Font Forum

It would be really useful if the inserted characters from the Insert Characters dialog could be inserted at a particular location (e.g. before the currently selected glyph). At present, the characters are always inserted at the end, so I have to sort the font to get them where I want them to be, and with a very large font a sort can take a long time to complete.

An easy work around:

• Insert the number of glyphs that you want wherever you want them.
• Insert the characters at the end
• Cut and paste special, mappings and postscript data, overwrite same mappings

I don't know if the same problem exists with version 6.x, but in fcp v. 5, copy/paste mappings does not work for characters in the supplemental planes (>U+FFFF).

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:An easy work around:

• Insert the number of glyphs that you want wherever you want them.
• Insert the characters at the end
• Copy and paste special, mappings and postscript data, overwrite same mappings
• Delete the empty glyphs at the end

Thanks for the tip -- I had not even realized that this paste special functionality existed. I have just tested it with version 5.6, and it works fine, including for supplementary planes.

Although the workaround to this is quite easy to use, and even easier if one uses cut after inserting the characters, it would be a worthwhile improvement to insert characters before or after a selected glyph. However, it might be rather complex to program because there are many variations on what users might do and what they might expect.

1. Select three non-consecutive glyphs, but insert more than three characters. • Insert one character before or after each selected glyph, and add the remainder at the end.
2. Select nothing and insert characters • Easy enough, add them at the end.
3. Select three glyphs, but insert only two characters. • Insert one character before or after each of the first two selected glyphs.

FontCreator 12 now allows glyphs to be inserted before or after the selected glyph. If the correct glyph names are used, the code-points are added automatically.

If one does not know the correct glyph names, use Insert Characters to insert them at the end of the font, then cut them to the clipboard, and paste the glyph names into the Insert Glyphs dialogue to add the new glyphs before or after the selected glyph.