AFDKO

AFDKO

AFDKO (Adobe Font Development Kit for OpenType) is an open source toolkit for developing complex OpenType fonts. It provides a set of tools, libraries and documentation that allows font developers to create and edit OpenType fonts.
Development Font Tools
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AFDKO alternatives ➤

AFDKO: Open Source Toolkit for Developing Complex OpenType Fonts

Create and edit OpenType fonts with AFDKO, an open source toolkit offering tools, libraries, and documentation for font developers.

What is AFDKO?

AFDKO (Adobe Font Development Kit for OpenType) is a free, open source toolkit for building, editing, and testing OpenType fonts. It was originally developed by Adobe and is now hosted on GitHub.

Some key features of AFDKO include:

  • Font development tools like makeotf, which compiles a PostScript font into an OpenType font
  • Editing tools like makeotfexe and FontLab Studio plug-ins
  • Applications for applying advanced typographic OpenType features
  • Utilities for checking font quality and validation
  • Documentation and sample files for learning OpenType concepts

AFDKO enables type designers and font developers to tap into the advanced typographic and layout capabilities of OpenType fonts. With the toolkit, complex script font development and applying OpenType features like swashes, discretionary ligatures, and contextual alternates are made much easier.

The toolkit is completely free and open source, licensed under Apache 2.0. It runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, and is hosted on GitHub for community contributions. Major font editors like Glyphs and Robofont have integrated AFDKO for building and compiling fonts.

AFDKO Features

Features

  1. OpenType font development toolkit
  2. Font validation tools
  3. Font hinting tools
  4. Font editing tools
  5. Font testing tools
  6. Command line interface
  7. Cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Free and open source

Powerful font development capabilities

Widely used industry standard

Active community support

Works with major font editors

Supports complex OpenType features

Cons

Steep learning curve

Command line interface not user friendly

Limited documentation

Buggy at times

Difficult to customize and extend

Official Links

Official Website
https://www.adobe.com/devnet/opentype/afdko.html

The Best AFDKO Alternatives

Top Development and Font Tools and other similar apps like AFDKO

Here are some alternatives to AFDKO:

Microsoft Font Validator icon
Microsoft Font Validator
FontDoctor icon
FontDoctor
Apple Font Tool Suite icon
Apple Font Tool Suite
Suggest an alternative ❐

Microsoft Font Validator icon

Microsoft Font Validator

Microsoft Font Validator is a free desktop application for Windows that allows designers, developers, and typographers to test font files (.ttf, .otf, etc.) for potential issues before using them in design projects or software development. It scans font files and highlights any problems it detects such as:Missing glyphs or charactersInconsistent...
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FontDoctor icon

FontDoctor

FontDoctor is a handy utility application for macOS that helps you organize, validate, and troubleshoot issues with fonts installed on your system. Here are some key features of FontDoctor:Scans your font libraries and catalogs all fonts installed on your MacChecks for and diagnoses common font issues like missing glyphs, font...
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Apple Font Tool Suite icon

Apple Font Tool Suite

The Apple Font Tool Suite is a collection of applications included with macOS for editing, validating, and previewing fonts. It contains the following tools:Font Book - Manages installed fonts, previews fonts, installs/uninstalls fontsFontValidator - Validates font files and checks for potential issuesFont Asset Studio - Extracts characters from font files...
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