TypeTalk: The Five Best (and most underused) Features of OpenType Fonts

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OpenType fonts have been the font format of choice for the last decade or so, significantly outperforming the technologically outdated Type1 and TrueType fonts. But in spite of these advances, many designers and font users are not familiar with the amazing power and creativity-inspiring features of these fonts, all of which can allow for more expressive, sophisticated, and professional typography.

The three major groundbreaking characteristics of OpenType fonts are their multiplatform support, expanded character set, and glyph substitution. Multiplatform support means that an OpenType font will run on both a Mac and a Windows machine. This is a real convenience when your office uses both platforms or you use a PC at work and a Mac at home (or vice versa). Expanded character set refers to the fact that OpenType fonts have the capacity to contain thousands of characters, as opposed to the 256-character capacity of the earlier Type 1 and TrueType fonts. Glyph substitution refers to the built-in intelligence some OpenType fonts have that enables them to ‘know’ when to insert situational glyphs including certain ligatures, swashes, or other special characters. For instance, some swash characters are intended to be used only at the beginning or end of a word. An OpenType font with this information programmed into it will only insert them in these instances when using a supporting application.

InDesign tip: All potential OpenType features can be accessed via the Control panel menu and the Character panel menu. If a feature is bracketed, it is not available in the current font.

InDesign Opentype menu

Amidst the numerous specific features and capabilities of OpenType fonts, five stand out as some of the best and most useful for anyone wanting to set great-looking type. This is what is on my list:

Multiple Figure Styles

OpenType fonts have the potential to contain up to four numeral styles: lining and oldstyle figures with both tabular and proportional spacing. Older font formats only had room for one set of numerals, that usually being tabular lining figures. These figures have become so commonplace in typography and design that many designers don’t even notice that they might not be the best choice for the majority of usages—the exception being columns of numbers that need to align vertically.

Select your figure style with purpose and intention. Proportional oldstyle figures are appropriate for most text setting (and are my default figure), while proportional lining figures can be used for headlines, all cap settings, and other instance where you want the figures to stand out. Keep in mind that the typeface designer/font manufacturer sets one style as a default, which in text typefaces is most often tabular lining figures. So if you don’t explore available figures styles and do nothing to change the default, this is often what you get.

Four figure styles of ITC Legacy Serif Pro

ITC Legacy Serif Pro contains all four figure styles, as shown above.

True-drawn Small Caps

True-drawn small caps are available in an increasing number of OpenType fonts, to the delight of many designers. These are drawn by the type designer to match the weight, color, and proportions of the capitals and/or lowercase. The computer-generated, “fake” ones are just reduced capitals that will look too light, too narrow, too tight, and are often the wrong height to blend with the lowercase, which can be important when using as a lead-in for text. They are also considered to be typographically undesirable by professionals. Older font formats didn’t have room to include small caps, so if they were available for a particular typeface design, they had to be inserted in a separate font, making it tedious and time-consuming to use. If you like, or need small caps for a project, check for them when conducting any font exploration. They might even be in the OpenType fonts you are currently using!

Computer generated vs. true-drawn small caps in OpenType fonts

Quite a number of OpenType fonts contain true-drawn small caps (right), which can be a useful and elegant typographic feature. Avoid the computer-generated kind (left), which are just reduced capitals that look too light, too tight, sometimes too narrow. Set in Enclave, Expo Sans, and Adobe Caslon Pro.

Alternate Characters

An alternate character is a separate and distinctive version of a standard, default character. The difference can be as subtle as a slightly longer or shorter descender, or as distinctive as a decorative swash or a totally different design. Alternates can fall under the OpenType category of swash characters, contextual, stylistic or titling alternates, or discretionary ligatures, and can offer options to vary the overall look, personality, and sometimes legibility of a typeface. In addition, they can be combined and randomly substituted for the default character to create a more natural, less repetitive flow, which can be desirable in handwriting, calligraphic, and script fonts.

Alternates are available in many OpenType fonts due to their capacity to include thousands of characters. Once again, unless you seek them out (easily accomplished via the Glyphs panel in InDesign), you might not be aware of their existence.

Alternate characters in OpenType fonts

The use of alternate characters can change the look, personality, and effectiveness of a setting. If you don’t explore their availability in an OpenType font, you might never know they are there.

Fraction-making Capability

Fractions appear more commonly in text than one might think. Whether used for measurements, quantities, or recipes, good-looking fractions contribute a lot to the overall appearance of your type. Diagonal fractions are the format of choice for most usages, but prior to OpenType, were not readily available except for the standard 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4. The good news is that quite a number of OpenType fonts contain an assortment of pre-built fractions that also include 1/8, 3/8, 5/8, 7/8, and sometimes 1/3 and 2/3. Check your software’s glyph panel to know which ones are provided for any given font.

But what if you need other, arbitrary fractions, such as 9/10 or even 67/256? What many don’t know is that some OpenType fonts have the capability to build any diagonal fraction automatically, or on-the-fly, using the numerators, denominators and fraction bar from the font’s character set. The function is accessed via your software, but the capability must be built into the font. So how do you know which fonts are “enabled” with this feature? In my experience, by trial and error. Type in the fraction horizontally, highlight it, and then select Fractions from the OpenType panel. If the font in question has this capability, it will automatically convert to a diagonal fraction.

Adobe Caslon Pro fractions

Some OpenType fonts have the ability to convert horizontal fractions into diagonal fractions on-the fly, as shown in this setting of Adobe Caslon Pro.

Stylistic Sets

Some OpenType fonts with numerous alternate characters have them grouped into Stylistic Sets. These preselected groupings allow for the global insertion of anywhere from one to 20 sets of alternates, eliminating the task of selecting each alternate character individually, which can become very time-consuming, especially in large blocks of copy. This feature can be used for a single alternate character, or to group together alternates that harmonize well or have similar characteristics (as in some script typefaces). More than one Stylistic Set can be selected to easily customize your type. Although this feature is not utilized by that many OpenType fonts, the ones that do make it much easier to take advantage of the alternate characters.

An easy way to find out what, if any, characters are groups as Stylistic Sets is via the Glyph panel’s pull-down menu, where they will appear if available in the font. Remember that when you select an OpenType subset globally via the OpenType panel, you can always override and replace individual characters using the glyph panel.

Stylistic sets of Trilon typeface

Trilon takes full advantage of the power of Stylistic Sets by grouping its three alternate characters both individually, and as a set, making it easy for the user to select any or all of them easily.

Ilene Strizver is a noted typographic educator, author, designer and founder of The Type Studio in Westport, Connecticut. Her book, Type Rules! The designer’s guide to professional typography, is now in its 4th edition.
  • Jessguo says:

    This is very helpful, when we design catalogs or booklets, we usually need these type of fonts.

  • Steve Harvey says:

    What about using them in Corel Draw – can you use the alternates there as well?

  • Ilene Strizver says:

    While I don’t personally have experience with CorelDRAW, my research has indicated that CorelDRAW X6 supports the full character set of OpenType fonts. Your best bet is to check with the manufacturer, as well as check out some of the videos available that address this issue.

    Ilene

  • Steve Harvey says:

    Will do – many thanks

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