Edit a font
How annoying is it to find a
font that’s just what you need, but
lacks a $ symbol, or has its em–
dash slightly too high? BirdFont is
a Mac app from developer Johan
Mattsson that lets you open and
edit standard .ttf and .otf font files.
You can even use it to design a
font from scratch, drawing glyphs
(character shapes) using the
included tools — optionally with
hand–drawn characters you’ve
scanned in as a guide — or
importing SVG paths from Adobe
Illustrator. BirdFont costs $14.
on the Mac App Store, but you
can get it from birdfont.org and
donate what you want, with
a minimum of $5 for the
commercial version.
To copy a glyph, double–click
it in the Overview screen to open
it, then press Cmd+A to select all
paths, and Cmd+C to copy. Go back
to Overview, open a blank
character slot, and press
Cmd+Shift+V to paste it in the
same alignment; this also matches
the spacing settings. You can move
glyphs between fonts this way.
Remember not to distribute fonts
to other users unless their license
permits this, and even if it
does, always include a note
when sharing a modified font
to avoid confusion.09 HAVE TEXT READ ALOUD
Select any text in any app, right–click and
choose Start Speaking: macOS’ built–in
speech synthesizer reads it out. In System
Preferences > Accessibility > Speech, set
which voice to use (in macOS Catalina,
click Customize to see all the options),
and how fast to talk. You can set a
shortcut key to start speaking, or enable
announcements, so when an app needs
your attention it’ll promptly tell you so,
instead of just showing an alert or
bouncing its icon.
As it starts speaking, macOS loads all
the text into memory. So, for example, you
can select text on a web page, start it
speaking, then close the page; the voice
continues. To halt it, select any text in the
same app, and choose Stop Speaking.RECORD YOUR iOS SCREEN
In macOS 10.10 Yosemite or later,
you can record the screen of your iPhone,
iPad, or iPod touch. Connect it with its
Lightning cable and, on your Mac, launch
QuickTime Player (from Applications). Go
to File > New Movie Recording, click the
chevron beside the Record, and select
your device under Camera; select it under
Microphone too. Your device’s screen is
mirrored live. Turn up the volume to the
left of the Record button to hear audio.
Click Record to capture video; it turns into
a Stop button to click to finish. Save.
Without recording, this is an easy way to
stream your iOS display to a Mac, avoiding
AirPlay’s lag.1011
maclife.com FEB 2020 1953 Amazing Things
maclife.com FEB 2020 19