I don't understand how to install Python modules at all.

Number3Pencils16 Mar 2012

I used to think I was smart. Then I started trying to use Python with FontLab.

I'm trying to install RoboFab in my FontLab. I'm using Fontlab v5.0.4 in Windows XP. I've read everything I can find about how to install it, but either they're all just cruelly hinting at how to do it ("Installation in Windows is usually straightforward") or I'm thick enough that it seems that way to me.

This is what I think I know. I need to:

Download RoboFab from the internet — check.
Unzip it — check.
Put it in some folder, somewhere — ??
Run the "install" command in FontLab — After trying various folders to put RoboFab in, I've gotten to where I can do this, but when I try to run any other things from the RoboFab dropdown menu, it says I don't have something called "robofab.world".

Can anyone explain to me, as if I were a very stupid person, what I'm supposed to do, or point me to somewhere on the internet that does that? I can tell that Python might save me a lot of effort, if only I could figure out what to do with it.

Thanks in advance.

Mark Simonson16 Mar 2012#

I can't help directly (I use Macs), but have you seen this?

How to Install RoboFab on Windows for Dummies

jasonc16 Mar 2012#

[ posted for tracking,as I need to do this soon ]

Number3Pencils17 Mar 2012#

I hadn't in fact seen that. Thanks a ton! I'll post again if I still can't figure it out for some reason.

Number3Pencils18 Mar 2012#

This seems to have worked. I've managed to use a few tools.

Just so I'm clear, when I use RoboFab, do I have to do it through the text-based macro editor, or should there be some commands in a dropdown list in the Macros toolbar? I don't see RoboFab anywhere in the Macros toolbar.

Mark Simonson18 Mar 2012#

It comes with some scripts. You need to put these into FontLab's macro folder. I don't know where this is on Windows.

vanblokland19 Mar 2012#

The RoboFab developers are getting tired of the installation problems too. It's not supposed to be so difficult. And it didn't use to be so difficult either. But factors beyond our control, unfortunate decisions by the FontLab developers, assumptions by the Python.org developers, and the mercurial needs of Apple, have slowly turned "FontLab" a very fragmented and problematic environment.

This Robothon2012 talk explains some of the Python version issues.

In the interval between Robothon 2009 and Robothon 2012, Frederik Berlaen wrote RoboFont from scratch. And Georg Seifert took Glyphs from a demo to an AppStore title. Each with its own philosophy, but both with scripting and python layers, attentive developers and thankfully straightforward installation steps. And UFO to glue it all together.
In that same interval FontLab updated FL Studio from 5.04 to 5.1.

Captured from commoncrawl.org on 25 Apr 2015. original URL