Overlapping anchors

Hello, I like anchors. So much, in fact, that I I use a lot of them on top of each other in one base component:

In the screenshot, I placed them one unit apart, but actually, they are on top of each other.

Is there some smarter way of doing this? Can I combine multiple anchors into one single one? Is there some secret syntax I’m unaware of? Currently, it is quite a hassle managing these anchors properly (I have the same stuff going on at the top of the component…). Thanks!

Are they all used to control both x and y positioning? Could some of them be moved up or down universally like the default position of ogonek which is +10?

They could, yes, but that would somewhat defeat their purpose. bottomright, for instance, only makes sense at the bottom right location. #entry and #exit also only make sense (to me) at the baseline. There are some more anchors with similar uses that, to me, only make sense at the baseline. It otherwise becomes very messy very quickly.

I also always have ogonek at the baseline.

  • You can cycle through anchor selection by pressing the tab key, and enter to edit the name.
  • For glyphs that use entry and exit glyphs, I assume the height doesn’t change unlike in cursive Arabic designs. In that case, it’s only x information that you’re using and such components could also be handled by simply spacing them (i.e. setting the category of child components as letters).
  • Like I said, consider using different heights. I think many of them can move with the exception of those like bottom and bottomright (otherwise I don’t understand what purpose it defeats). Ogonek anchor floats slightly by default for this reason.
  • Consider merging the anchor names. Could entry/exit simply not use bottomright?
  • It may be a case of just overusing the anchors. Anchors and components are useful only when it’s used multiple times, and is not necessary unless you are doing IPA/African Latin extension (that may be exactly what you’re doing though).

Thanks for your thoughts. I am aware of tabbing through anchors and get the impression I’m not missing anything in my understanding of how anchors are currently implemented in Glyphs.

In this case, I have the component _stem.x, which I use a lot. In the idotless, in lots of Cyrillic glyphs and in ligatures (for which I have another set of anchors). bottomright is essential for Cyrillic anchors, while ogonek is essential for, well, the ogonek, etc.

No, as this results in different automatic alignment behaviour. In some glyphs, I use entry/exit in order to use full automatic alignment.

What I would find extremely useful is multiple anchor names in one anchor. Just like you can assign multile html classes to one element by just separating by space, I would find it to make sense to name an anchor bottomright ogonek #exit, simple using a space to separate different names.

Does this make sense?

For the “#exit/#entry” you can try putting them at the half x-height. That way you can use rotated components (like the shoulder of the “n” in the “u”). The exit and entry parts are switched for flipped components (like the top and bottom anchors).

I understand. Sadly, though, I really have many more anchors than just entry, exit, and ogonek. Finding a new vertical position for each and every one just leads to mistakes, as you would need to keep these heights consistent in all glyphs.

Is there no merit to having multiple anchor names in one anchor position?

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I often have to put anchors in the same spot, and i like the idea of giving an anchor more than one name. Seems like a more efficient way to work.