Font not on Baseline

Hello!

When I export my font it is hovering over the baseline. I have tried running the script Report Highest and Lowest Glyphs. It reports that the spacebar is the lowest point at y=0. I did not make any changes to the space and tried deleting it and adding it back in, but there is no change.

In the image I type “Hello World” in my font then change to Times New Roman in the same size. Times New Roman is snapped to the baseline properly but my font is hovering above.

How do I fix this?

Thank you

Where did you test this?

The screenshot is from Illustrator. But it is the same in Word and Photoshop. I haven’t tested in InDesign or online yet.

Can you compare the vertical metrics in both files. And have you read this: Vertical Metrics | Glyphs

I reviewed the article but still haven’t been able to get the font onto the baseline. This is my first font so maybe I am missing something very simple, but I thought I did everything correctly.

I compared the metrics of a font that is properly on the baseline and they were very different.
Here are the metrics for my font before I made any changes. It does not have much specified.

Here is the one I compared to:

(Since I am a new user it would not let me attach more than one file. I will attach them in separate comments. )

I found the script Vertical Metrics Manager I was thinking that may help and I ran that. I got an error from line 12
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘vanilla’

After the run my my metrics were changed as shown here:

I exported and tested the font in Illustrator. No change.

I compared these metrics with the working font’s metrics and made a few adjustments so that It would match. Specifically I changed the baseline to be 0. I changed the typodecender in the custom parameters to match the descender from the metrics. I changed the typo line gap to 0. added a windecent value. added hheadecent to match descender above. changed the hhea acent to match ascender above and finally I removed the underline position.


I saved and exported again. And still saw no change. The font is still hovering over the baseline.

Please advise what else I can try.

My Original Metrics

Other font’s metrics used for comparison:

My fonts metrics after running script.

My font after manual customizations:

Can you please send me the .glyphs file to support (at) (this website without ‘www’ or ‘forum’). I will have a look.

I will send it over now. Thank you very much

Thank you for sending the file. I had a look at it and found that the letters were actually not on the baseline in the design. Here is how to fix it:

  1. File > Font Info > Masters > Metrics > Baseline: change to zero (from currently 119).
    image

  2. In Font View, select all glyphs and choose Path > Transformations:

  3. In the upcoming dialog, set these values, most importantly Translate Y to -119:

Then save, export and try again. Remember to use the Adobe Fonts folder for testing in Adobe apps, so you do not run into cache problem.

While you are it, I recommend to set these values in Font Info > Masters:

  • cap height: 561
  • ascender (add it): 650 or another rounded value in the vicinity (620, 630…)
  • descender (add it): -100 or -200

E.g. like this:
image

Since the letters are drawn rather small, you can control the relative size of your font with File > Font Info > Font > General > Units per Em. A smaller value (e.g. 900 or 800 instead of 1000) will make your typeface appear bigger.

Thank you so so much! This worked perfectly. I’m not sure why the letters weren’t on the baseline. Next time I will know to look out for it, and how to fix it. Thanks again.

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