled “Text.” You can either type in text directly, or paste
in lines of text from some other source. There is a
theoretical maximum of 255 characters; however, the
practical maximum is probably considerably smaller than
that. Basically, the fewer characters there are in the
window, the snappier Fontographer’s performance is going
to be. In our experience, most people never put in more
than about ten characters at a time.
If you select some characters in the Font Window, and then
open the Metrics Window, it will appear with those selected
characters automatically showing in the window. To view
even more characters at once, you can, of course, open
many different Metrics Windows at the same time.
The large area in the middle of the window is called the
character display area, and that’s where the actual
characters are shown. They are all positioned next to each
other according to the spacing information set up in the
font. Kerning pairs are also shown in this area, if there are
any. By the way, our “Yo” example here could really use a
kerning pair!
The rather complicated area at the bottom of the window is
the spreadsheet area. This is where all the exact kerning
and spacing values are shown. You can enter numbers
directly into these cells, or merely look at them to see what
the values are. You can also cut, copy, and paste values
between the cells.
In the upper right section of the window you see a
checkbox marked “Kerning.” When checked, the Metrics
Window character display will show the effects of any
Fontographer User's Manual
5: Metrics: Spacing and Kerning Page #11