While we are still working hard on Glyph Designer 2.0, we are also working on keeping Glyph Designer 1.x up-to-date. The last set of changes has seen us port some of the performance enhancements we are building in GD 2.0 into 1.x. This has allowed us to speed up the render pipeline so that style changes are much smoother in the GUI as well as the Preview window getting a real boost in speed.
We have also updated the code that outputs the font metrics when exporting. GD 1.6.0 now produces the most accurate metrics to date giving developers/designers the best looking text ever in their applications. Getting the font metrics being output as accurately as possible is key to GD but is not always that easy. When you take into account kerning, sub pixel rendering and positioning as well as the changes being made to the glyphs themselves in terms of the style being applied it's easy to introduce very small errors that can cause glyphs to be off by a single pixel either vertically or horizontally. Our latest algorithm we feel handles all these factors better than ever before and we think our users will like the results.
We have some real power users who are pushing GD all the time by having their apps support multiple languages including complex languages like Chinese. One such app is "The Wind In The Willows" developed by Bibliodome. This is an interactive iPad version of the famous book by Kenneth Grahame and ALL the text has been created using GD. They are also releasing Chinese and Spanish versions as well. It's great to see just how good the text looks and see just what can be achieved.
So, while we push forward with the all new GD 2.0, we will continue to keep GD 1.x as up-to-date as possible so our users can continue to get the most out of GD.
Mike