Hello, I am exploring the .glyphsproject format further and am trying to incorporate it into my workflow more, in order to manage larger families better.
One thing I would really like to use it for is exporting the same instances, but with a different family name. Currently, I need to add a “localised family name” parameter to every instance. I would find it a lot better if I could set a family name parameter that applies to all instances, in addition to some other global settings. Something like an export profile that is applied to all instances. Does this make sense?
This has already been thrown around previously as an idea, but bundling exports (instances) in the Exports tab into groups, and being able to add “global” settings for these groups would already be a massive improvement.
In general, some way to minimise the amount of instance entries would be very useful. Usually, the instances only need to exist once, and you want to only change one thing (family name, character set, glyph names…). Being able to reuse the existing instances and simply applying a global setting to all would make things immensely easier.
Totally with you on that, I meanwhile added a similar functionality into Export to All Formats script and happy with it so far. It works similarly to variable instances, without the .glyphsproject because I don’t understand the concept of having instances in a separate file. In case you find it useful:
How to for the script (beta):
“Static Settings” allow exporting different versions of the same instances, bulk-applying different custom parameters/names/properties:
Add an instance(s) with “Static Setting” in its name. Deactivate it.
Add custom parameters and/or change properties (such as the family name) of the “Static Setting” instance. You can find-replace in properties with -> like so: Localized Family Name = Sans->Serif will replace family names such as “New Sans” to “New Serif”, as an example (useful if you already have multiple family names in your original instances).
On export, the custom parameters and properties of the “Static Setting” instance will be applied to all other instances.
If you want to also export the original instances as-is, add “+” to any of the "Static Setting” name (“Static Setting+”), meaning it will be exported in addition to the original instances.
To turn a Static Setting off, just remove (or otherwise break) “Static Setting” from the instance name.