fontstruetypeopentypefontforge

How can I fix a font that is disproportionate in some characters when it is small?


I installed the Menlo font on Windows 11 and I'm using it in Visual Studio, however, when using the font in size 9 or smaller, the parentheses are disproportionate, and this ends up bothering me, when I use it in a size greater than or equal to 11, the parentheses are proportional, but then the font ends up being too big for my monitor

An example print in size 9 or smaller: enter image description here

An example print in size 11 or larger: enter image description here

How can I fix this? I know about FontForge, but I've never used it, I looked for tutorials to help me with this but they weren't very direct


Solution

  • At smaller sizes, this kind of effect can result from the rasterization process that converts the interior of Bezier contours into a bitmap on a fixed size grid. That grid size is determined by the selected text size, any software scaling (e.g., zoom) and the DPI of the raster image device (e.g., the LCD display). A font can include hinting data, added by the font designer, which guides the rasterization process to control how certain details appear at small sizes, such as ensuring that the vertical placement of the parentheses is always aligned.

    So, to fix this, hinting should be added/improved in the font.