Trying to learn how to create something like a font can be a hard thing to do, especially if you are trying to use a complex program such as FontLab Studio 5. Sure, some of it is figuring out the correct steps to go from idea to implementation, but it is also that a product like FontLab is a complex program with lots of bells and whistles that make it harder to sort out just what is needed when you are starting out. Even if you are using one of the simpler programs such as Fontographer or TypeTool, it helps if you understand the basic process.

In Learn FontLab Fast, author and designer Leslie Cabarga attempts to take you down the path to creating fonts by first letting five font designers describe how they tackle the process of creating fonts, and then he takes you down the path using a logical organized method. Learn FontLab Fast is 154 pages long and breaks out in to eleven chapters.

Chapter 1, "Preliminaries," begins by letting five professional font designers explain their approaches to font creations. Then you get a tour around FontLab explaining different features about FontLab that will be important to your work. Here you will learn about Glyph windows, Font Encodings, cap height comparisons, and even how to save a font. All of this, as well as the entire book, are displayed in multi-panel views that describe everything in what can be described as the written equivalent of a sound bite. That is, blurbs that take you through the steps to create your fonts.

Chapter 2, "Starting a Font," begins by showing different methods of getting character drawings, or glyphs into your font. These can be from existing fonts, import scans, the use of a digital tablet, using Illustrator, drawing in Fontographer, or drawing the glyphs in FontLab. Each of these techniques is discussed.

Chapter 3, "Drawing a Font," shows you the steps in creating a font. First, a discussion of the Glyph Window leads into understanding Alignment Zones. Next comes a demonstration of how to work with the Drawing tool, including point making, breaking connections, selecting points and paths, use of the Magic Wand, and working with nodes and paths. Finally, you will see how to draw Glyphs, preview your drawing, and see other optional drawing tools such as sketch mode, TrueType Curves, Snap-To grids, and Meter Mode.

Chapter 4, "Generating, Installing, and Printing a Font," describes the process of exporting a font for use. Because there are several different types of fonts that are available for use on different platforms, one should know how to generate each one so as to satisfy customer requests. This chapter shows how to generate, install, and test print different types of font formats.

Chapter 5, "Spacing, Kerning, and Hinting a Font," describes how the use of spacing is important to the development of a font. Good metrics, or letter spacing, has to be designed into the development of a font. As a necessity, kerning is also discussed as is the topic of autohinting; the process of making certain fonts more legible on screen when viewed in the 9-14 point range; as well as maintaining a difference between serif and san styles.