This program was written to enhance a program called KerningMaster. I wanted to add the ability to read kerning information from FOND resources to that program, and I thought I had. Unfortunately I introduced some mysterious bugs into it that I was not able to figure out even after several hours of effort, so I took the easy way out--I separated the new abilities out and made them a separate program.
This program will let you read the kerning information from two fonts and then compare the kerning pairs, separating them into those which are common to both fonts, those missing in the first font, and those missing in the second font. You can see this info on screen, and you can also save it as a text file. I was originally interested in comparing kerning information when I was designing typefaces (which are available on three CDs--Font Pro 2, Font Pro 3, and Font Pro 5, all published by Wayzata Technology). I did not really need to add the capability of looking in the FOND resources for kerning info, since what I needed could be found in the AFM files. But it looked like an interesting challenge, one that might teach me things that will be useful later. Hence the program.
Kerning Comparer is copyrighted 1994, 1995, 1996 by Robert Schenk. It is shareware. Details of how to pay are included at the end of this help message.
Below is a explanation of the program by menu item.
Apple Menu
About Application...
This item displays an Alert with the name of the program.
File Menu
Open First Font & Open Second Font
When KerningComparer begins, it opens to the "Pair of Kerning Pairs" window. You are invited to open two fonts for comparison.
This version of KerningComparer is limited to 4000 pairs of kerning pairs. There may be a few typefaces out there with more, and if they are read in, only the first 4000 pairs will be read.
If you open a suitcase which has more than one FOND in it, you will get a dialog with a list of FONDs. You must choose one. If the FOND has more than one style, you get another dialog that asks you to choose a style.
Compare
Once you have two fonts and read in their kerning pairs, you can compare them. The comparison separates the pairs into three lists, which you can then save. If you would like to save just the kerning pairs in one typeface, enter that typeface as both the first and second font, and when you compare them, all the pairs will be in the middle column. If you would like to save all three columns in one file, use the commands in the Edit menu to paste two of the columns into the third, and save.
Close Window
The only reason for this command is to allow one to close a window with the CMD-W keypress. The initial window should not be closeable. If you find a way to close it, you have found a bug.
Note that if one closes a window, the information on that window will be lost. No warning is given.
Quit
This command causes the program to terminate. (If you get caught in a long process and want to abort the program, holding down option-command-esc will work if you are running System 7. This combination works for almost all programs.)
Edit Menu
The items in this menu are only active when the Compare window is active. They operate in the standard way.
Help Menu
Help menu contains this message.
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If you have suggestions which would increase the usefulness of this program, I would like to hear them, though I cannot promise I will use them. In the time this program has been available, I have not seen much of a demand for it, so it is not high on my list of priorities. I can be reached electronically at bobs@kagi.com.
How to Pay the Shareware fee of $10
Paying for KerningMaster package (which contains both KerningMaster and Kerning Comparer) is fairly simple. Open the Register program that accompanies KerningMaster. Enter your name, your email address, and the number of single user licenses you desire for each program you wish to purchase (or Site or Word-Wide licenses). Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi Shareware. More specifics on the Register program to follow. Kagi Shareware handles my payment processing.
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi Shareware. Their e-mail address is shareware@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an e-mail message or you can Save the data to a file and you can attach that file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, it's already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet email address you will receive an email acknowledgement.
If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi Shareware
1442-A Walnut Street #392-SB
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi Shareware cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD checks is around USD 15 per check and that is just not practical. If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the Register program and then select Invoice as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to highlight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment.
Kagi Shareware can not invoice your company, you need to act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end.
Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Check or Invoice as the payment method. As far as we know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via fax or email and without the payment, the form cannot be processed. Payments send via postal mail take time to reach Kagi Shareware and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct email address, you will hear from Kagi Shareware when the form is processed.
