[build 4311] DOWNLOAD FontLab Studio 5.1 for Mac Public Preview 4

*** NEW FEATURES IN FLS 5.1 VS. 5.0.4 ***

Please take into account that the new features and any functionality may change before the final release.

* New and updated encodings and data files

FLS 5.1 ships with updated versions of the Unicode-to-glyphname mapping files (standard.nam and several others), updated vendors.dat, updated tags.txt, as well as a largely revamped set of standard encoding files. Included is a set of new "OpenType" encoding files ("OpenType Standard", "OpenType LatPro", "OpenType LatPro SC", "OpenType LatCyrGrk" etc.) which are suitable as a basis for designing OpenType fonts. Rather than the old "afii" naming scheme, all the encoding files use the new "uni" naming scheme.

* Application speed

On Intel Macs, FLS 5.1 runs much faster than 5.0.4. For example, Action Sets run approx. 2.5 times faster in 5.1 than in 5.0.4, running on Mac OS 10.6.8. If you notice any portions of the app which run SLOWER than in 5.0.4, please report this.

* Creating OpenType fonts with up to 65,535 glyphs

FontLab Studio 5.1 has no longer the 6,400 glyph limit. It allows you to open, save and generate fonts with up to 65,535 glyphs.

* Improved OpenType Layout support through FEA 2.5

The Adobe FDK for OpenType (AFDKO) version 2.5 library is integrated in 5.1 (as opposed to 1.6 in 5.0.4). This means that you can use FEA 2.5 syntax that supports mark attachment or "sub fi by f i" type of statements, as well as "script DFLT". See "Known Issues" section below for important information about this.

* New Clean up paths feature

The "Clean up paths" algorithm from Fontographer is integrated. It's available through the Action / Action Set dialogs (in the Contour group of the dialogs as "CleanUp"). This algorithm is not MM-compatible, unlike "Optimize". For single-master fonts, however, it will deliver different, sometimes better, results, than "Optimize".

* Windows-native TrueType hinting preview

In the TrueType Hinting / TrueType Preview panel, the little chequer icon lets you switch between additional rasterizers. One highlight is the addition of the native Microsoft TrueType rasterizers, which will let you preview the TrueType hinting exactly as it will appear on Windows in non-ClearType mode. The MS B&W rasterizer is the same as used in the black-and-white Windows rendering mode. The MS Grayscale rasterizer is the same as used in the grayscale rendering mode. Note that those rasterization modes are not sensitive to the "gasp" table settings in Font Info. If you have hand-hinted fonts, please go ahead and test these rasterizers. The MS rasterizers run much faster so any changes to the manual TrueType hinting are instantly visible.

* Improved Python integration

FLS 5.1 build 4311 integrates with the CURRENT[/b] version of Python, i.e. 2.5 on Mac OS X 10.5, 2.6 on 10.6, and 2.7 on 10.7, while PP1 integrated with Python 2.5, and FLS 5.0.4 integrated with Python 2.3. See "Known issues" section below for important information. Please test the Python integration on various versions of Mac OS X.

*** BUGS FIXED IN BUILD 4311 ***

# Many causes for crashes when opening, saving and generating fonts have been eliminated, both for Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7.

# The decompilation of OpenType Layout tables when opening .otf and .ttf fonts has been upgraded to support the most important FEA syntax changes between version 1.6 (FLS 5.0.x) and version 2.5. Unlike previous builds of FLS 5.1, FLS 5.1 build 4311 will now automatically place the "languagesystem" statements into the lower-right portion of the OpenType panel, it will also correctly order the "script" statements for the "DFLT" script inside of feature definitions. Please see the "known issues" section below for some additional information.

# A number of other problems have been fixed (although there are still some existing issues.)

*** KNOWN ISSUES IN FLS 5.1 BUILD 4311 ***

(Please read carefully.)

* Non-critical "name" table entries missing from OpenType PS (.otf) fonts

FLS 5.1 build 4311 omits some non-critical "name" table entries (8.1.0.0, 9.1.0.0, 10.1.0.0, 11.1.0.0, 12.1.0.0) when generating OpenType PS (.otf) fonts if the Font Info / Names and Copyright / Additional OpenType names table is empty OR
if Preferences / Generating OpenType & TrueType set to "Do not export OpenType name records". This is not a critical issue. However, a simple workaround is available for this problem:
1. Go to Font Info / Names and Copyright / Additional OpenType names
2. Click on the Import names button (a small "FI" icon), click on OK.
3. Go to Preferences / Generating OpenType & TrueType and set the dropdown list to "Append OpenType name records...", click on OK
4. Generate the OpenType PS (.otf) file -- it will include the most important "name" table entries now.

* "name" table entries in OpenType PS (.otf) fonts

When generating OpenType PS (.otf) fonts, FLS 5.1 Beta build 4311 does not export certain values declared in Font Info into the "name" table. The fields: ID 3 (TTUniqueID), ID 5 (Version string), ID 7 (Trademark) are affected. Instead, the values for those fields are being currently generated by the AFDKO library. This means that these values will generally be fine, and your fonts will work correctly. If you still need to edit those fields, please use a tool such as DTL OTMaster or FontTools/TTX on your generated font. This problem does not apply to OpenType TT (.ttf) fonts.

* Non-ASCII characters in Font Info

In FLS 5.1 build 4311, non-ASCII characters (such as accented or non-Latin letters) in Font Info fields such as designer name, license, copyright info etc. may cause some problems, especially when generating OpenType PS (.otf) fonts. If possible, please use only plain English letters and ASCII characters in those fields.

* FEA feature definitions in the OpenType panel

Those issues have been covered in the FEA 2.5 vs. 1.6: "languagesystem" and "script DFLT" issues article.

* OpenType Layout tables in OpenType TT (.ttf) fonts

Regardless of the settings in Preferences, FLS 5.1 build 4311 always writes OpenType Layout tables (GSUB/GPOS) into the OpenType TT (.ttf) font. If you wish to avoid this, remove the feature definitions from the OpenType panel and disable generating the "kern" feature in Preferences. This problem does not apply to OpenType PS (.otf) fonts.

* "OS/2" table entries in OpenType PS (.otf) fonts

When generating OpenType PS (.otf) fonts, FLS 5.1 build 4311 does not export certain values declared in Font Info into the "OS/2" table. This includes the ySubscript*, ySuperscript*, yStrikeout*, ulCodePageRange*, ulUnicodeRange* fields. Instead, the values for those fields are being currently generated by the AFDKO library. This means that these values will generally be fine, and your fonts will work correctly. If you still need to edit those fields, please use a tool such as DTL OTMaster or FontTools/TTX on your generated font. This problem does not apply to OpenType TT (.ttf) fonts.

* Python integration

FLS 5.1 build 4311 integrates with Python 2.5 on Mac OS X 10.5, Python 2.6 on Mac OS X 10.6 and Python 2.7 on Mac OS X 10.7. FLS 5.0.4 integrated with Python 2.3, and FLS 5.1 PP1 (build 4269) integrated with Python 2.5 on all versions of Mac OS X. Therefore, some of your macros may not work if they relied on Python packages installed into /Library/Python/2.3/site-packages. Please re-install them into /Library/Python/[your current version]/site-packages. In order to access the same version of Python in Terminal, please type python.

Python packages that rely on extensions written in C (such as RMX tools 1.6 or the stand-alone AFDKO 2.5) may not work in FLS 5.1. Please contact the developers of these packages for an updated version.

* Other issues

You may experience other problems such as crashes, application instability or problems with the user interface. If you do find them, please create a new topic on this board (with the build number of FLS 5.1 in square brackets at the beginning of the subject line of your post), and describe the issue here.