Kerning Groups tutorial proposition

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1

Hello!

I am reading the Kerning tutorial and there is a point about the kerning groups (in the case of Left to Right kerning) that looks not completely explained and may confuse newbies.

TL;DR
On Font/Edit Window Left Group mean left side of the glyph shape.
On Kerning Window Left mean left position in two kerning groups.
I’m okay with this logic but this difference should be noticed on the Learn pages.
Here the screenshot explained what I’m talking about.

Kerning-groups

In Glyphs, when we add a glyph to the Left Group, it means it’s the left side of its shape. This is logical, although completely opposite to how classes are done in FL, where the left group (called 1st class there) contains the glyphs with the right side of their shape.

This is the first thing to notice in the tutorial (probably on the Porting to Glyphs page), is the difference in the approach to group names. The Left Group is the left side of the shape, not the left position in the kerning pair. This is important to understand for those who have switched from FL to Glyphs.

Another important thing. The Left Group (the left side of the glyph shape) in the Kerning Window appears in the Right column. This refers to the position on the right in a pair of glyphs between which kerning occurs.

This is the second thing to note in the tutorial (probably in the Kerning Window section) - the Left Group (the left side of the glyph shape) will be displayed in the Right column on the Kerning Window, and accordingly, the Right Group (the right side of the glyph shape) will be displayed in the Left column on the Kerning Window.

When systematically passing kerning between the elements of the right and left groups, for the newbies it is important to understand what is what. I believe it could be useful to add such an explanations to avoid the possible confusion (that I faced).

Thank you!

Michael

2

Added a floating tip on the side. Didn’t get around to it right away, then forgot. Today I remembered. My apologies for the delay, and thanks for the input.

3

Hi Rainer, thanks for reply!

I checked, and the floating tip is there, just not sure the text on tip is correct (should be “Left” instead of “Right”). Here is the screenshot explaining what I mean.

This is a test font with just one letter “D” and a kerning “DD”.

Kerning-Group

Letter D has Left Group H and Right Group O.
On the Kerning panel, Right Group O is on Left column, and left group H is on Right. Correct.

That mean, the text on a floating tip for the Right Group O should be “Left Kerning Class”, not “Right Kerning Class”.

4

I was speaking of the tip in the tutorial, not the UI.

Anyway. To differentiate between “left group” and “left kerning group” meaning opposite things would really confuse a lot of people, I’m afraid. So it would not make sense to change or use of the terms in such a way.

For the position in the kern pair, I would say “side” or “half” of the pair. Groups belong to the glyph.

5

Thank you for the tip in the Tutorial.

A sidenote on the usage of ‘left’ and ‘right’: the right kerning group will be the left glyph in a kern pair, and vice versa.

I think there should be right group instead of right kerning group.

Of course, Groups belong to the glyph, and Classes belong to kerning.
I mistaped in my previous comment (edited now) – Right Group, but Left Kerning Class (the left glyph in the kern pair).

So it looks like I accidentally found this divergence on the tip in the application? @GeorgSeifert