Kerning pairs - reasonable quantity?
Kerning pairs - reasonable quantity?
Hi, I'm fairly new to KO, experimenting right now. I really like it so far, I was just a bit surprised when it generated over 9000 kerning pairs based on 130 models for about 400 glyphs (serif). Am I doing something wrong? Thank you!
Re: Kerning pairs - reasonable quantity?
That sounds very reasonable, especially considering you are working on a serif design. You can control the amount of generated pairs by adjusting the kB setting in the Kern On dialogue.
Re: Kerning pairs - reasonable quantity?
Perfect! Thank you so much.
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Tim Ahrens
- Site Admin
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- Joined: 11 Jul 2019
Re: Kerning pairs - reasonable quantity?
The quick answer is: Don’t worry about the number of kerning pairs.
The somewhat longer answer is: Don’t try to make you font pretty under the hood. All that counts is the visible, final rendering. If that looks good then all is good. Try to be rational: What is the issue with a large number of pairs? Are you in fact worried about the file size (data volume) implications? Kern On gives you control over this aspect (and keep in mind that the number of pairs is not directly related to the data volume. One kind of reasoning I can understand is: If there are many (auto)kerning pairs then that can be interpreted as an indication of flaws in the spacing. To find you whether this is the case you can have a look at the pairs drop-down on the Kern On palette. You may have a glyph (rather glyph-side) that should not have any kerning at all (in a typical sans, this cold be the left side of the h or the right side of the d, in seriffed designs it’s less obvious). You may also have a look at glyph-sides you are not sure about and look at the pairs menu: if there are only negative pairs then it’s probably spaced to loosely (and vice versa if it has almost only positive pairs).
The somewhat longer answer is: Don’t try to make you font pretty under the hood. All that counts is the visible, final rendering. If that looks good then all is good. Try to be rational: What is the issue with a large number of pairs? Are you in fact worried about the file size (data volume) implications? Kern On gives you control over this aspect (and keep in mind that the number of pairs is not directly related to the data volume. One kind of reasoning I can understand is: If there are many (auto)kerning pairs then that can be interpreted as an indication of flaws in the spacing. To find you whether this is the case you can have a look at the pairs drop-down on the Kern On palette. You may have a glyph (rather glyph-side) that should not have any kerning at all (in a typical sans, this cold be the left side of the h or the right side of the d, in seriffed designs it’s less obvious). You may also have a look at glyph-sides you are not sure about and look at the pairs menu: if there are only negative pairs then it’s probably spaced to loosely (and vice versa if it has almost only positive pairs).
Re: Kerning pairs - reasonable quantity?
Thank you, Tim. That makes a lot of sense. I guess I was worried about possible flaws in the spacing. But after testing the font extensively, I’m happy with how things look. Moving on to next project. Thanks again!