Different Kerning in Different Softwares

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Sidehugs143
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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2016 6:33 am

Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by Sidehugs143 »

I created a vertical fraction font, wherein users type in sequences of letters in order to activate different alternates. I achieved this by setting up several chaining context lookups.

I activated 'kerning' in Microsoft Word, and the typeface looks good. However, when I tested the font in iPad pages (which does support kerning), the kerning would only work partially. After I typed in the sequence to activate the superscript, only two superscript letters would be produced; the third letter produced is a 'normal' (non-alternate) one.

Could there a reason why the kerning displays differently in different programs that support kerning?
Erwin Denissen
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Re: Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by Erwin Denissen »

The kern feature is not really meant to include chaining context lookups with alternates, so it depends on the implementation of the text processing engine how and/or if it works as expected.

It is probably better to put them in the calt feature. Alternatively you could try the liga feature.

Do let us know your results.
Erwin Denissen
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Sidehugs143
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Re: Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by Sidehugs143 »

Thank you! I will try this!
Erwin Denissen
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Re: Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by Erwin Denissen »

Just curious, how do you install the font on your iPad? Jailbreak?
Erwin Denissen
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Sidehugs143
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Re: Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by Sidehugs143 »

There are several, apps in the regular App Store that install fonts. I use a paid app called anyfonts, but they might have something for free.

Here's a video for Anyfont:
http://youtu.be/CS36lw5braE

I was already able to try implementing the calt feature, and the typeface renders in this same fashion. I have yet to try liga, and I didn't rebuild my substitution tables under the calt feature; wasn't sure if that needed to be done, but if it does, I'll try that.
MikeW
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Re: Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by MikeW »

Check to see (if you can) what all OT Features that iPad Pages supports. It may not support all OT Features, it may not support all kerning other than explicit pairs, it may not ... so on and so forth.
Sidehugs143
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Re: Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by Sidehugs143 »

Update: I tried the typeface on my older iPad, and it worked (the version of pages is older, too).

Very interesting. . .
Erwin Denissen
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Re: Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by Erwin Denissen »

It might be a bug at Apple, or an issue with the font.

Can you send us the font so we can eliminate one of the possible causes?
Erwin Denissen
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Sidehugs143
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Re: Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by Sidehugs143 »

Here it is!

How it works:

1 Type-in 'Fr' to enter 'fraction mode.'
2 Type-in numerator (if applicable)
3 To produce a divisor, type-in 'Dx' where x=number of digits in numerator/denominator [whichever is greater]; type 'D0' if not applicable.
4 Type-in '/Fr' to exit fraction mode.

If you look in the OpenType Editor, you will notice I have both the kern and the liga features working. I originally had the context chains under the kern features. I was able to make those liga features. However, I then tried to set the ligatures to be under the liga feature, and the ligatures stopped doing their jobs.

This prevents me from kerning (I tried; didn't work). I guess it's okay if the regular letters are unkerned. Despite the fact that some may believe this typeface is too complex to operate, I'm going to try and sell it. When I do, I guess I'll just include the base font in the zip file I sell - so the user can still have kerned text.

I will probably delete this file when I put it up for sale.
Last edited by Sidehugs143 on Sat Apr 23, 2016 6:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
Erwin Denissen
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Re: Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by Erwin Denissen »

It might be better to send me a pm, or contact us through our customer support ticket system. Anyway, I've downloaded the font file, so you can now remove the font file from your post.

It all works just fine when testing it in FontCreator's Preview, Firefox, and Word.
fractional.png
fractional.png (78.21 KiB) Viewed 5411 times
Two recommendations:

1) Better avoid two liga features within the same script-language, just combine them to one feature.
2) Do keep the pair adjustment lookup within the kern feature.

As you may know there are several ways to implement fractions; most of them are very similar, but Nutso2 is another promising stacked fraction implementation that enables fractions with longer numerators than denominators.
https://github.com/TiroTypeworks/Nutso
stackedfractions.png
stackedfractions.png (87.36 KiB) Viewed 5411 times
Erwin Denissen
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Sidehugs143
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Re: Different Kerning in Different Softwares

Post by Sidehugs143 »

Thank you!

I think I'm okay without further help, because it just seems to be an issue with Pages.

As for the Nutso fraction: I'm aware of it; I'm just not sure how to edit things so that I can produce mixed numbers. Maybe I'll figure that out one day, though.
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