Illustrator text area aligns type to x-height instead of cap height

Glyphs
1

I’m not able to get a screenshot uploaded at the moment, so I hope my explanation will make sense. I’m working on a font that was originally started in FLS5 and recently exported from .vfb to .glyphs. I pulled it into Glyphs and made some updates. I exported it into the Adobe fonts directory and opened a document in Illustrator. I created a text area and typed some sample text into it. When I select my font, the tops of the letters break out the top of the text area instead of being contained by it. It is the x-height that aligns to the top of the text area. Another font I originated in Glyphs doesn’t do this. The tops of the caps are contained within the text area.

I looked at the metrics and at least the basics seem to be in order:
Ascender: 750
Cap Height: 700
x-Height: 533
Descender: -250

What other metrics can push the type up to align the x-height with the top? I suspect it has to do with its FontLab origins, but I don’t know what to look for. Thanks.

2

It depends on what you have set in Type > Area Type Options. By default, AI takes the bounds of the lowercase d for the first baseline offset.

This is covered here:
https://glyphsapp.com/tutorials/creating-a-layered-color-font

2 Likes
3

Or are there some custom parameter with vertical metrics in the file. They are sometimes added by the vfb to glyphs conversion.

4

This makes sense. The lowercase are actually small caps. They have no ascenders, so the top of the lowercase d is the x-height. Thanks!

2 Likes