2 Different Left-Spacing Problems

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First, a generality: I was exploring the Auto-Kern wizard, and created more difficulties than I solved; before I tried Auto-Kern, I’d be adjusting the bearings of various letters (wider for lowercase L, for instance). Then in the help file and on the forum here, I read something to the effect of ‘edit the glyph so it doesn’t need kerning.’ So my decision to forego auto-kerning in favor of adjusting the left and right bearings has some merit?

Second, adjusting the left bearing is quite trying with some glyphs (not all).

This picture shows what happened after I used the Transformation box to set the bearing at 60: see how the result is not what I entered but instead 140.

And this one shows what happens if I check the left-bearing-at-zero square. The guideline for the bearing moved over, but it still displayed a wider left-bearing space than I had entered, and is still 140. Have I left out a step or do I not understand how to use the Transform box correctly?

And third, what is the reason for and result of having the boundary line rest at zero?

Thanks for your patience!
D_Spider

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Kerning is only useful when the you are satisfied with the bearings of all your glyphs. Kerning should only be used to improve the distance between glyphs that somehow don’t look right (e.g. AW) with the default bearings.

About your second issue; You probably have a very small contour located to the left of your visible outline. There are numerous ways to locate it; one of them is to select all contours (press CTRL-A in contour mode). You can also walk through all contours in contour mode. To do this just press the W key to select the next contour. Press the W key again to go to the next contour etc.

The third issue; this happens as long as you have set the “Set left side bearing point at x=0” field on the Options → Font tab. This option has been introduced to solve common display problems.

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Thanks for your help. Using the W key on contours is neat!

D_Spider