User Guide

change the current selection by looking at the Char field in
the spreadsheet. If it is black, as in the previous Metrics
Window illustration, that means it’s selected and you can
change characters in this way. The general rule of thumb is
that what you type from the keyboard will replace any black
(selected) cell’s contents with that keystroke. If there is a
blinking cursor, on the other hand, the new keystroke will
simply be inserted into the existing cell contents at the
location of the blinking cursor.
The spreadsheet area
The spreadsheet area has numeric displays for all the
entities in the character display section: the character, width,
left sidebearing, right side-bearing, and kerning values.
To activate a cell:
1. Click on it, and it will become highlighted.
2. You can delete cell contents, paste in new values,
or type in new values.
3. To have a newly entered value take effect, be sure
to hit the Return or Enter key! If you simply move to
a width cell, for instance, and type in a new
number, nothing will happen until you: hit Return
or Enter, click on another cell, move to another cell,
change to a different character (previous/next), or
click in another view.
To move from cell to cell:
You can use the arrow keys or the Tab key.
or
You can simply click on a new cell with the pointer. Shift-
tab moves backward through the fields, just like it does in
dialog boxes.
Sometimes, you will be examining a font whose characters
are wider or narrower than the cell widths in the
spreadsheet area, and so the character and its spreadsheet
view will no longer be vertically aligned. This doesn’t affect
the functioning of the spreadsheet; however, it can
sometimes look confusing. To correct this, simply Option or
Fontographer User's Manual
5: Metrics: Spacing and Kerning Page #14