Well, I have looked again through the thread and this is what I suggest may be worth trying.
When I first started using FontCreator to make fonts, some years ago now, at first I used to get strange problems of an updated font not being available and the old version being used and so on, so I devised some rules for my own use when making fonts.
Some of the rules may be more than is necessary, yet I have not had the problems since using these rules and as I do not find them unreasonably restrictive I continue to use them.
They also have the advantage that I can always go back to a previous version and look in the notes to check things out.
When I start a new font I choose a font name for the font. This is the name that an application package will include in its list of available fonts. The limit is 26 characters including spaces, yet that is the total even when having a Bold Italic version, so, as the words Bold and Italic and two spaces take up twelve characters, a font name is best at 14 characters or fewer if there is any possibility that a Bold Italic version may be produced.
Also, in view of what comes later in relation to numbering, ten characters or fewer for the basic font name would be a good idea if a Bold Italic version might be made.
Certainly some of the font names that I have used have been longer than ten characters.
For example here, let us suppose that the word Cranberry is to be used as the font name.
Also, I need a file name for the font. I may be being unnecessarily wary, yet remembering that Windows is built on DOS and DOS had eight character file names before the extension, I use a file name that is eight capital letters and digits before the .TTF part. For this example, let us use CRANB as the five capital letters. This is derived from the first five letters of the font name, but that is not an essential requirement: it just helps me find fonts more easily.
Here is what I would then do, if I were doing it today using the above names.
I start a new directory for the font, for this example FONT CRANBERRY would be a suitable directory name.
I begin by opening WordPad and saving a .rtf file into the FONT CRANBERRY directory. The file name could be something like the following.
Cranberry notes started 20110820.rtf
I then type the date and time into WordPad and then I open FontCreator and start a new font.
I use the font family name as follows.
Cranberry 001
I save the file into the FONT CRANBERRY directory with the following file name.
CRANB001.TTF
I then run Tools AutoNaming…
This is possibly unnecessary, but I do so as I like to put the date in the form 20 August 2011. That is just something I like to do, it is a matter of personal choice over how to have the date presented.
Suppose that I then decide to start by designing a glyph for a letter e.
Before I do that I key into the WordPad file something like the following.
Try a letter e.
I make notes to the extent that I choose, more notes or less notes as I feel at the time. I do try to keep them as good English because I sometimes post transcripts in posts in the Gallery forum of this webspace, but that is just me. I find that keeping precise notes helps me have a sense of precision when I am designing glyphs.
I save the WordPad file and the font file quite often as I proceed.
When I install such a font in the font directory I never usually alter it again.
The next stage is to open FontCreator and open the font CRANB001.TTF.
Then Save As… and use the following file name.
CRANB002.TTF
Then use Tools AutoNaming… and change the font name as follows.
Cranberry 002
Then make alterations to the 002 version of the font.
And so on.
For example, I recently published Sonnet Calligraphic 035 in the Gallery forum.
When, from time to time, I want to produce a finished font, I use a careful process.
In this case the name of the finished font would be Cranberry and it would be made by opening an already completed font and then using Save As… without altering the font. This would use CRANBERR.TTF as the file name.
All of the development versions have been version 1.00, yet for a finished font I use a version number that is one hundredth of the development number.
So, for example, if I completed Cranberry 005 and then wanted to produce the Cranberry font, I would set the Cranberry font as version 0.05.
If sometime later Cranberry version 0.05 was to be replaced by, say, Cranberry version 0.09 I would first move the Cranberry version 0.05 file from the font directory into a folder named older fonts and rename the file with CRANBERRY005.TTF as the file name.
I would then make the new Cranberry version 0.09 font in CRANBERR.TTF and I would do a cold reboot of the computer before I installed the font into the font directory.
This method does result in a collection of development versions of a font and some notes, yet it works for me and I have achieved what I like to think are good results.
I hope that this helps.
William Overington
20 August 2011