How to fix the spacing between letters in your font

Uneven spacing is usually fixed in two layers: first the general space each kind of letter side gets, then a short list of individual pairs. Font by Zaweba has spacing sliders for straight, round, diagonal and open sides, plus extra room for capitals, overall letter spacing and word space. For the pairs that still look wrong, the kerning pair editor lets you type a pair, adjust it and lock it.

The order matters, so here it is step by step.

First, find out what's wrong

Look at real text in the live preview, set as lines rather than single words. Spacing problems show up as patchy texture: some letters huddled together, others drifting apart. Try to describe the pattern. Is everything too tight or too loose? Are round letters always too far from their neighbours? Do capitals look cramped in headings? Or is it just one or two pairs?

The answer tells you which control to reach for. Patterns call for sliders; one-off problems call for kerning.

Fixing it step by step

Settle the shapes first. In Font by Zaweba spacing and kerning are redone after every change in the style stack, so if you're still changing weight or width, any fine spacing work will be recalculated. Finish styling, then space.

Adjust overall letter spacing if everything is too tight or too loose. This moves all letters together.

Balance the side sliders. If round letters like o, c and e look further apart than straight ones like n and h, reduce round side spacing. If letters with diagonals, such as v, w and A, look loose, adjust the diagonal slider. Letters with open sides, like c, r and L, have their own slider too.

Give capitals room if all capital headings look cramped. The extra room for capitals slider handles that without loosening lowercase.

Set the word space so words are clearly separated but lines don't look gappy.

Then turn to the pairs. Open the kerning pair editor, type a pair that still looks wrong, drag or enter a value, and lock it. Locked pairs keep their value when other settings change. If you want Font to manage a pair again, set it back to auto.

Fine points of kerning by hand

Use good test words. Words that mix straight and round sides, like "minimum", "hoop" and "nonsense", show side spacing problems fast. For pairs, test capitals followed by lowercase, such as "To", "Wa" and "Ye".

Don't fix a pattern with pairs. If every round letter is loose, kerning twenty pairs is the wrong fix; the round side slider is the right one.

Check at more than one size. Tight spacing that looks smart large can make small text hard to read. The waterfall preview shows both.

Read, don't just look. Read a few lines aloud in your head. Your eye trips where the spacing is wrong.

Why the automatic fit helps

Font auto-kerns common problem pairs such as AV, To, LT and pairs with P, and it refits spacing after each style change. That means most fonts start with reasonable spacing. Your job is to adjust for taste and catch the few pairs your particular design makes awkward.

Once you're happy, save the .zfont project so your spacing and locked pairs are kept, then export. Text set in your font will look as even in a word processor as it does in the preview.