About the AAT Font Tool

Introduction

The AAT Font Tool adds Apple Advanced Typography (AAT) tables to the TrueType™ fonts you specify. You may either open a single font from within the application, or else drag a number of fonts onto the application's icon all at once. Once these tables have been added, you will have access to all the glyphs in your fonts, including some you didn't have access to before, when you use applications that support AAT (e.g. ATSUI applications or QuickDraw™ GX applications). For example, since most fonts include the "fi" and "fl" ligatures, the AAT Font Tool makes typing these ligatures as simple as typing the two letters that make up the ligature &emdash; so you don't have to remember odd key combinations any more.

The AAT Font Tool knows which glyphs are in a font by looking at their names. These names are contained in a special table in every TrueType font, called the 'post' table. If you wish, you may specify a name list to the AAT Font Tool for it to use instead of using the names in the 'post' table.

You have the option of specifying a list of extra glyphs to be added to a font (called an "add list"), where each of the glyphs to be added is made up of other glyphs already in the font. For instance, if your font doesn't contain vowels with macron signs over them, but it does contain both unaccented vowels and a standalone macron sign, then you can provide an add list telling the AAT Font Tool how to synthesize the vowels with macrons, which will then be added to the font. Once you do this, these glyphs are treated as regular glyphs in the font; in particular, tables added by the AAT Font Tool include support for the new glyphs. This means, for instance, that the Unicode character mapping table information for the newly added glyphs will be added automatically. For more information, see the About Add Lists document.

You also have the option of providing textfiles which represent other parts of your font for the AAT Font Tool to "compile" and place into the font. For instance, you can provide "Morph Input Files" which allow you to specify the kinds of swashes, ligatures and other typographic effects you wish your font to have. The AAT Font Tool does some of these effects automatically, so you have the option of supplementing what it does or replacing it altogether. For more information, see the MIF Tutorial document.

You also have another option: providing a textfile containing a specification of exactly how the justification table for the new font is to be built. For more details, see the JIF Tutorial document.

How to use the AAT Font Tool

The AAT Font Tool adds AAT tables to a font or fonts you specify. The AAT Font Tool cannot work on fonts currently installed in your Fonts folder, so move fonts out of there before working on them.

1. Launch the AAT Font Tool application.
2. Examine the "Options" menu to see if there are any options you might wish to change. Each of the actions the AAT Font Tool does automatically is checked; uncheck any which you don't wish done.
3. To specify a name list (which is a plain text file of the glyph names for the font, one name per line), choose the "Use Name List…" command and navigate to your name list. A sample name list for the standard 258 glyph Macintosh Roman fonts is available if you'd like to see what one looks like.
4. To specify an add list, choose the "Use Add List…" command and navigate to your add list. There is a standard Roman add list for your use provided with the AAT Font Tool.
5. To specify a "Morph Input File" to be used as the only metamorphosis effects for the font, choose the "Replace from Morph Input..." command and navigate to your MIF.
6. To specify a MIF to be used as supplementary metamorphosis input for the font, choose the "Append from Morph Input..." command and navigate to your MIF.
7. To specify a "Justification Input File" to be used to construct the font's justification table, choose the "Replace from Just Input..." command and navigate to your JIF.
8. Note that all the above steps happen first; and they remain in effect for all fonts afterwards, until you change them or quit the application.
9. Now choose the "Open and Process…" command and choose the suitcase to be worked on. Remember it can't be in the Fonts folder!

A status window will appear showing you the progress of the operation. Once it's finished, you have the option of specifying another font, or different options or input files, or quitting.