Best practice for kerning?

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Comments

  • Mark Simonson
    Mark Simonson Posts: 1,796
    Yes, if you expect them to be used as such. Maybe not for a display face.
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 2,050
    Mark Simonson said:
    I also never kern against the space character, as much as it may make sense, since it’s inconsistently supported by apps and operating systems (at least it was at one time—not sure if it’s still true).

    The one time I kerned against space I released the typeface and someone immediately complained that it turned “for you” into “foryou.” One step forward, two steps back.
  • Mark Simonson
    Mark Simonson Posts: 1,796
    Monotype back in the nineties (before they were acquired by Agfatype) shipped Type 1 fonts with kerning against the space character and it always caused problems for me, very much as you describe. My aversion probably started there, but I’m also pretty sure I’ve seen guidance against it somewhere at some point.
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 3,144
    IIRC Adobe once did this as well, at least back in the 80s and early 90s.

    I think it is a mistake, for all the reasons previously mentioned.
    - can have very bad results in certain combos
    - many engines will ignore such kerning anyway
  • Todd Johnson
    Todd Johnson Posts: 21
    On the other hand...  I do kern against the space in some situations. My thing is long form text. I read a lot of novels (150-ish ebooks per year) and that's what my fonts are intended for, not by optimizing resolution and angles, or anything, but by adjusting distracting letterforms or whatever else I find distracting. It's a dang fine way to notice and eliminate kerning problems and many other kinds of problems, including spaces (the gaps, not the character) that scream at me to fix. But I only fix the problems I notice. The caveat for me is that I only read English language novels, so I'm probably missing a much of problems in other languages. I do proof text in many languages, but I don't read those novels. Of course reading that much is not exactly a production plan. I'm a hobbiest. :-)

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