Glyphs vs Robofont

Raphael Zwyer

Any of you pro colleagues have any experiences/opinions you'd be willing to share?

I'm working on a new font right now. FontForge is a great free and open source option but I'm getting increasingly frustrated with its bugs, limitations and instabilities. I just started free trials for both, RoboFont and Glyphs, but I was hoping to save some valuable time and avoid some pitfalls by learning some insights from other pro RF and Glyphs users.
Any thoughts and suggestions are welcome!
Below a couple things I'd be most interested to learn more about.

• Scanning/importing hand-drawn sketches
• Drawing-from-scratch experience (curves, smoothening, comparing, batch changes...)? 
• Import/export options
• Ease of setting up custom and standard charsets 
• Metrics/Kerning/Spacing (user-friendly metrics window, options for exceptions/pairing, lookups and group kerning) 
• Grids, snaps, smoothening options
• Tweaking and additional styles (groups and batches)
• Interpolation features 
• Validation features and from there quick, font-wide and/or group fixing options
• Type format options (exporting/saving)
• Retina-friendlyness 
• Speed and stability
• General limitations/advantages
  
• Extensions/add-ons
  
• Any other tools I should look into

Thanks for any advice!

AbrahamLee

What kind of FontForge bugs/limitations are you referring to? I use FF on a regular basis and find it just as powerful as anything else.

joeclark

A basic function of a so-called moderator of a discussion forum is to correct unintentional yet glaring errors like the one found in the post title.

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

Which was done, hence no need of "so-called" (if also vindictive flagging).

Raphael, don't exclude FontLab as a candidate. For one thing, it's not to limited to MacOS.

Christian Thalmann

Given that Raphael asks specifically asks about Glyphs (and about Retina-friendliness), we can assume he has a Mac.

Raphael: I believe Glyphs will cater to all the needs you listed. I suggest making use of the free trial month to check whether this is true. If you can't find a certain functionality, ask on the Glyphs forum — it's probably already implemented, and if not, it might be within easy reach of a custom script.

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

But we can't assume he'll never have to work on [his] fonts on another platform... Humans need to be portable too.

Vassil Kateliev

+1 for Fontlab. It's just great... yes it is an old dog, but nevertheless it is robust, stable and reliable (even with all it's bugs and quirks). Steep learning curve, no pretty interface (FL5) but productive. Plus if you get it now, you will actually receive a free upgrade to FL6 witch will be ... just amazing! (if it ever gets finished )

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer

I am on the Glyphs team and therefore biased. But I can give you links for most of the points in your bullet list:

• Scanning/importing hand-drawn sketches: Creating Fonts with Complex Outlines,  Importing from Illustrator, or try Window > Plugin Manager > Trace Background
• Drawing-from-scratch experience (curves, smoothening, comparing, batch changes...)? See the tutorials listed under Basics on the Tutorials page, or the videos on the Get Started page
• Import/export options: Import UFO, SVG, PS/T1, OTF, TTF, paste vectors from apps like Sketch or AI, place all image formats supported by macOS; for exporting, see below (you asked that twice)
• Ease of setting up custom and standard charsets: Adding Glyphs to Your Font, try List Filters in Font View (see Handbook), or more advanced Custom Sidebar Entries in Font View
• Metrics/Kerning/Spacing: Spacing, Kerning
• Grids, snaps, smoothening options: not sure how smoothening relates to grids, but see File > Font Info > Other Settings > Grid
• Interpolation features: See Multiple Masters, part 1: Setting up masters and the following two parts.
  
• Validation features and from there quick, font-wide and/or group fixing options: There are many indicators throughout the app, as well as plug-ins, that help find inconsistencies, incompatibilities, etc., many ways to batch-edit/fix stuff. See for instance the Multiple Masters tutorials for MM-related validation/fixing.
• Type format options (exporting/saving): Save as .glyphs and .ufo, export as .otf, .ttf, .eot, .woff, .woff2, built-in AFDKO.
• Retina-friendlyness: Glyphs has supported Retina screens from the start.
• Extensions/add-ons: See Window > Plugin Manager, and the Extend page

Find the Handbook as free download on https://www.glyphsapp.com/get-started (and short instruction videos).