Glyphs 2.4.3 Released

Blog
by Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer

24 September 2017

Welcome to the latest stable version of Glyphs: 2.4.3, the build number is clocking in at 1064. Get it while it’s hot by simply choosing Glyphs > Check for Updates…

Bugfixes

This is mainly a bugfix update, and contains nothing new, really. So, we’ll quickly guide you through the improvements:

  • We fixed a number of crashes, so that we can safely say that 2.4.3 is the most stable version of Glyphs to date.
  • Fixed an export problem with an empty mark feature.
  • Fixed an export problem with custom kern feature code, where the custom code ended up in the wrong place in the features.fea file.
  • 2.4.3 now properly stores settings for nested smart components.
  • Improved the handling of nested, disabled components.

That’s it, no new tools, gadgets, functions. Just some fixing and plumbing under the hood. 2.4.3 is the definitive version 2.4.

Things to Come

There are a few things in the pipeline. Development of version 2.5 beta has been underway for about a year now. On the side, though, because we have been maintaining 2.4 all the time. Now that we are closing the 2.4 chapter, we can focus completely on version 2.5.

So, we decided to release the first beta of 2.5 parallel to the 2.4.3 stable release. If you enable Glyphs > Preferences > Updates > Show Cutting Edge Versions, you can have a glimpse at the near future of the application today already:

Click on the Check Now button, and you can download the latest Glyphs 2.5b already. But careful: we consider 2.5 to be in early beta stage still, and that’s why it comes with no warranties, so try it with copies of your files only. Or make a backup you can revert to before your let it loose on your font files:

Hint: You can keep both 2.4.3 and 2.5 next to each other in your Applications folder.

Here are some of the highlights of 2.5:

  • TrueType: Pay special attention to the TrueType Instructor, which has improved a lot. Most notable difference: You can have both H and V instructions. But there is more to it. Try it, and compare the rendering results. Make sure you sit comfortably before you do, because it’s pretty awesome.
  • Text Editing: Also, we have dramatically improved text editing in an Edit tab. Should you ever have had difficulties with placing the cursor when ligature features were on, well, try again.
  • Making Path Corners: Select a portion of a path, then choose Paths > Make Corner. It will replace the segments with a corner of two straight path segments. Easy way to get rid of a serif.
  • Show Nodes: You have known the View > Show Nodes option (Cmd-Shift-N). Now you can further differentiate between View > Show Nodes > In Foreground and View > Show Nodes > In Background.
  • OTVar Improvements: Bracket Layers now export as feature variations, and we implemented a sixth axis.
  • Smart Handles: Good bye sliders, we added dragging handles for smart components! For enabling these handles, use anchors named after respective parameters, e.g., name your anchors Bend if your smart glyph parameter is called Bend. Make sure the anchors are present in all layers, at different positions. In the placed smart component, a handle will appear at the anchor position. To control the parameter, you can drag the handle instead of the slider. Pretty cool.

Sure enough, there is much more that has been added. Take your time, look around, look at the change log, explore, give us feedback in the forum.

Many, many thanks to the invaluable input we have received from the Glyphs community, and this time especially to the people more directly involved in the various development processes.

Have fun with the stable Glyphs 2.4.3, and with exploring the cutting-edge Glyphs 2.5 beta.