Vertical Metrics | winAscent, winDescent & a GIANT squid :o

1

Hi everyone!

I am having some trouble with preparing font files for MyFonts for this family:
www.marianna-orsho.com/work/litza

I have been receiving an error for ‘Vertical Metrics will not result in clipping on Windows’ because there is a set of pictograms in the stylistic sets that extend past the normal boundaries.

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53896×705 201 KB

The largest is the squid in the image above.

I was advised to try increasing the winAscent and winDescent (which didn’t solve the problem) so I increased the hheaAscender and hheaDescender as well and that solved the error and was accepted by the MyFonts ‘Font Validator’ checker.

However, when I did this ‘test’ the squid pictogram was sitting on the baseline and only extending in one direction so those metrics were increased to 2600 for ascenders and ±800 for the descenders in order for it to work.

Since then, I have centered the very large pictograms so they do not protrude only in one direction; the script for highest and lowest glyphs gave me this data for the updated version; top y: 1813.0, bottom y: -973.o.

The font metrics are:
Ascender: 880
Cap Height: 760
x-Height: 760 (All caps font)
Descender: -120

I uploaded the updated version with the centered squid to MyFonts but received the same error about vertical metrics as before, with the winAscent and winDescent set to 1815 and -975. I’ve been trying to increase those numbers bit by bit to see what will be acceptable but something strange is going on now with the MyFonts checker - it seems to be incapable of reading the file at the same speed as before (last test is still being ‘analysed’ over an hour later). I have a feeling something has gone wrong but I’m not sure what as the last test (pre-squid-repositioning) was accepted and loaded quickly.

Does anyone know what could be causing the problem or any advice on how these parameteres should be set? There are only a few large pictograms within the font and these elements are decorative options but I would not want to drastically increase the spacing of the entire font because of them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :slight_smile:

2

I would only adapt winAscent and winDescent as you did before, but also add the Use Typo Metrics parameter in Font Info > Font.

The squid may still have screen rendering problems though. But I would deem them acceptable.

See the Vertical Metrics tutorial for details as to what they do.

3

nice work

4

Thanks so much @mekkablue@dezcom :slight_smile:

I’ve gone over this article a number of times and tried all the strategies. I exported the following versions for one font in the family - they all look good in Illustrator and InDesign but are failing the MyFonts ‘Font Validator’ criteria. I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

The highest and lowest points for this particular font file I’ve been testing are = (top y: 1793.0), (bottom y: -953.0) - rounded up to 1880 and -960 .

Adobe Strategy:
hheaAscender 880 = typoAscender 880
hheaDescender -120 = typoDescender -120
hheaLineGap 1760 = winAscent 1800 + winDescent 960 – UPM 1000
typoLineGap 1760 = hheaLineGap 1760
Font Info > Font > Custom Parameters: Use Typo Metrics = yes
ERROR: Vertical Metrics

Microsoft Strategy V1:
hheaAscender 1800 = winAscent 1800
hheaDescender -960 = −winDescent 960
hheaLineGap = 0
typoLineGap 1760 = winAscent 1800 + winDescent 960 – UPM 1000
Font Info > Font > Custom Parameters: Use Typo Metrics = yes
Still being scanned 5 hours later

Microsoft Strategy V2:
Tried the same as above but with…
hheaDescender -960 = −winDescent -960 (wasn’t sure if the minus in the intructions was supposed to turn the positive winDescent value into a negative or not so I tried both)
Still being scanned 5 hours later

Webfont Strategy V1:
winAscent = vertical maximum round this value up 1800
winDescent = vertical minimum (positive value) round this value up 960
typoAscender 880 = hheaAscender 880
typoDescender -120 = hheaDescender -120
typoLineGap 200 = hheaLineGap 200
Font Info > Font > Custom Parameters: Use Typo Metrics = yes
ERROR: Vertical Metrics

Webfont Strategy V2:
And if, for whatever reason, you cannot or do not want to enable Use Typo Metrics, you can try:
typoLineGap 1840 = hheaLineGap 1840 = (winAscent 1800 − typoAscender 880 ) × 2
ERROR: Vertical Metrics

I also tried enabling windows compatibility for TTF (even though I’m exporting OTF).

I also tried reuploading the old version of the font that had passed the MyFonts test previously (with the same version and same settings as before) - and this time those did not pass the test either, so now I’m wondering if the MyFonts validator might be getting a bit confused with the extreme differences between the win and typo values.

Sorry to annoy you with this, maybe I have just made some silly mistake or am missing something obvious but I am completely lost as to what the problem may be. First time preparing a font for MyFonts. :expressionless:

5

I do not know the internals, but I am pretty sure the verification algorithm was not built for a situation like this. I suggest you use ‘Webfont Strategy V1’, or ignore the squid completely, i.e., not even account for it in the win values. It will simply not display in some renderers, likely be cut off in MS Office, but display fine in other environments.

6

Ok :slight_smile: Thanks @mekkablue, I’ll do that!