Font Forum

I want to use the underline function in word but using my own custom underline. I tried to do this with the underscore glyph but when in word it uses a default setting. How do you get around this?

Milson

The underlining in Windows applications never uses the underscore character. It's a simple continuous horizontal rule, the thickness and position of which is defined in the font's metrics. Some applications (e.g. LibreOffice) may ignore this and use their own settings.

Go to Font Properties, General, and set new values for underline thickness and position. Test it on the Font Test window, and with that window still open, test underlining of the Temporary font in Word.

I have used ridiculous values here (above the baseline and very thick).

There aren't many applications that use all the underline all metrics as defined in a font that I use. MS word will use the size and position for its own underline feature. AD also does. But that is about it for at least using the size/position as defined in the font among the applications I use.

LibreOffice will use the positioning, but not the thickness. A couple use the thickness, but not positioning (like AI). Some applications allow the redefining of their internal underscore character (ID/QXP). XDP only uses its internal character and doesn't allow customization. I now forget what the rest do among the applications I use frequently.

One can make a copy of the characters and manually copy and place the underscore under those characters. Add them to a stylistic set to swap out the non-underlined characters for the underlined version.

Serif Applications like PagePlus will use the font metrics for both thickness and position.

Yep, it does.

I rarely fire it up these days and evidently skipped it in the testing I did. I don't know about DP or the others...I haven't reinstalled them since installing a new hard drive in June.

Hi All.

Thanks for the quick feedback. I will have a go.

Another question related to this. Is it possible to create a glyph that will automatically overwrite like underline funtion in Word? For example if I wanted to create a multiple line option/glyph for my cursive font for ascender and descender positions.

Thanks again

No, but you might be able to achieve something similar with OpenType layout features. You could include an Alternate Annotation Forms feature (nalt) which replaces a regular Latin character with one that also includes the additional lines. But since Word doesn't allow you to activate that feature, calt might be abetter choice.

You can create combining diacritical marks like Combining Overline (0305) and Combining Lowline (0332), but these would have to be typed after each letter. It's not a pretty solution.

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Advance width problems.

Hi all. I have designed a ligature substitution that is too long for the glyph 'window'. I have tried to find where to adjust it but without success. How does one get around this problem? Can you set advance width and/or 'window' size for an individual glyph?

Milson

Try the Glyph Properties dialoge (F3).