FontForge is a UNIX application, so it doesn’t behave 100% like a normal Mac Application.OS X 10.12 or later is required.
Download and install FontForge 2020-03-14
Our software library provides a free download of XQuartz 2.7.11 for Mac. The file size of the latest installer available is 75.9 MB. This free Mac app is a product of org.macosforge. XQuartz for Mac belongs to System Tools. Our antivirus scan shows that this Mac download is clean. Trusted Mac download XQuartz 2.7.11. Virus-free and 100% clean download. Get XQuartz alternative downloads.
1. Install XQuartz
I needed to upgrade XQuartz for gv to work, which unfortunately broke my idl widgets. This fixed things nicely. Download XQuartz for Mac free. The XQuartz project is an open-source effort. XQuartz 2.7.7 (Soft32.com server) Popular Downloads.
Without XQuartz, FontForge will open a Dock icon but not load any further.
Open Finder and look in your
/Applications/Utilities/
folder for the XQuartz
app.If you don’t have it then download and install: direct link to XQuartz-2.7.11.dmg
Log out and log back in to ensure it works correctly
Just this first time, start XQuartz from
Applications/Utilities/XQuartz.app
, go to the X11 menu, Preferences, Input, and turn off the Enable keyboard shortcuts under X11
or Enable key equivalents under X11
preference item. FontForge will start XQuartz automatically for you next time.2. Install FontForge
For users of OS X 10.10 and later, download and install FontForge 2017-07-31
For users of OS X 10.09, download and install FontForge 2015-04-30
Open it and move the
FontForge.app
file to /Applications
- do not move it anywhere elseRight Click (or hold the
Command
key and click once) and choose Open
from the menu, and confirm you want to open the appYou may see a dialog box saying “Choose Application. Where is X11?” with a sort of Finder window. Find XQuartz in
Applications/Utilities
and click OKBe patient while it runs a first-time setup process
FontForge will create a new font and show you its glyphs in a table:
Next time, it will open fast and in any typical way: double clicking it, drag it to the dock, using Launcher, Spotlight or Quicksilver…
Tips
When you run FontForge, its dock icon will disappear after it is launched, because it is controlled by XQuartz.
To bring fontforge’s windows to the font, click the XQuartz icon, or use Alt+Tab to switch to it.
Problems?
If you have any problems with installation or upgrading, create a Github Issue to discuss with our community.
Other sources and versions
You can also install Development Snapshots, install using Package Managers or build from source
New development versions are created whenever changes are made, and the latest is always available from http://dl.bintray.com/fontforge/fontforge/.
To install an update:
- Drag and drop the new FontForge.app into
/Applications
and replace it - Start FontForge again
Installing from Package Managers
These Mac package managers all have FontForge:
- Homebrew (command-line only)
Building from source
Build with source using Homebrew:
Advanced Configuration
To make FontForge more pleasant to use, you can change some aspects of the way it works on Macs. These steps are optional.
If the hotkeys are unfamiliar, you can change them!
- quit FontForge (and X11, for versions prior to 2019-03-17)
- with your text editor, open
/Applications/FontForge.app/Contents/Resources/opt/local/share/fontforge/hotkeys/default
- change the hotkeys and save the file
- start FontForge again
If the UI appears very big or very small, you can change the way the UI is sized.
Xquartz Download
- quit FontForge (and X11, for versions prior to 2019-03-17)
- with your text editor, open
/Applications/FontForge.app/Contents/Resources/opt/local/share/fontforge/pixmaps/resources
- measure the physical width of your screen in centimeters. In this example, it is 34cm wide.
- add a new line,
Gdraw.ScreenWidthCentimeters: 34
and save the file - start FontForge again
- if the scaling is still not right, play with the value until it is
FontForge is designed to make use of a three button mouse. It is also designed to make use of modifier keys on mouse clicks (eg, Control-left-click can mean something different than left-click.)
If you have a standard one button mouse, then you have the option of having the Mac simulate a three button mouse (for instance Option-left-click behaves like clicking the middle mouse button). Unfortunately this means you can no longer use the Option key to change the behavior of the left (only) button click. To enable this, click the XQuartz app in the Dock, and then go to X11 menu in the top left, Preferences, Input, and turn on
Emulate three button mouse
If you have a two or three button mouse, then use it (and turn off
Emulate three button mouse
in the X11 preferences.)Don’t miss an update!
Subscribe to the FontForge announcement list.
You can also subscribe to the user and developer lists.
Making it better
2016-11-11 17:58:03 UTC
Upgrading from XQuartz from 2.7.9 to 2.7.11 on macOS Sierra broke IDLwidgets for me:
~$ idl
IDL Version 8.5.1, Mac OS X (darwin x86_64 m64).
(c) 2015, Exelis Visual Information Solutions, Inc., a subsidiary
of Harris Corporation.
IDL> xloadct
Error: attempt to add non-widget child 'dsm' to parent 'idl' which
Xquartz X11 For Mac
supports only widgets
The fix that worked for me were the following two commands:
sudo mv /opt/X11/lib/libXt.6.dylib{,.bak}
sudo cp /opt/X11/lib{/flat_namespace,}/libXt.6.dylib
[Downgrading] to 2.7.9 (but not 2.7.10) also worked for me.
Xquartz Download Mac
[Downgrading]: https://www.xquartz.org/releases/index.html 'XQuartz -
Releases'
How To Use Xquartz Mac
Mike
--
Michael Galloy
www.michaelgalloy.com
Modern IDL: A Guide to IDL Programming (http://modernidl.idldev.com)
Michael Galloy
www.michaelgalloy.com
Modern IDL: A Guide to IDL Programming (http://modernidl.idldev.com)