![\"\"](\"http:\/\/fontstruct.com\/news\/uploads\/2013\/02\/do-you-speak-my-language-2x.png\" "\\"do-you-speak-my-language-2x\\"")
<\/p>\nWhen you open the FontStructor you are presented with that familiar row of character slots sorted alphabetically. If you\u2019re like many FontStruct users, you build your FontStruction by following these slots in order \u2014 starting with the caps, then plodding along, drawing one character after another, through the lowercase, numerals, and basic punctuation until you finally reach that lively little tilde (~) that seems to wave like a victory flag: \u201cYou\u2019re done!\u201d<\/p>\n
But are you done? Not if you want folks in Sweden to use your font. Or Denmark. Even Germany, France, or Spain will take a look at the fruit of your tireless labor and find it woefully incomplete. The countries of Eastern Europe are out of the question. Not to mention the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Above: On the left is my WPA Gothic<\/a>, a FontStruction I was pretty proud of \u2026 until I saw what an uneducated slob it is! The font has about 200 glyphs but it\u2019s still missing the characters necessary just to set a simple sentence in languages commonly used throughout the Western world. By contrast, the multilingual Modular Blackout Bold Condensed<\/a> is capable of all these languages except the oft-neglected Vietnamese. (Language labels set in Renovare S2<\/a>. Missing character boxes set in IconoMono<\/a>.)<\/small><\/p>\n A 26-glyph, 52-glyph, or even 200-glyph FontStruction can be a useful exercise for prototyping and experimentation, but it is rarely considered a working font. So let\u2019s look at what else your font needs to advance beyond a fun little piece of art to a truly useful tool.<\/p>\n In the interest of simplicity this initial row in the editor is limited to only the bare minimum of letters and punctuation. Thus the title of the character group: \u201cBasic<\/em> Latin<\/strong>\u201d. And while 100 or so glyphs seem like a lot \u2014\u00a0especially when you\u2019re limping through the set of a particularly challenging design \u2014 this group of characters is really not enough to say more than a few things in English.<\/p>\n What\u2019s missing? Accented characters (or diacriticals), of course. The bits that English-centric folk might consider superfluous appendages or “extra” characters are actually standard and necessary in other languages. In Spanish, the n and \u00f1 are individual and distinct letters of the alphabet, each with an identity and pronunciation of their own. In French, a mouthful of sabl\u00e9 (cookie) is more desirable than a mouthful of sable (sand). In German, you can get by without an \u00df (eszett) by typing ‘ss’ but in most cases it\u2019s linguistically incorrect. And none of this even touches non-Latin languages like Russian (which uses the Cyrillic writing system) and Greek.<\/p>\n So what makes a complete font? The answer isn\u2019t so simple. In fact, an absolutely complete font probably doesn\u2019t exist. Fonts that are bundled with operating systems have a massive arsenal of characters, covering most of the Western world, but even most of those don\u2019t speak languages like Arabic, Hindi, or Chinese.<\/p>\n But lets take a step back and assume you want your FontStruction to be usable in at least the most common languages that use the Latin script<\/a>. Head on over to the character set menu and move beyond Basic Latin<\/strong> to More Latin<\/strong>. This set covers much of the Western world, from North and South America to Western Europe. Even Turkish is supported. Not counting the extra punctuation, fractions, and currency symbols at the end of the row, it\u2019s 65 more glyphs to build. Feeling overwhelmed? Don\u2019t despair\u00a0\u2014 many of these characters are variations on letters you\u2019ve already made. With a few exceptions, you can get by with a copying, pasting, and adding a diacritical mark. The “Copy to Latin Accents<\/a>” command in Expert Mode expedites this process. If legibility and cultural sensitivity is important to you \u2014\u00a0and it should be! \u2014\u00a0take some time to learn how these marks are designed and placed. Microsoft\u2019s Character Design Standards<\/a> and the Diacritics Project<\/a> are very helpful guides. Once you complete these characters your work is on par with the entry-level of most commercially available fonts.<\/p>\n If you want your font to get play in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe you\u2019ll need to graduate to Extended Latin A<\/strong>. This range covers languages like Croatian, Czech, Finnish, Hungarian, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, and Slovak. Once you cap that last \u2018z\u2019 with a caron you will have completed a font with the same linguistic chops as the most premium commercial releases. Products with this extended language support are often stamped with a \u201cPro\u201d label (see Adobe and FontFont\u2019s definition) and are sought after by multinational corporations, publications, and any organization whose interests are global.<\/p>\n So you\u2019ve got the letters necessary to speak all the languages you want to support. But you can\u2019t string together meaningful sentences without punctuation. While there are myriad esoteric symbols for specialized fields like music, math, and science, let\u2019s focus on the basic punctuation required for written texts in most Western languages. The obvious necessities are:<\/strong><\/p>\n What punctuation could be considered optional?<\/strong><\/p>\n So what is a complete font? If FontStructing is simply a relaxing hobby, then the answer to that question is entirely up to you, the designer. But if you intend your font to live a life outside of the FontStructor, it is ultimately up to the user. And their definition of \u201ccomplete\u201d is based on a combination of their particular needs and expectations derived from other professional fonts. No matter how inventive or appealing the design of your alphabet may be, if your font is missing what your user needs, they will likely move on to a more well-equipped option.<\/p>\n We hope this introduction familiarizes you with the characters and symbols that are commonly neglected, so your hard work won\u2019t be.<\/p>\n Stephen<\/a> is a writer and typographer living in Oakland and Berlin. After six years at\u00a0FontShop<\/a>\u00a0San Francisco as a creative director, he now publishes\u00a0Fonts In Use<\/a>,\u00a0Typographica<\/a>,\u00a0andThe\u00a0Mid-Century Modernist<\/a>,\u00a0and consults with various organizations on type selection.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Basic Latin<\/h3>\n
More Latin<\/h3>\n
Extended Latin A<\/h3>\n
Punctuation<\/h3>\n
\n
(.)<\/code> comma (,)<\/code> semicolon (;)<\/code> colon (:)<\/code> and ellipsis (\u2026)<\/code><\/li>\n(?)<\/code>, and its inverted form, used in Spanish (\u00bf)<\/code><\/li>\n(!\u00a1)<\/code><\/li>\n(')<\/code> and double (\")<\/code> \u2014 though they really have no proper typographic function, computers have made them the default quote mark<\/li>\n(\u2018\u2019)<\/code> and double (\u201c\u201d)<\/code><\/li>\n(\u00ab\u00bb \u2039\u203a)<\/code><\/li>\n(< >)<\/code><\/li>\n(-)<\/code>, en (\u2013)<\/code>, and em (\u2014)<\/code><\/li>\n(_)<\/code><\/li>\n($ \u00a2 \u20ac \u00a3)<\/code><\/li>\n(%)<\/code> degree (\u00b0)<\/code> and number sign\/octothorp (#)<\/code><\/li>\n(\u00aa\u00ba)<\/code> are expected in Latin-based languages like Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese<\/li>\n(+)<\/code> and equals (=)<\/code> are necessary, while optional bits are the minus (\u2212)<\/code> division sign (\u00f7)<\/code> plus-minus (\u00b1)<\/code> not equal to (\u2260)<\/code> and multiplication sign (\u2715)<\/code> \u2014 which is not the same as the letter \u2018x\u2019 as it should vertically align with numerals<\/li>\n(*)<\/code> bullet (\u2022)<\/code> and middle dot (\u00b7)<\/code> a smaller, less conspicuous bullet<\/li>\n(@)<\/code><\/li>\n(&)<\/code><\/li>\n(())<\/code> brackets ([])<\/code> slashes (\\\/)<\/code> and pipe (|)<\/code><\/li>\n(\u00ae)<\/code> copyright (\u00a9)<\/code> and trademark (\u2122)<\/code> signs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
(\u00a7)<\/code> pilcrow (\u00b6)<\/code> and daggers (\u2020\u2021)<\/code> are rarely used in modern typography, but can serve as decorative paragraph separators or footnote indicators<\/li>\n(\u02b9\u02ba)<\/code> are used for units \u2014\u00a0like minutes and seconds, or feet and inches \u2014 and should have their own specific design, but most users end up employing the more accessible straight quotes<\/li>\n(\u00a5)<\/code> and Indian rupee (\u20a8 or \u20b9)<\/code> are less common in the West where the dollar, euro, and British pound reign, but they are important in their respective regions<\/li>\n(\u2192)<\/code> manicules (\u261e)<\/code> checkmarks (\u2713)<\/code> and stars (\u2605)<\/code> are not necessary for written text, but can certainly make a font more useful<\/li>\n(\u2153\u2154)<\/code> and fourths (\u00bc\u00bd\u00be)<\/code> are often included<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAre we there yet?<\/h3>\n
![\"What](\"http:\/\/fontstruct.com\/news\/uploads\/2013\/02\/complete-font-teaser1.gif\" "\\"What")
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