Barlow Condensed: Extra space after character ø

[timclausen]

I'm having issues with Barlow Condensed when using it in Danish. Letter ø gets an additional spacing.

[m4rc1e]

Confirmed

I'll check the source now.

[Emetico]

This is still not fixed when the word starts with a big Ø

[carnevalle]

@m4rc1e

Hi Marc. As @Emetico mentions this is still not fixed for uppercase scenarios with some of the font styles. Could this be reopend or should I create a new issue?

[fitojb]

@carnevalle The font’s source was updated, but the change still hasn’t reached the Google Fonts CDN. Please test with an updated build from https://github.com/jpt/barlow/tree/1.5/fonts as that version has a number of spacing and kerning improvements.

[RosaWagner]

I reopened this issue since the font still has be be upgraded on GF

[emmamarichal]

We are working on it (cc @RosaWagner), but the font file is quite complex (because of intermediate layers, filters, etc.), and it's difficult to build the font with fontmake.

[RosaWagner]

The last update is still in a branch and there is not a release yet, I suggest we let @jpt work on it. Please @jpt ping us when the upgrade is ready :)

[jpt]

indeed, I am actively working on a large number of issues in barlow, including the ø - although I changed it years back at this point to not substitute the alternate shape at heavier weights because a number of norwegian readers complained initially and who was I to disagree 😅 but if that kind of design change is controversial given the google cdn's reach, happy to talk about it.

in case it's helpful for anyone following barlow's development more generally, I recently updated some milestones here - https://github.com/jpt/barlow/milestones
the dates are possibly overly optimistic but I needed to put some goalposts somewhere :)

[carnevalle]

@jpt @RosaWagner

Bad news. The Ø fix found in https://github.com/jpt/barlow/archive/refs/heads/1.5.zip has introduced a bug with percentage sign %. See attached screenshot.

[jpt]

Hi @carnevalle, the 1.5 branch is under active development and has more significant bugs than just the percentage sign right now; I wouldn't recommend using it until it's merged into the main branch. If you notice any other bugs, feel free to open an issue in the Barlow repo along with the others so I can track it.

[carnevalle]

@jpt

I'll do that. Do you want me to create an issue with this bug or is it already created somewhere?

[jpt]

oh, no, sorry I wasn;t more clear — I mean if you notice anything beyond the percentage sign. the percent is already fixed (though it's not yet in the font binaries it should be fixed in the Glyphs file)

[carnevalle]

@RosaWagner I can see these fixes are being moved from milestone to milestone. Is there any news about when a release would be expected?

[jpt]

This should be fixed upstream in the 1.5 branch. I'm drafting a PR. Most of what I want to do before merging it (and opening a separate PR here) is to check some things in fontbakery and also double check some things related to the vertical metrics.