I've dug an ooold unfinished font and realised, that the left side bearings are generally set to zero, and increased on the right side (see attached image).
So far I can imagine, that it can negatively affect generating underline (long on the right) and proper centering around vertical baseline (asymmetrical in vertical layouts). Any other drawbacks I should consider?
I've just read many generic articles about glyph metrics, but none of them suggest any standards/guidelines for the bearings - is it really too simple to ponder, or maybe you had come across some good advice?
Side bearings - design standards
Side bearings - design standards
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- glyph T - bearings.png (12.18 KiB) Viewed 16513 times
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Re: Side bearings - design standards
In most fonts the left and right side bearings are balanced. In your case the T is horizontally symmetric, so equal left and right side bearings would do here just fine.
Re: Side bearings - design standards
Thank you very much for the reply - I will stick to your suggestion!
Re: Side bearings - design standards
Along with the other good advice, note that most fonts still set the left side bearing point at x=0, and then set the left side bearing value at a number that is appropriate.
In the example of your letter 'T', this might mean that the LSB and RSB are both set to 200 (for example), but the left side bearing point would still be at x=0.
Re: Side bearings - design standards
Just to be sure - isn't that the result that we obtain by checking the "Set left side bearing at x=0" box, as I did on the attached screenshot?nabsltd wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 2:02 pmAlong with the other good advice, note that most fonts still set the left side bearing point at x=0, and then set the left side bearing value at a number that is appropriate.
In the example of your letter 'T', this might mean that the LSB and RSB are both set to 200 (for example), but the left side bearing point would still be at x=0.
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- glyph T - bearings equal.png (32.87 KiB) Viewed 16452 times
Re: Side bearings - design standards
Yes.
After playing around a bit, I found that the newest version of FontCreator won't let you unset "Set left side bearing at x=0", so it really doesn't matter. Older versions would let you unset it, and then the glyph would act the same if x=0 was at the left edge of the character and the LSB was set to -100. This leads to a somewhat non-standard glyph even though it works, and it makes sense that FontCreator will no longer allow it on new edits.