Family name exceeds 30 characters (3416)

Glyphs
1

Error Domain=GlyphsErrorDomain Code=9065 \"Family Name too long: {censured name}\" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Family Name too long: {censured name}, NSLocalizedRecoverySuggestion=Needs to be less that 30 to be able to build a valid window style name (name id 1). Or define \U201cstylLinking\U201d names}

Could we get more information about this recent change, @GeorgSeifert?
What exactly is the fix regarding Style Linking?

2

Does the family name contain “Regular”? It maybe related to this issue: Glyphs 3416 adds “Regular” to name ID 1

3

No, the family name is XXX XXXXXXX Compressed Variable

4

What is the name of the “Variable instance Setting”? It should only ever be “Regular” or “Italic”.

5

Variable instance setting? Do you mean the name of the VF instance? If so, it’s “Regular”

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Where does the “Variable” comes from, then?

7

From a fileName custom parameter

8

but that shouldn’t influence the family name?

9

Sorry, it comes from Localized Family Names

10

Can you check the latest cutting edge version, of that problem is still there? Of not, you need to use a shorter family name.

11

I still have the same error.

Unfortunately, we have many typefaces with a family name exceeding 30 characters, especially subsetted ones. Before version 3416, this error was not present. Can you explain why it was introduced in the latest cutting version?

From what I understand, it’s because older Windows systems truncate font family names longer than 30 characters. This is a recommendation from the OpenType specification, not an error.

12

The error message was added intentionally. We encountered problems with longer names. E.g. there might be conflicts as some environments only look at the first 30 characters.

13

I understand, but I honestly believe that in some cases, it’s just not feasible.
How would you suggest shortening ABC Monument Grotesk Cyrillic Semi Mono Variable?

It feels quite restrictive to enforce this limit in GlyphsApp, especially just to avoid issues in very specific environments.

Wouldn’t it make more sense for this to be a warning rather than an error?

14

I disabled the error.

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