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• • December 12, 2018 at 1:35 pm #112865
    Brett Stone

    Participant

    I’m seeking affirmation or veto of the following statements.

    1) InDesign allows kerning to set to any of the four following ways:
    * Metric (uses metrics constructed into the font design to determine letter spacing)
    * Optical (uses algorithms to calculate pleasing kerning instead of using the metrics)
    * Numeric (user can custom kern an instance using +/- numbers, choosing to adjust a little or a lot)
    * Zero (0) (turns off both metric and optical, using the raw type without even consulting the metrics table constructed into the typeface.)

    2) Zero is NOT the same as “Metrics, just as the type designer intended.”
    Assuming this statement is confirmed as ‘true,’ I think that many InDesign user would be surprised that 0 kerning is NOT on the continuum between +100 and -100 kerning. Stated another way, Zero doesn’t equal ‘nicely letter spaced, just a little looser than -1 and a little tighter than +1.’

    Am I correct on this, and if yes, how do convince Adobe to add an “OFF” option instead of using 0?

  • December 17, 2018 at 2:37 pm #112966
    Brett Stone

    Participant

    I continue to seek affirmation/veto of the descriptions contained in OP.
    In the meanwhile, I’m perplexed: I’ve set a complex document to include only Optical kerning, then exported to idml. Upon opening the idml in cc2015 and in cc2018 there is significant conversion of the Optical to Zero kerning. Curiously, the resulting cc2015 and cc2018 PDFs are identical, confirmed using a pixel-level comparison tool. This leads me to believe that the change from Optical to Zero occurs when the idml is created, not in the conversion of idml to indd.

  • December 21, 2018 at 6:44 pm #113048
    Dwayne Harris

    Member

    Looks like no one agrees with you.

    I personally have no problem with the kerning options available.

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