I normally kern accent-less group first, make a new group with accented variations, and copy the values from the former before starting to make accent adjustment. The latter is a derivative group although, technically speaking, they have nothing to do with each other. If I make a change to the accented-less group elsewhere, I need to repeat it in the accented group manually. I wish the latter automatically inherited the same pairs by nature.
My idea is to introduce the idea of parent/child group, in other words, ability to make the same exceptions to multiple selected glyphs within a group. Does that make sense? This will be terribly incompatible with older Glyphs or other apps though.
I’d like the way of manually / optically drag the glyphs closer together. Of course in combination with the keyboard options. They work quite fine for me as is.
For me this matches to the character of Glyphs. “The best type design app for designers”
I’m about to do a lot of kerning in Glyphs and I wanted to try using a game controller for it. I’ve seen @Tosche using it in a presentation and it seems like it makes kerning fun. Does anyone have to share any easy setup for download or any other advice? I’m going to buy a controller for this purpose so any advice with the right choice there is appreciated.
I just saw this post of yours and it reminded me of some thoughts I had about kerning classes. What if - on the software level - each glyph could have any number of kerning classes assigned to it. Let’s call them Left1, Left2, Left3… etc. and Right1, Right2, Right3… etc.
So for example a basic setting:
“y” would have y_left1, y_right1
“T” would have T_left1, T_right1, T_right2
“ygrave” would have y_left1, y_left2, y_right1
“o” would have o_left1, o_right1
So then the user could kern T+y (T_right1 / y_left1), and o+y (o_right1 / y_left1).
When the user kerns T+ygrave and since there are level2 classes assigned they get prioritised. So (T_right2 / y_left2) are used instead. But there is no need to create a new kerning pair for o-ygrave since the values for (o_right1 / y_left1) are used.
So in any case the higher pair of classes would get priority over the lower. On export, the software would produce the necessary tables with exceptions. Does it make sense the way I am describing it?
I think it makes sense. In the current versions, you can actually make another OT class in features tab like any other OT class (pro: you can assign the same glyphs multiple times), and manually write down the kerning value there. It sounds laborious, but that’s the most logical solution I can think of.
It’s just time consuming. Keyboard-based approach is many times faster and easier.
Even three-key shortcut (two keys for the left hand) for kerning is too much. Ideally it should be just one key for the left hand. Usually kerning takes a lot of hours and it makes no sense to hold two-three buttons with the left hand fingers all this time.
@Tosche can you please share your set up – there is some additional application for mapping gaming controller buttons to the current shortcuts? I want to try it with my Dualshock 4.
@GeorgSeifert is it possible to set up the custom shortcut for the kerning? I would like something simpler just like Option key for the left hand, without Control key. As I understand, it doesn’t break the functionality of other shortcuts.
So there is a kerning not just for cursor position (left side of glyph) but for his right side too!
Ok, I see this logic of shortcuts now.
However it would be nice to have some alternative shortcuts on Preferences with less buttons pressed aka Negative Kern on Left, Positive Kern on Left.
Or maybe using the same buttons like that for spacing (control and command) but for kerning in Kerning Locked mode.
This will make it possible to press the button with just the thumb of the left hand, and arrows – by the right hand.
Sorry or the very late reply. I think any Mac-compatible input device should work, with drivers like Karabiner Elements. For me personally, I took the ultimate route of making my own keypad.
all this time.