Using same Latin glyphs for two lao master

1

Léon Hugues, [12 Sep 2022 at 12:55:39]:

Hi there,

I have a bi-scriptural font (Lao/Latin) with two different styles for the Lao (Looped and Loopless), however my Latin only has one style.

In one same file, is it possible to have the same latin in Looped and Loopless without having to copy-paste/duplicate my latin across styles ?

Thanks !

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2

Can the alternates be made into .ssXX glyphs?

3

We thought about such a solution a first with @Bendy , but the Looped and the Loopless are two very different styles and the considering way they are designed they can’t be handled as alternates and have to stay as separate masters.

4

(They’re not really alternates, it’s like two different Lao designs in one family, which can share a Latin. Maybe a parallel like serif and sans wouldn’t really work as stylistic alternates in a font)

5

You can use the “Import Font” parameter to import the latin into both lao file.

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6

That would mean splitting the Latin into a separate source, and the Looped and Loopless Lao into separate sources too?

7

Yes, three files would make most sense from what I gather.

8

Or have them all in one file, the use ether the looped or the loop-less as default, the others as alternates (add a .looped suffix) and then add Replace Glyphs parameters to all instances.

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9

I’m hopeful there might be a better solution in the future. Considering we have 24 styles for each width, 4 widths and then the whole lot in looped as well, it’s going to be a faff to rename glyphs and use custom parameters. And splitting the source into three files means things will be confusing to maintain.

Ideally what I’d propose would be to have a sort of ‘virtual’ layer which simply tells Glyphs to use in one master the glyph from another master as a component. Would that be something you could consider for the future?

10

That is more complicated than it seems. Because it also needs to copy the kerning for those glyphs.

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11

Yes. But still better than manually copying the glyphs from one master to another, with associated kerning, I think. We’ll see what we can figure out, thanks! :slight_smile: