Post #1755797

2025-08-25 15:10 UTC

In my work, I use a lot of @drawBot for automated #typesetting. The internals of fonts sometimes are difficult to understand (especially if I am not the designer) which is why I like checking fonts with #DrawBot. Some of my DrawBot-based proofing tools are available at https://github.com/adobe-type-tools/drawBotProofing. This is not new – except that these tools are now pip-installable! All you need is Python 3.11, and you can install them via the command line. I’ll explain some of the proofing tools in a thread:

Replies (5)

@frankrolf@typo.social 2025-08-25 15:15

@drawBot First, make sure you have Python 3.11 installed. ``` python --version ``` Then, install the proofing tools using ``` pip3 install git+https://github.com/adobe-type-tools/drawBotProofing.git ``` You can now use the following commands: ``` accent-proof alphabet-proof charset-proof context-proof figure-spacing-proof glyph-proof glyphset-proof overlay-proof reference-proof text-proof unicode-chart-proof vertical-metrics-comparison-proof vertical-metrics-proof waterfall-proof ```

Open ##1883896
@frankrolf@typo.social 2025-08-25 17:14

@drawBot `vertical-metrics-proof` – now here’s where it gets interesting: Show vertical metrics for a font file, and also display extreme glyphs on both ends! There are some options for specifying a different sample string, showing more extreme glyphs, and “normalizing” metrics to their 1000 UPM-equivalent.

Open ##1883909
@frankrolf@typo.social 2025-08-25 17:38

@drawBot `vertical-metrics-comparison-proof` – long name, simple purpose: compare metrics across fonts. Supports UFO and .designspace. If you can’t get enough of proofing vertical metrics, I also recommend https://github.com/mathieureguer/VerticalMetricsTools/tree/main by @mathieureguer 😎

Open ##1883910
@frankrolf@typo.social 2025-08-25 17:49

@drawBot That’s all! Not sure I did get the threading right, but perhaps it worked out. Similarities between most of these tools: - all support individual font files, or folders containing fonts - OTFs are preferred to TTFs, but both are supported - some proofs support UFOs and .designspace files - in that case, UFOs are preferred to OTFs. - all proofs write the resulting PDF to the Desktop and open it immediately. - for some, it’s possible to suppress PDF opening with a `--headless` option.

Open ##1883911
@frankrolf@typo.social 2025-08-25 17:55

@drawBot Maintaining such a collection of tools is an exercise in consistency, and I am sure things could be improved. However, I cannot proof all the fonts in the world :-) If you find any issues, please file them here: https://github.com/adobe-type-tools/drawBotProofing/issues Enjoy proofing! 🖹

Open ##1883912