I was initially unsuccessful in finding any info on the Glyph Properties Box in FontLab 4.5.3, despite the mammoth manual. (It's a very detailed manual, but the index is weak.) After experimenting with the various numbers, etc. and an inquiry on the FontLab forum, here's a brief explanation that may help others with the same perplexities. (Veterans probably think this simplistic, but for those of us on the learning end of the curve, it's puzzling at times!) I'm an academic, not a professional font designer. I dabble with font design for polytonic Greek as a hobby and to facilitate my teaching. My Galilee polytonic Greek font is in the conversion stage heading toward a Unicode format. I'm finishing up the composite characters in the Greek extended range summer '03 and then will need to hint all these composites. (The underlying glyphs are already hinted, so I don't think that's going to be a major task.) And if anyone finds this page through a search engine and is interested in the intersection of Unicode with polytonic Greek (particularly the koine Greek of the NT), see my Unicode for NT students page.
Rodney J. Decker, Th.D.
Comments to: < fonts > at <ntresources> dot < com>
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The specific glyph to which this properties box pertains is shown in the picture at the bottom of this page.
| 1. Number of contours in the glyph | 7. Number of component glyphs in a composite character | |
| 2. Right side bearing | 8. Width of bounding box | |
| 3. Number of nodes in the glyph | 9. Right measured side bearing* | |
| 4. Left side bearing | 10. Width of the character at the "measured" point* | |
| 5. Left measured side bearing* | 11. Coordinates of top right corner of bounding box |
*Measured side bearing: it *is* in the manual: p. 304 (but not indexed in any way that makes it easy to find!). This third line is identical to the second line except that it measures the "side bearings" and character width at the point on the glyph marked by the "measurement line." This line shows in the glyph window as a red line (see graphic below) and can be set at any vertical position (it's similar to a global guideline).
hits since first posted 7/14/03