First, congrats for your cool avatar.
I think personally that the device that would need the most important improvement should be the PREVIEWS in FS, whose low definition is absolutely not adapted to intricate works. When i saw how were rendered my works in Myfonts or Dafont, even choosing a relatively small size, it was day and night with FS, i rediscovered them. All details were there, when you always have to Zoom in to excessively big sizes on FS just to begin seeing details.
@ne Yeah, the preview window definitely needs fixing.
I've sent some suggestions and bug reports before, so I'll write them here too. Bugs:
-When I start the fontstructor, I can't choose the first square brick in "all bricks" (it doesn't turn yellow)
-When I add more bricks to the "my bricks" window, the scrollbar doesn't go all the way down unless I resize the window
-When you select a character, change to a new character and zoom in or out, the previous character appears
-When zoomed out, you can't add a brick to the first grid square at the baseline
-Stray bricks sometimes appear somewhere far away from the main working area
And suggestions:
-When there's only one guide, the remove button should be hidden (sometimes it seems to be so, sometimes not)
-"Lock guides" probably shouldn't affect the width guide (I often need to change that but not the guides, so I need to keep locking and unlocking)
-Making it possible to hide the zoom window
-Having the tool palette next to the "my bricks" window by default
-Possibly a shop where you could sell your designs and maybe commercial fonts?
Nice avatar too, by the way. What if you added a grey "fs forum" bar at the bottom (like on staff avatars)? And maybe you could save it as a png or gif for better quality.
@neurone Thanks!
@Yautja Thank you. Regarding the "shop" idea, FS is based on free fonts, and we do have FontShop, so I don't think that's the best idea.
I will work on the avatar. I have three accounts now! It's a bit stressful.
Ooh! Ooh! I know! I know! Here are some things that Rob Meek (meek) should really fix:
1) The # of brix 4 stax & composites r limited.
2) You can't make composites with any stacked brix.
3) The filters limit is low.
Well. Glitches:
1) In Firefox; when the screen is "restore down", and I FontStruct, and then is go back to Maximize, the right part of the screen is a blank void until I fiddle with the zoom bar. This problem doesn't appear in Opera.
2) In the FontStructor's Preview, (at least on the bottom area) if it's set to the largest size, then instantly shrinked down to pixel resolution, there's nothing, not even a scroll bar. So then you have to zoom back to large, and slowly scroll to small, while moving the scroll bar so that the Fontstruction still shows in the area.
Oh, and if a character width is 0, say for a combiner character, the FontStructor changes it to 1 if closed and reopened. And if the automatic width makes it so that the width is less than 0, then the width could be something like -2 even if set to 0 and saved.
I've got 2 more! 5) If you copy/paste something & rotate and/or flip it, the new rotated and/or flipped brix do not appear in MY BRICKS. 6) If the filters r set to 2, your letters are scrunched together.
First of all, thanks for your brilliant idea to make this forum, demonix! And the avatar is cool :)
Suggestions:
-I've wondered if there are undo and redo button on the FontStructor.
-And I think we can reduce the limitness of curves if there are compositing composites feature.
I hope this little forum will realized by meek and make this site better.
I have been lurking around FS for a while and I think this forum is a great idea. There is one thing I'd like to contribute, which is that if you rotate/flip a block then form a stack with it, the stack is instead formed with the original orientation of the block. I know I've said this before but it's still there, so I think it'd be a good idea.
Also with regards to all of micgio's suggestions 1-3, I know they are really good but they might be extremely difficult to implement, so it might be crazy to have them all. As of now, there is actually no restriction on the number of bricks you can have in a stack. Actually, by solely modifying the filter range, it is possible to overcome the lack in composite functionality and reduce the need for creating more complexities such as stacks in composites and composites in composites. Thus I propose keeping the composites and stack functions as they are, and changing the upper filter limit to 5 or thereabouts.
Finally, +1 to the inversion idea that we've been suggesting for a long time.
@cablecomputer: there are undo and redo buttons in menu -> edit, or you can press Z or Y.
Suggestions:
-Automatically close bold etc. tags in comments and descriptions (there's a bit of a problem on live feed now for example)
-Sometimes the comment box is at the top, sometimes at the bottom, sometimes both. It could be at the bottom only (easier to see the last comments)
@3moDude : YYEESS! I also always thought that increasing the filter range would be a great idea: to enable more special effects but also, to add more possibilities of "real" curves if at the same time new kinds of arcbrics adapted to the different filterings were added.
In the same idea, we could have a set of half, quarter, or even more fractionned arcbrics joining at some filtering, what would permit to get "real" curves even in largest grids and avoid these ugly polygonal approximations we have now.
May I sound a note of caution about this forum. There has always existed a perfectly adequate means communiucating with the FontStruct team - Support/Contact/'I have a suggestion' or 'I have a problem', I have used this facility in the past and have always received a speedy and helpful response.
There have been some positive things here - fellow FontStructors pointing out already existing features such as the 'undo'/'redo' function. That is entirely in keeping with the spirit of FontStruct as we have always been ready and willing to help one another as well as guiding those who are new.
However it would be a shame if this forum descends into being just a conduit for demands/grumbles/complaints/whinges etc. Always remember that FontStruct is not some mega-rich, multi-national corporation ... it is an extremely useful and clever tool - given to us freely. It is largely the work of one man. Rob Meek does all he can to ensure that FontStruct works well and continues to develop - but it is only one part of his, already busy, life.
As I said, Fontstruct is a tool - and it takes time and patience to master any tool. Part of the fun of FontStruct for many is in managing to overcome its limitations and then producing work that we can be proud of.
If you have a spare $650 lying around then go and buy Fontlab, I'm sure it would do the job far better In the meantime we should all enjoy what we have here and go forward as a community in a spirit of co-operation and mutual support.
... and let's not forget the old saying ... 'a bad workman always blames his tools'.
The suggestion forum is more meant for the users than the staff - we can see what's already been suggested, so the staff doesn't get numerous emails about the same things, that's why I thought this would be a good place to put ideas. Plus there can be more discussions on other topics, so it's not just "complaining". :)
LOL - this bad workman forgot how to stop the bold and italics - would you be kind enough to alter to after Contact/Support and to after 'I have a problem' :)
@p2pnut Amen. We aren't here to complain. This forum was actually meant for people to tell others their concept ideas for this website, not complain about every little glitch in the preview window etc. As I'm typing the words “this website,” I realise that it is just a website.
About your bold/italic run up there: everyone makes mistakes :)
1) A better way of organising fontstructs into folders or groups. I have 556 fontstructions spread over 56 pages. A pull down menu, where you can sort by Date/ Alphabetically/ Tag etc with the option to reverse it. Or folders that fontstructs can be dropped in, and can be individually named and organised as above. So you can have fonts in categories like Black Letter, Block, Pixel, 3D, Display, Experimental, To Sell, Completed etc. Otherwise I find it can take up to 30 minutes to find a font.
2) The elusive ‘house’ brick. I know you can create it using composites and filters, but recently on several designs, it is still the one brick that cannot be produced at smaller sizes, and I have to correct the design in Fontllab. Having this brick would make all my fonts perfect.
3) The option to show work, but not allow downloads.
4) The option to sell work, with a percentage going towards Fontstruct.
5) STOP users making exact clones and renaming them as there own.
6) The option to scale bricks to any size.
7) A font mortar countdown for the number of bricks you have used/ can use before it crashes.
8) Option to adjust line width. It should be set to caps/lower case height. At the mo, it’s set to the lowest and highest brick is.
9) Correct the PREVIEW when viewed on a MAC in Fontbook. Currently all fontstruction when previewed say ‘Five big quacking zephyrs jolt my wax bed’. Every other font I preview shows the Alphabet and numerals. This is very frustrating.
I love Fontstruct, and can manage without any of the above, but like most things there is always 'room for improvement', and there is nothing wrong with making suggestions, especially when you are asked by the site itself.
@djnippa regarding the folders, don't tags kind of work like folders? Or you could enter your name in the font search and filter the results. It would be good if you could set the category on fonts yourself though.
@Yautija As I have already said - No, you can't browse unpublished with tags. There is no search box. Please look at your unpublished Fontstructions, you will find the answers to your questions.
I can click a tag and it shows published and unpublished fonts with that tag, which is what I meant. Can't search by name though, so that could be added. I just think that having both tags and folders would be a bit confusing.
@djnippa forum was actually created by me with the help of yautja, neurone, and cablecomputer. True, there is nothing wrong with making suggestions and you aren't the one doing anything wrong. People complaining about tiny glitches that don't matter is the annoying part, and I'm sure meek is sick of it. Also, if you read toward the top of the comments, people already said some suggestions that you did.
Basically, suggestions are fine, complaints are unnecessary, especially if they don't matter. For instance your suggestion #9 is not quite a big deal or talking about how FS can improve. Correct me if I'm wrong, djnippa or p2p.
@djnippa: Not sure if this helps, but for unpublished work I just add a tag with the font name and can then select it from the 'All tags' list on my 'Fontstructions' page.
@demonics: Suggestions are fine and this gives them a chance to be discussed - I just don't want to see something that puts even more pressure on Rob
@djnippa I'm sorry I didn't make that clear. It's ok, you don't have to leave. I still want you to comment here! You can make suggestions on big glitches on the site, but I meant not tiny little things that don't matter. I'm sorry for not clarifying.
Congratulations for creating an unofficial user forum in such an ingenious manner.
I have followed it, as I have followed all the "font moots" in the past. I'm not going to comment on all feature requests but they are almost all good ones so far. It is good to put pressure on me although it doesn't mean things will be fixed or features added quickly, but it might help.
I have to chime in and say that the most consistent and useful approach to enabling ‘house’ bricks is to add the following set of corner bricks. The first grayed out row already exists and is included for reference. The other approach, of course, os to allow composites and stacks to be composited...
7) When u copy letters 2 Latin accents, the y's don't go 2 y w/ acute.
8) Under Unicode Settings, some--er, most--of the characters r replaced w/ spaces or rectangles.
@micgio Somewhat annoying, right? Luckily there's Unicode Charts and Character Map :) Maybe it's what FS's default font is (apparently Arial). Since many characters I do have support for are rectangles (at least on Win. XP), such as Cyrillic Supplement 1 showing as rectangles despite being supported by Segoe UI, which I have on this computer. And IPA, even though it's in Arial Unicode MS, MS Gothic&Mincho set, WenQuanYi Zen Hei, DejaVu, Titus Cyberbit Basic, Lucida Sans Unicode, etc.
And this is probably somewhat complicated but a way to change the font used to show in the Fontstructor's Current Letter box. It has the potential to make it easier for people making a font that is Serif of Sans Serif only. Also a possible remedy for the strange minor glitch above.
(Closed bold tag) And another suggestion is a way to make the Unicode block selections scroll faster with the scroll wheel or something. OR just faster in general with the arrow button. And/or the character bar at he bottom turned into a grid of some sort, for large blocks. Maybe replacing the My Bricks for people making bitmap fonts....?
i'm lazy but get by FontStructing so you don't have to consider all my suggestions :)
Glitch 2: Hangul set. If you press the right key on the keyboard, there's space and two Hangul characters. If you scroll with the arrows on the interface, then the list wraps around. The left key while at the first character of the set, Chosong Kiyeok, will go to the end of the list, but if you click on a character that isn't one of the three at the end, then the list wraps. And they don't show up again unless you choose the beginning again and use the left key again. :/
According to the bold problems that appears so often, I have an idea for that. I get this picture from a well-known forum site on my country. Options of Bold, Italic, and other a positioned neatly and without an XTHML code or whatever... (sorry idk a lot of that thing). And maybe with smilies options!! :P
Suggestion: guides could be saved to the fonts, so you don't have to set them again (if browser's cookies are deleted).
Also, in the preview page, if you zoom in so that a scrollbar appears, then scroll down and zoom out, the scrollbar disappears and the font doesn't show correctly.
When you quit the fontstructor while viewing the space character and then go back, it shows the Hangul alphabet.
Also, it's frustrating that fonts are sometimes different when they're downloaded (random bricks replaced, space between words is different, etc). Hope it can be fixed.
I don't have a suggestion.
I just wanted to express my thanks to those of you that allow cloning of your fonts. I have learned so much about filters, stacking, composites, etc just by studying the fonts made by others.
Many thanks!
I was reading all these suggestions, & something just occurred to me:
FontStruct is free to use @ its fonts are free to download and sometimes to clone, but the more people realize its potential, the more they think of changes that can be made. Only 1 solution:
Probably not. A lot of practical, good-quality software is open source - Linux, LibreOffice, and Gimp to name a few. Besides, there could always be regular snapshots of FS's best versions, including its latest closed-source one.
Well, if the source code was released, people could put a FontStructor on their own site. Or if they were programmers, they could fix bugs, add new features, and then release it as a new version. We would still have the older ones to use.
17) Under Advanced, where it says Copy Basic Latin letters->Latin Accents, Upper->Lower, and Lower->Upper, there could also be Basic Latin-Latin Extended A, etc.
I would like to see the filters option going up as high as 4
:4 or at least 3:3.
I use 2:2 filters almost every time and it lets me have more options when I mix bricks, and with 3:3 or 4:4 it would be even better.
Also I would like to second the will.i.ૐ's suggestion since I've needed that type of bricks many times before.
1. The "Copy to Latin Accents" button should be removed and REPLACED with a "Copy from Basic Latin (or Greek..)" button in each block like Latin Extended-A, Greek Extended, etc...
2. Maybe a chat where people could ask stuff when they're in trouble?
3. Friends? Fun is impossible to make when you're alone.
4. Maybe a "Sneak Peek" thing where people could look at their FRIENDS' FontStructions (while FontStructing), but with permission.
Am I the only one who has trouble creating new fontstructions? When I write the name and click "Create new fontstruction" it goes to "fontstructions/create" and shows a blank page. I tried writing "fontstruct.com/fontstructions/create", but that took me back to the naming page. I have also tried to go to the fontstructor, but that is just the last font I edited.
Are you aware of this bug Meek?
Im running Firefox 16.0.1 on a Windows XP machine.
I think that maybe you should be able to make a font family, and there would just be a little button that said "Make New Font Family" and you could choose to create a family from scratch, or choose existing fonts you have made and put them into a special "family" directory. When other users viewed this directory, they could comment on the whole family, or comment on one font in the family.
Also, there could be a special "spacing" editor, where you could edit ligatures and kerning, and also adjust how long a space (blank) is.
@winty5: I definitely agree that a folder system would be a useful addition. When you have 100s of fonts it would be great to sub-divide them into categories ... 'Sans', 'Serif', 'Display' etc. and to then sub-divide them into families.
As to the spacing issue, you can already adjust the 'space' (between the lowercase and numbers) and 'no-break space' (at the end of 'More Latin').
@p2pnut: Thanks for the help on spacing, I almost never venture into "More Latin".
______________________________
Another suggestion I have is that there should be a Diamond/Rhombus brick, and there should be a brick editor where you can build your own bricks. The Bricks Editor allows you to draw bricks with vector points, instead of creating them with existing bricks, like in compositing and stacking. Also, there should be a new tool called "Pencil Eraser" Pencil Eraser allows you to erase by drawing, instead of selecting a bunch of bricks in a rectangle and deleting them all at once. These would help many FontStructors, including me. :)
And a "library of composites" like djnippa's All Composites saved in MY BRICKS" would be a good idea to have built into the fontstructor so you wouldn't need to have to make the bricks, in my opinion this would make FS more user friendly, but it's up to Mr.Meek if he wants to listen to these suggestions.
@winty5: The number of composite bricks we can possibly make is staggering. There is no point repeating all the same as ready made bricks. Instead, let's focus on those bricks we really need, but can't be made as composites, no matter how hard we try.
Pencil Eraser: There is a trick, a workaround. Suppose, you want some white hand drawn pattern on black. 1. Draw the black background. 2. Using the Pencil Tool draw your pattern somewhere outside of the background. 3. Select your pattern. 4. Copy and paste it by pressing C and V, respectively. This step is only for safety: in case something goes wrong, you still have a copy of your pattern. 5. As the pasted pattern is still selected (blue), move it over the background, position it carefully. 6. Delete the pattern by pressing X. As a result your pattern appears in white against a black background.
It's a sort of thing that's much easier to do than explain.
What about an option for an on/off button to either allow your font to be DOWNLOADED or not.
When I design a font, I like to show it, as I really appreciate everyone's comments, but I hesitate to show anything these days, as I design my fonts with the intention of selling them - if I feel they are worthy.
Also the majority of these fonts are rough versions of the final font. It is not supposed to be used and abused.
@djnippa: I agree. Some of my fonts I don't want people downloading, and it would prevent unfinished work from being downloaded. That feature would help me a lot.
@djnippa:
Well, maybe you can publish only the limited character set, let's say only UC (but show us LC, punctuation, accents etc on a sample image).
And if you're using software like Fontlab, you can always say: "This is a demo version. For a full font, with kerning, alternatives, full character set, you know all those opentype features, please buy it www.here.com, or contact me @mail".
I aslo think of selling fonts, you know, just to see what happens :) I'm not naive, and I know that one can't earn money for a living by selling fonts if you're not already in a TYPE business, which I'm not. So it seems www.myfonts.com is the best option for freelancers like me.
I was thinking to start from my "Happi" or "Garage Garbage", I already have some accents, cyrillics for them, and all I need to do is to figure out the kerning (I don't think I'll go any further).
Thanks for reading this. Happy New 2013 Year!
architaraz.
@staff : A simple feature (but maybe hard to release on Fontstructor) which could make it almost as a vector soft, just by allowing each case/brick to receive its own filtering, (possibly) different for each case/brick added.
and either it´s just my dialup being retarded or the preview window is just showing a blank rectangle at times btw 126serif was fine; recently edited; noticed in my fontstructions there was only [⇩]1 and no [ᕱ]*however characters there were*
I know there have been some bugs with the Hangul section; and I've got another one to add to the list. Occasionally, when I edit a font, it opens in Hangul. If that happens, I just change it back to Basic Latin, and nothing else goes wrong. Not a big deal.
@meek: I'm still noticing a bunch of blank fonts on Fontstruct.
Also, please add these bricks: (Each grid square is one brick.) Thanks!
I have a few suggestions for future bricks (see picture). Having these would greatly help any construction involving strokes with commonly used angles. These bricks can not be created with present tools and methods.
Wouldn't it be great if we had an invert colors button? :) You know, it's like when you finish your negative space font, you just press the invert color button, and voila. Of course, to edit a font, you'll have to restore to original color. Is it possible?
It would be much easier if you have a "My Composites" section, where you can drag&drop your favorite composites. Like those I suggested above. (PS. The idea came from PlayCrafter, where you could re-use your own blocks.)
The ability to 'Subscribe/ unsubscribe' to a fonts messages. Sometimes when you make a comment, it often gets lost, as you don't know if anyone has responded to it.
I think a subscribe/ unsubscribe feature would make conversations a bit more fluid.
Bravo, demonics, for pushing our community further and further!
I do agree with aphoria's statement: "If it can be made with a composite, it doesn't really need to be a default brick."
And another suggestion. Can we add some basic editing tools when writing a comment? You know, italics, bold, url, so that we don't have to use those html codes?
Thanks!
May I make my plea once again for consideration of the idea of having folders. It would make life so much easier (and quicker) if we could sort our own work into separate folders.
@cablecomputer // Yep, I've been wanting to do some FontOuts too, but there was a large conflict in the last one, and they took a lot of work for me to set up and run. If I do start them again, it will most likely be every month.
Suggestion: If the only whitespace characters allowed are normal space and non-breaking, suddenly the other spaces in U2000 General Punctuation seem a bit useless, no? Bug: Sometimes, in the FontStructor "Preview", the scrollbar (on the bottom at least) disappears, and I have to move or click on the zoom positioning-thing to make it appear again.
Reading the suggestion again, I realize it wasn't clear enough: Only normal space and nonbreaking space can have their width adjusted. No other glyph is allowed to simply be blank but have a width set. (No, I just set em space's width right here, see?) Restart the FontStructor.
And I've never got to participate in a FontOut, I sure would like to...
Suggestion: There should be different kinds of TP's like Creative Pick, Useful Pick, Legible Pick, Competition Winner...but of course it's all up to mr.meek, not a little 10 year old like me.
@winty5 Hey-ho! I'm 12 years old! :D
I would like:
=> Change filter maximum to 4x4
=> A function to resize bricks, especially the circles. When you now want to get a circle in a design bigger than 2x2 (WHO MAKES A 2x2 DESIGN?????), then you always have rounded squares...
Heeelp! Every time I open the FontStructor, it shows an error massage about the Adobe Flash Player.
Should I update it or something wrong on the site or what??
For a week or so now I have been losing all my saved settings - even though I have 'allowed' FontStruct in Global Settings and give Local Storage 1 Mb.
This means that I have to reset all the paramaters (Extra Guides etc.)of my FontStruction each time I open it.
I'm not sure why this has appeared now. There have been no changes to the FontStructor recently.
You could have a look at this FAQ Article for advice on clearing local storage.
I've already delete www.fontstruct.com from the list of Local Shared Object so that Adobe Player doesn't request amount of local storage.
But it seems doesn't work. The error message still occur and I still can't click on anything on the FontStructor.
Just after my first Faux Font i had a Wild idea. Why Not fontstruct with html and JavaScript. http://www.infimum.dk/HTML/slantinfo.html . Just using divs. Excuse the spelling darn autocorrect
What do you think? Do i Need to explanier a Little more?
1) There needs to be Suggestions II, this is getting long. 2) Ahahahaha this is amusing: Every time you switch between Unicode Letter Sets and Normal, the list of sets gets wider~
It would be cool if there was a place where you can look at a list of all Fontstructors, with options to hide anyone who has no shared fonts, and sort by number of fonts shared, number of Top Picks, and so on.
I like Frodo7's suggestions for bricks. Also, these bricks I forgot in my previous post.
@ETHproductions: I second the last set of new bricks you propose. Yes, they can be created with composites, as you demonstrate. Since we cannot composite with composites, these would themselves be very useful for creating certain composites. I consider them a logical and useful extension of the current set.
Are you suggesting in the first of your last two posts (with the propeller brick-like formations) bricks such that are contained in a single grid square of your diagram? I work so often in 2x2; at first I thought “ok, these are propeller bricks and some composites or overlays possible with them...” Then I read your previous post.
Those shapes are quite provocative, yet I don’t know about the general usefulness of subdividing quarter-circle-type bricks into quadrants like you show. Doing these mathematical cuts lead to irrational (non-fractional) numbers that would only combine precisely with the other irrational bricks in your first proposed set – just how you have them laid out. Perhaps what would satisfy your desire here is the oft-dreamed-about and requested ability to anchor and scale bricks on an individually basis rather than across the artboard as with the current filter function?
@regular_one: Now there’s an awesome suggestion. I love your lateral thinking. If the FontMortar had an option to output css, FontStruct would instantly become an incredibly powerful modular design tool for html5 layouts and animations. David DeSandro (aka nemoorange) proved this doesn’t just apply to faux-curves. His approach is a diamond in the rough, a hidden gem, unknown but still known to blow minds. :)
188 Comments
I think personally that the device that would need the most important improvement should be the PREVIEWS in FS, whose low definition is absolutely not adapted to intricate works. When i saw how were rendered my works in Myfonts or Dafont, even choosing a relatively small size, it was day and night with FS, i rediscovered them. All details were there, when you always have to Zoom in to excessively big sizes on FS just to begin seeing details.
maybe you could write the whole text on the font just in one character, so it would show in the live feed properly.
I've sent some suggestions and bug reports before, so I'll write them here too. Bugs:
-When I start the fontstructor, I can't choose the first square brick in "all bricks" (it doesn't turn yellow)
-When I add more bricks to the "my bricks" window, the scrollbar doesn't go all the way down unless I resize the window
-When you select a character, change to a new character and zoom in or out, the previous character appears
-When zoomed out, you can't add a brick to the first grid square at the baseline
-Stray bricks sometimes appear somewhere far away from the main working area
And suggestions:
-When there's only one guide, the remove button should be hidden (sometimes it seems to be so, sometimes not)
-"Lock guides" probably shouldn't affect the width guide (I often need to change that but not the guides, so I need to keep locking and unlocking)
-Making it possible to hide the zoom window
-Having the tool palette next to the "my bricks" window by default
-Possibly a shop where you could sell your designs and maybe commercial fonts?
@Yautja Thank you. Regarding the "shop" idea, FS is based on free fonts, and we do have FontShop, so I don't think that's the best idea.
I will work on the avatar. I have three accounts now! It's a bit stressful.
1) The # of brix 4 stax & composites r limited.
2) You can't make composites with any stacked brix.
3) The filters limit is low.
1) In Firefox; when the screen is "restore down", and I FontStruct, and then is go back to Maximize, the right part of the screen is a blank void until I fiddle with the zoom bar. This problem doesn't appear in Opera.
2) In the FontStructor's Preview, (at least on the bottom area) if it's set to the largest size, then instantly shrinked down to pixel resolution, there's nothing, not even a scroll bar. So then you have to zoom back to large, and slowly scroll to small, while moving the scroll bar so that the Fontstruction still shows in the area.
4) Remember that inversion tool someone said on your blog? No matter how advanced it seems, add it!
My suggestion: in the Live feed, show all fontstructing as default, not selected, for those that haven't gotten TPs.
Suggestions:
-I've wondered if there are undo and redo button on the FontStructor.
-And I think we can reduce the limitness of curves if there are compositing composites feature.
I hope this little forum will realized by meek and make this site better.
Also with regards to all of micgio's suggestions 1-3, I know they are really good but they might be extremely difficult to implement, so it might be crazy to have them all. As of now, there is actually no restriction on the number of bricks you can have in a stack. Actually, by solely modifying the filter range, it is possible to overcome the lack in composite functionality and reduce the need for creating more complexities such as stacks in composites and composites in composites. Thus I propose keeping the composites and stack functions as they are, and changing the upper filter limit to 5 or thereabouts.
Finally, +1 to the inversion idea that we've been suggesting for a long time.
Suggestions:
-Automatically close bold etc. tags in comments and descriptions (there's a bit of a problem on live feed now for example)
-Sometimes the comment box is at the top, sometimes at the bottom, sometimes both. It could be at the bottom only (easier to see the last comments)
There have been some positive things here - fellow FontStructors pointing out already existing features such as the 'undo'/'redo' function. That is entirely in keeping with the spirit of FontStruct as we have always been ready and willing to help one another as well as guiding those who are new.
However it would be a shame if this forum descends into being just a conduit for demands/grumbles/complaints/whinges etc. Always remember that FontStruct is not some mega-rich, multi-national corporation ... it is an extremely useful and clever tool - given to us freely. It is largely the work of one man. Rob Meek does all he can to ensure that FontStruct works well and continues to develop - but it is only one part of his, already busy, life.
As I said, Fontstruct is a tool - and it takes time and patience to master any tool. Part of the fun of FontStruct for many is in managing to overcome its limitations and then producing work that we can be proud of.
If you have a spare $650 lying around then go and buy Fontlab, I'm sure it would do the job far better In the meantime we should all enjoy what we have here and go forward as a community in a spirit of co-operation and mutual support.
... and let's not forget the old saying ... 'a bad workman always blames his tools'.
The suggestion forum is more meant for the users than the staff - we can see what's already been suggested, so the staff doesn't get numerous emails about the same things, that's why I thought this would be a good place to put ideas. Plus there can be more discussions on other topics, so it's not just "complaining". :)
You could also remove the one immediately above this :)
About your bold/italic run up there: everyone makes mistakes :)
1) A better way of organising fontstructs into folders or groups. I have 556 fontstructions spread over 56 pages. A pull down menu, where you can sort by Date/ Alphabetically/ Tag etc with the option to reverse it. Or folders that fontstructs can be dropped in, and can be individually named and organised as above. So you can have fonts in categories like Black Letter, Block, Pixel, 3D, Display, Experimental, To Sell, Completed etc. Otherwise I find it can take up to 30 minutes to find a font.
2) The elusive ‘house’ brick. I know you can create it using composites and filters, but recently on several designs, it is still the one brick that cannot be produced at smaller sizes, and I have to correct the design in Fontllab. Having this brick would make all my fonts perfect.
3) The option to show work, but not allow downloads.
4) The option to sell work, with a percentage going towards Fontstruct.
5) STOP users making exact clones and renaming them as there own.
6) The option to scale bricks to any size.
7) A font mortar countdown for the number of bricks you have used/ can use before it crashes.
8) Option to adjust line width. It should be set to caps/lower case height. At the mo, it’s set to the lowest and highest brick is.
9) Correct the PREVIEW when viewed on a MAC in Fontbook. Currently all fontstruction when previewed say ‘Five big quacking zephyrs jolt my wax bed’. Every other font I preview shows the Alphabet and numerals. This is very frustrating.
Speaking of tags, I remember reading somewhere that private tags are not visible to others, although that is not the case. Not sure if they should be.
Basically, suggestions are fine, complaints are unnecessary, especially if they don't matter. For instance your suggestion #9 is not quite a big deal or talking about how FS can improve. Correct me if I'm wrong, djnippa or p2p.
@demonics: Suggestions are fine and this gives them a chance to be discussed - I just don't want to see something that puts even more pressure on Rob
I have followed it, as I have followed all the "font moots" in the past. I'm not going to comment on all feature requests but they are almost all good ones so far. It is good to put pressure on me although it doesn't mean things will be fixed or features added quickly, but it might help.
What is the "house brick"?
I think dj nippa meant a brick like this...
8) Under Unicode Settings, some--er, most--of the characters r replaced w/ spaces or rectangles.
WHY DID YOU ADD CATCHES???
And this is probably somewhat complicated but a way to change the font used to show in the Fontstructor's Current Letter box. It has the potential to make it easier for people making a font that is Serif of Sans Serif only. Also a possible remedy for the strange minor glitch above.
i'm lazy but get by FontStructing so you don't have to consider all my suggestions :)
Clearer (?) explanation
1) Go to Hangul Set
2) Press Left (Keyboard) and end up on 힣
3) Click on anything not [space], 가, or 힣 and the list unusually wraps around to the first character, and the three disappear
1) Go to Hangul Set
2) Scroll to the end with the arrows
3) The list wraps itself infinitely (?)
Just an idea...
I'm pretty sure that someone wrote something about this in the past but I could not find it...
Suggestions?
1) Select the brick you want to slice.
2) Click a NEW SLICE button in the menu. (how 'bout shift+q?
3) Use the "knife" tool to slice the brick. If you have to, resize the new brick.
4) You're done!
11) Sometimes comments have limited sizes.
Also, in the preview page, if you zoom in so that a scrollbar appears, then scroll down and zoom out, the scrollbar disappears and the font doesn't show correctly.
Also, it's frustrating that fonts are sometimes different when they're downloaded (random bricks replaced, space between words is different, etc). Hope it can be fixed.
12) Unless you resize the ZOOM, the scrollbar won't change.
13)That new kind of comment post cablecomputer showed. And don't make it that typewriter font again.
And the commonly suggested:
14)LOCK GUIDES also locks LETTER WIDTH.
@meek: Fix all our problems & suggestions!!! :)
I just wanted to express my thanks to those of you that allow cloning of your fonts. I have learned so much about filters, stacking, composites, etc just by studying the fonts made by others.
Many thanks!
2) These bricks
>>>>15) FontCreator's kerning
>>>>16) Those brix
FontStruct is free to use @ its fonts are free to download and sometimes to clone, but the more people realize its potential, the more they think of changes that can be made. Only 1 solution:
3) OPEN SOURCE
17) Under Advanced, where it says Copy Basic Latin letters->Latin Accents, Upper->Lower, and Lower->Upper, there could also be Basic Latin-Latin Extended A, etc.
The abovementioned invisible brick problem still persists.
:4 or at least 3:3.
I use 2:2 filters almost every time and it lets me have more options when I mix bricks, and with 3:3 or 4:4 it would be even better.
Also I would like to second the will.i.ૐ's suggestion since I've needed that type of bricks many times before.
1. The "Copy to Latin Accents" button should be removed and REPLACED with a "Copy from Basic Latin (or Greek..)" button in each block like Latin Extended-A, Greek Extended, etc...
2. Maybe a chat where people could ask stuff when they're in trouble?
3. Friends? Fun is impossible to make when you're alone.
4. Maybe a "Sneak Peek" thing where people could look at their FRIENDS' FontStructions (while FontStructing), but with permission.
// Your #2 already exists. It's these forums.
Am I the only one who has trouble creating new fontstructions? When I write the name and click "Create new fontstruction" it goes to "fontstructions/create" and shows a blank page. I tried writing "fontstruct.com/fontstructions/create", but that took me back to the naming page. I have also tried to go to the fontstructor, but that is just the last font I edited.
Are you aware of this bug Meek?
Im running Firefox 16.0.1 on a Windows XP machine.
Also, there could be a special "spacing" editor, where you could edit ligatures and kerning, and also adjust how long a space (blank) is.
As to the spacing issue, you can already adjust the 'space' (between the lowercase and numbers) and 'no-break space' (at the end of 'More Latin').
______________________________
Another suggestion I have is that there should be a Diamond/Rhombus brick, and there should be a brick editor where you can build your own bricks. The Bricks Editor allows you to draw bricks with vector points, instead of creating them with existing bricks, like in compositing and stacking. Also, there should be a new tool called "Pencil Eraser" Pencil Eraser allows you to erase by drawing, instead of selecting a bunch of bricks in a rectangle and deleting them all at once. These would help many FontStructors, including me. :)
And don't forget these bricks:
Pencil Eraser: There is a trick, a workaround. Suppose, you want some white hand drawn pattern on black. 1. Draw the black background. 2. Using the Pencil Tool draw your pattern somewhere outside of the background. 3. Select your pattern. 4. Copy and paste it by pressing C and V, respectively. This step is only for safety: in case something goes wrong, you still have a copy of your pattern. 5. As the pasted pattern is still selected (blue), move it over the background, position it carefully. 6. Delete the pattern by pressing X. As a result your pattern appears in white against a black background.
It's a sort of thing that's much easier to do than explain.
When I design a font, I like to show it, as I really appreciate everyone's comments, but I hesitate to show anything these days, as I design my fonts with the intention of selling them - if I feel they are worthy.
Also the majority of these fonts are rough versions of the final font. It is not supposed to be used and abused.
suggestion:separate published and private fonts.
Well, maybe you can publish only the limited character set, let's say only UC (but show us LC, punctuation, accents etc on a sample image).
And if you're using software like Fontlab, you can always say: "This is a demo version. For a full font, with kerning, alternatives, full character set, you know all those opentype features, please buy it www.here.com, or contact me @mail".
I aslo think of selling fonts, you know, just to see what happens :) I'm not naive, and I know that one can't earn money for a living by selling fonts if you're not already in a TYPE business, which I'm not. So it seems www.myfonts.com is the best option for freelancers like me.
I was thinking to start from my "Happi" or "Garage Garbage", I already have some accents, cyrillics for them, and all I need to do is to figure out the kerning (I don't think I'll go any further).
Thanks for reading this. Happy New 2013 Year!
architaraz.
btw 126serif was fine; recently edited; noticed in my fontstructions there was only [⇩]1 and no [ᕱ]*however characters there were*
@meek: I'm still noticing a bunch of blank fonts on Fontstruct.
Also, please add these bricks: (Each grid square is one brick.) Thanks!
I have tried many times to create a composite for the triangle - without success.
If someone out there can create this composite triangle, that would be great
If not, I would be grateful if it could be considered for a future update.
I think a subscribe/ unsubscribe feature would make conversations a bit more fluid.
I know there will always be more bricks that we want...but, if you do give us some, please give us new ones first.
If it can be made with a composite, it doesn't really need to be a default brick.
I do agree with aphoria's statement: "If it can be made with a composite, it doesn't really need to be a default brick."
And another suggestion. Can we add some basic editing tools when writing a comment? You know, italics, bold, url, so that we don't have to use those html codes?
Thanks!
Hey, I wonder if you hold some FontOuts again. To wait and could be for practice for official competition to be held, just an idea.
Bug: Sometimes, in the FontStructor "Preview", the scrollbar (on the bottom at least) disappears, and I have to move or click on the zoom positioning-thing to make it appear again.
(No, I just set em space's width right here, see?) Restart the FontStructor.
Suggestion: There should be different kinds of TP's like Creative Pick, Useful Pick, Legible Pick, Competition Winner...but of course it's all up to mr.meek, not a little 10 year old like me.
I would like:
=> Change filter maximum to 4x4
=> A function to resize bricks, especially the circles. When you now want to get a circle in a design bigger than 2x2 (WHO MAKES A 2x2 DESIGN?????), then you always have rounded squares...
Should I update it or something wrong on the site or what??
Thanks for any advice!
This means that I have to reset all the paramaters (Extra Guides etc.)of my FontStruction each time I open it.
You could have a look at this FAQ Article for advice on clearing local storage.
And PUH-LEEEASE make us be able to zoom out more.
Being able to "friend" people, and "block" spammers and cyberbullies from messaging you or commenting on your fonts.
Prevent cloning fonts and not changing anything.
Allow people to vote on whether or not a fontstrcution should get a TP. If it gets enough votes then it's a TP.
Allow people to block anyone commenting on a certain font or all their fonts.
Don't change image's sizes when uploaded.
Ideas for buttons:
Copy to Extended Latin…
Copy to Greek
Copy to Cyrillic
Upload to (insert font site here)
But it seems doesn't work. The error message still occur and I still can't click on anything on the FontStructor.
Somebody, please help me!!
What do you think? Do i Need to explanier a Little more?
2) Ahahahaha this is amusing: Every time you switch between Unicode Letter Sets and Normal, the list of sets gets wider~
I like Frodo7's suggestions for bricks. Also, these bricks I forgot in my previous post.
Are you suggesting in the first of your last two posts (with the propeller brick-like formations) bricks such that are contained in a single grid square of your diagram? I work so often in 2x2; at first I thought “ok, these are propeller bricks and some composites or overlays possible with them...” Then I read your previous post.
Those shapes are quite provocative, yet I don’t know about the general usefulness of subdividing quarter-circle-type bricks into quadrants like you show. Doing these mathematical cuts lead to irrational (non-fractional) numbers that would only combine precisely with the other irrational bricks in your first proposed set – just how you have them laid out. Perhaps what would satisfy your desire here is the oft-dreamed-about and requested ability to anchor and scale bricks on an individually basis rather than across the artboard as with the current filter function?
@regular_one: Now there’s an awesome suggestion. I love your lateral thinking. If the FontMortar had an option to output css, FontStruct would instantly become an incredibly powerful modular design tool for html5 layouts and animations. David DeSandro (aka nemoorange) proved this doesn’t just apply to faux-curves. His approach is a diamond in the rough, a hidden gem, unknown but still known to blow minds. :)
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