Unicode user interface

FontCreator - Font Editor FontCreator - Discussion
1

I wonder if there are people who are actually using the new Unicode Support option. If so do let me know if it works as expected.

In case you haven’t activated it yet, select Options from the Tools menu and the thick the Unicode Support checkbox.

Note: this feature is only available on Windows NT, 2000 and XP.

2

OK. I’ll ask the question what is :the new Unicode Support option" supposed to do? What if it’s not checked then what? I have zero expectations for it, so it works as expected …

BTW, I like the option to Warn me when I open 10 or more fonts … has saved me from myself more than once.

Dick

3

This is Unicode text: ĀāĪīŪū
Since I use Windows ME, Unicode text is not supported.
If I paste that into the Preview Toolbar [F8], what I get is AaIiUu.
Try it with Unicode Support enabled. What I suspect should happen is that you will be able to see ĀāĪīŪū in the selected font (try Arial or Times, which both support those characters). You can also use Unicode in the Font Test Window.

In Windows ME, FontCreator uses the escape character \ to display Unicode (double-byte) characters in the Preview.

\0100\0101\012A\012B\016A\016B

4

Now that I have Windows XP, I am able to test this feature. The results were not what I expected.
FC5 Unicode Preview.png
Unicode Text can, however, be pasted into the Font Test Window.
FC5 Unicode Font Test.png

5

Based on your preview toolbar I suspect you haven’t enabled Unicode support.

6

It is enabled.

7

I tried to reproduce your findings. First I enabled Unicode Support:

Using this text:

ĀāĪīŪū \0100\0101

On my system, with Unicode support enabled in FontCreator, it looks like this:

After I disable Unicode support:

Then after I paste the original text (ĀāĪīŪū \0100\0101) into the preview area, and Unicode Support disabled, it looks like:

So on my system it works just the way it is intended. Do I miss something?

8

No. It is working OK. What I missed was that the text in the Preview toolbar changed after I enabled Unicode support. ĀāĪīŪī became AaIiUu and \0100\0101 became Āā
FC5 Unicode After Enabling.png

9

I’m glad to know it works on your system too.

That’s because FontCreator assumes the text contains ASCII characters (Unicode support was disabled at that time). So basically it is a result of the conversion to Unicode. The opposite direction (when you disable Unicode support) is more logical, but why would you want to do that :wink: