Undo/Redo while pressing space bar?

1

Sometimes (in fact, quite often), I use undo/redo to toggle between two versions of the glyph shape, usually to recap a before/after, or to compare two options. Of course, to visually compare and judge, this should be done black on white, without any clutter, i.e. the display we get when the space bar is pressed.

Can I somehow trigger undo/redo while in “space bar mode”? That would be really useful! I vaguely remember that in FontLab 5 this was possible (I forgot the shortcuts, and it didn’t work in all versions) and I used it a lot.

Right now, I am using the preview bar to view undo/redo but it would be convenient if this was available in the edit area as well.

2

How would you trigger the undo/redo? I don’t think it’s currently possible, but it should not be difficult to offer a plugin that does exactly this.

3

You could filly switch to the hand tool. Then the Cmd+Z shortcut would work.

4

Yep, but then the hold-Command-to-temp-switch-to-the-select-tool mechanism would cause the filled outlines to flicker. But the Text tool would do.

5

Good solution! Why didn’t I think of that. Yes, this works.

Of course, it would be a bit nicer if I didn’t have to switch the tools. Seems I can do Cmd+Z and Cmd+Shift+Z while I hold the space bar, and Glyphs does perform the undo/redo but while I hold Cmd+Space, the zoom-in tool gets triggered and the outline gets un-filled, which causes the flicker. Maybe Glyphs could keep the outline filled while Cmd+Space triggers the zoom tool (I don’t mind the mouse cursor changing to a plus). Ideally, Glyphs could distinguish between first pressing Cmd, then Space (zoom tool, no filling) and first pressing Space and then Cmd (zoom tool, keep the filling).

6

That was actually easy to implement. Lets see what it breaks :wink:

1 Like
7

Doing this doesn’t activate the zoom tool for me in build 3180, and it’s really annoying :wink:

2 Likes
8

Yes, the devil is in the details. What we want is to activate the zoom tool while keeping the fill.

1 Like
9

The temporary zoom tool shows the outlines and nodes. So allowing it while the hand tool is active is exactly what we were trying to avoid. So no zooming when in preview mode.

10

Not having the zoom tool when Cmd+Space is pressed (in any order) is not acceptable, as Jens pointed out.

Ideally, the behaviour would be:
• Cmd, then Space: Zoom tool active, show outlines and nodes, not filled
• Space, then Cmd: Zoom tool active, don’t show outlines and nodes, fill the contour

If that is not possible (or too much effort to implement) then the old behaviour is better.

1 Like
11

I reverted this.