FontFont OpenType User Guide Font Open Type
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FontFont%20OpenType%20User%20Guide
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Introduction to OpenType®
FontFont OpenType Categories
Language Support
Layout Features
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05 | April 2012
fontfont opentype® user guide
| 1
INTRODUCTION
TO OPENTYPE®
OpenType is the most modern font file format. The two main benefits of
the OpenType format are its cross-platform compatibility – you can work
with the same font file on Mac®, Windows® or other computers – and its
ability to support widely expanded character sets and layout features
which provide rich linguistic support and advanced typographic control.
Each OpenType FontFont is accompanied by a font-specific Info Guide
listing all the layout features and languages supported by that particular
font. The font and Info Guide will be delivered as a compressed zip file.
This document covers the basics of the OpenType format. Section C
explains the language support of OpenType fonts. In Section D you will
find a glossary of all OpenType layout features that may be supported by
FontFonts.
If you look for information about layout features and language support of
a specific OpenType FontFont please read the comprehensive font-specific
Info Guide for that font.
what is
opentype?
© 2005—2012 FontShop International. All rights reserved.
All information in this document is provided ‘as is’ without war-
ranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, and is subject to
change without notice.
All trademarks mentioned in this document are the trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Mac and
Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and
other countries.
You may reproduce and distribute this document as long as you
do not remove FSI’s copyright information and do not make any
changes in the document.
Text typeface: Unit
| 2
INTRODUCTION
TO OPENTYPE®
cross-platform
compatibility
By using one font file only for its entire glyph, metric and bitmap data,
OpenType fonts simplify font management. The same file works on Mac,
Windows and other operating systems so you can move font files between
platforms for the use in any documents that use type.
OpenType fonts are based on the Unicode Standard, a multi-byte charac-
ter encoding that covers nearly all the world’s languages. With OpenType
it is possible to include multiple language character sets in one font, thus
simplifying multilingual text processing. Section C lists all code pages
and languages that may be supported by OpenType FontFonts. For infor-
mation about language support of a specific OpenType FontFont please
refer to the respective font-specific Info Guide.
Traditional PostScript® fonts are limited to 256 glyphs, forcing the user to
install and manage two or more style-related fonts in order to access ad-
ditional characters. OpenType fonts can contain more than 65000 glyphs
in one cross-platform font file, making font management and publishing
workflows much easier and more flexible.
A single font file may contain many non-standard glyphs, such as old-style
figures, tabular figures, small capitals, fractions, swashes, superiors,
inferiors, titling letters, contextual and stylistic alternates, a full range
of ligatures, symbols and ornaments. The OpenType layout features
allow automatic positioning or substitution of glyphs. Section D lists
and describes the layout features that may be supported by OpenType
FontFonts.
The installation of OpenType fonts is similar to other font formats. Please
refer to your operating system manual. OpenType-savvy applications
provide a user interface that allows applying OpenType layout features to
text. Applications that don’t support OpenType layout features can still
access the full range of encoded characters and symbols in OpenType
fonts if application and operating system support Unicode (e.g. Windows
2000, XP, Vista®, 7; Mac OS® X). When using non-Unicode-savvy operat-
ing systems or applications only the first 256 characters in the font may
be accessed.
layout features
language support
use of
opentype fonts
FONTFONT
OPENTYPE
CATEGORIES
| 3
Even though the OpenType format is cross-platform compatible, there are dif-
ferences in the way how operating systems and applications handle the various
characteristics of OpenType fonts. For this reason, FSI has started to oer dif-
ferent kinds of OpenType fonts:
PostScript-flavoured OpenType fonts with file extension .otf (OT Standard and
OT Pro), OT fonts for short, are optimized for users who work with desktop
publishing software such as InDesign® or QuarkXPress®.
TrueType-flavoured OpenType fonts with file extension .ttf (Oc Standard and
Oc Pro) are optimized for most oce applications, such as Microsoft® Word,
Powerpoint® or OpenOce.
Web FontFonts are based on TrueType-flavoured OpenType fonts which are
‘wrapped’ into a Web Open Font Format (WOFF) or Embedded OpenType® (EOT)
file. Two dierent webfont formats are necessary because of varying browser
support.
Please see next page for a detailed description of the current FontFont Open-
Type categories.
fontfont opentype
categories
FONTFONT
OPENTYPE
CATEGORIES
| 4
and .
These fonts allow advanced typographic control through special layout features
like automatic contextual ligatures, Small Caps and alternate glyphs. The
outline format is CFF (Compact Font Format), i.e. the fonts are PostScript-
flavoured.
OT Standard fonts have at least the character sets for 58 Western languages
such as English, French and Spanish, while OT Pro fonts support at least 36
more Latin-based languages (e.g. Czech, Turkish, Latvian). Many OT Pro fonts
also contain Greek or Cyrillic. OT Standard and Pro fonts are style-linked by
their family names.
and .
These fonts don’t contain any layout features and are TrueType-flavoured to
comply with most Oce applications. Oc Basic Sets consist of four style-linked
Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic fonts. Styles outside these Basic Sets are
linked to their italic counterparts, e.g. Light to Light Italic. The default figure
set is Tabular Figures (TF). Small Caps with Oldstyle Figures (OsF) are available
as separate fonts.
Oc Standard fonts have at least the character sets for 58 Western languages
such as English, French and Spanish, while Oc Pro fonts support at least 36
more Latin-based languages (e.g. Czech, Turkish, Latvian). Many Oc Pro fonts
also contain Greek or Cyrillic.
and .
Web FontFonts are based on TrueType-flavoured OpenType fonts and are
delivered in two dierent formats, Web Open Font Format (WOFF) and Embedded
OpenType (EOT) because of varying web browser support. Their default figure
set is Tabular Figures (TF). Small Caps with Oldstyle Figures (OsF) are available
as separate fonts.
Web Standard fonts have at least the character sets for 58 Western languages
such as English, French and Spanish, while Web Pro fonts support at least 36
more Latin-based languages (e.g. Czech, Turkish, Latvian). Many Web Pro fonts
also contain Greek or Cyrillic.
.
,
)
(
[
]
FONTFONT
OPENTYPE
CATEGORIES
| 5
a
j
.
These fonts allow advanced typographic control through special layout features
like automatic contextual ligatures, Small Caps and alternate glyphs. The
outline format is CFF (Compact Font Format), i.e. the fonts are PostScript-
flavoured.
OT Arabic fonts have the character sets for the non-Latin script systems Arabic,
Persian and Urdu and for Western languages such as English, French and Span-
ish. They contain all OpenType layout features necessary for Arabic typesetting.
.
These fonts allow advanced typographic control through special layout features
like automatic contextual ligatures, Small Caps and alternate glyphs. The
outline format is CFF (Compact Font Format), i.e. the fonts are PostScript-
flavoured.
OT Hebrew fonts have the character sets for the Hebrew script as well as for
Latin Western languages such as English, French and Spanish. They contain all
OpenType layout features necessary for Hebrew typesetting.
LANGUAGE
SUPPORT
| 6
Applications and operating systems that make use of the Unicode Standard for
text processing can provide easy access to the wide range of encoded accented
characters and special symbols in OpenType fonts, thus greatly simplifying
multilingual typesetting. All OpenType FontFonts have at least the character
sets of the code pages MS Windows 1252 and Mac OS Roman.
All Unicode-encoded glyphs in an OpenType font will show up in the Windows
Character Map accessory, allowing direct copying and pasting of any OpenType
glyph into any application that supports Unicode. On Mac OS X the Charac-
ter Palette oers a similar function. OS X users may also install and select a
Unicode keyboard layout that allows direct access to any Unicode character in
most Unicode-supporting applications.
accessing extended
characters
The font has support for the FontFont Western encoding (all OpenType Font-
Fonts do, the icon may be omitted).
Support for FontFont CE encoding (including the former Central European,
Baltic and Turkish encodings).
Support for FontFont Latin Extended encoding.
Support for FontFont Greek encoding.
Support for FontFont Greek Polytonic encoding.
Support for FontFont Cyrillic encoding.
Support for FontFont Cyrillic Extended encoding.
Support for FontFont Arabic encoding.
Support for FontFont Hebrew encoding.
w
c
e
g
h
k
m
a
j
LANGUAGE
SUPPORT
| 7
supported
code pages
additional
supported
code pages
windows
mac
iso
-
iso
–
windows
mac
windows
mac
iso
- , , , ,
-
-
-
ibm
-
-
iso
-
ibm
iso
-
ibm
-
c
g
k
windows
mac
iso
–
–
ibm
– ( )
–
, –
, –
–
, –
–
–
–
–
-
standard . ) [ a j
pro , ( ]
e
w
LANGUAGE
SUPPORT
| 8
supported
languages
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,
,
,
,
()
()
()
()
-
,
,
,
,
()
standard . ) [ a j
w
LANGUAGE
SUPPORT
| 9
additional
supported
languages
()
()
()
()
-
()
,
,
()
,
,
c
g
pro , ( ]
e
()
()
(-1973)
()
()
,
h
()
LANGUAGE
SUPPORT
| 10
k
()
()
-
()
()
()
()
-
()
()
m
a
j
11
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
OpenType layout features can be used to automatically position or substi-
tute glyphs for more typographic flexibility. Glyphs are the specific visual
forms or shapes that characters can take. Characters are the code points
assigned by the Unicode Standard which represent the smallest semantic
unit of languages, such as letters. One character may correspond to
several glyphs: the lowercase ‘a’, a small capital ‘’ and an alternate
lowercase ‘’ are all the same character but three dierent glyphs. In case
of ligatures one glyph may also represent more than one character, for
instance the ‘’ ligature is one glyph but corresponds to three charac-
ters: ‘f’, ‘f’ and ‘i’.
For any given character there is a default glyph and positioning behav-
iour. By applying OpenType layout features to one or more characters you
can change the positioning or substitute glyphs. For example, the appli-
cation of the Small Capital feature to a lowercase ‘a’ will replace it by the
small cap ‘’. Below are descriptions and examples for each layout feature
that may be supported by OT FontFonts. A listing of layout features for a
specific OT FontFont can be found in the respective font-specific Info
Guide.
PostScript-flavoured OpenType fonts may include some layout features
which are not accessible in all applications. Users are encouraged to read
application documentation to determine which OpenType features are
supported in their specific workflow and update applications to the latest
versions which often include additional support.
access all alternates
This feature makes all variations of a selected character ac-
cessible, e.g. via the Glyph Palette. n
example
contextual alternates
This feature replaces default glyphs with alternate forms
which provide better joining behavior.
first rt
N
F
opentype layout feature
12
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
stylistic alternates
This feature replaces the default forms with stylistic
alternates. Many fonts contain alternate glyph designs for
a purely aesthetic eect; these don’t always fit into a clear
category like swash or historical.
&
D
standard ligatures
The feature replaces a sequence of glyphs with a single glyph
which is preferred for typographic purposes. This feature is
applied by default.
fl fl
I
example
contextual ligatures
Replaces a sequence of glyphs with a single glyph which is
preferred for typographic purposes. Unlike other ligature fea-
tures, the Contextual Ligatures feature specifies the context
in which the ligature is recommended.
the
Q
discretionary ligatures
This feature replaces a sequence of glyphs with a single
glyph which, in contrast to the Standard Ligatures feature,
may not be desired in all text settings. ct
K
historical forms
This feature replaces the default (current) forms with the
historical alternates.
T
s ſ
opentype layout feature
13
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
example
historical ligatures
This feature replaces the default (current) forms with the
historical alternates.
H
ß
small capitals from capitals
This feature turns capital characters into Small Capitals. It is
generally used for words which would otherwise be set in all
caps, such as acronyms, but which are desired in small-cap
form to avoid disrupting the flow of text. ABC
small capitals
Turns lowercase characters into Small Capitals. Forms related
to Small Capitals, such as Oldstyle Figures, may be included. abc
unicase
This feature maps upper- and lowercase letters to a mixed
set of lowercase and small capital forms, resulting in a single
case alphabet.
u
A
B
2
a ove above
petite capitals from capitals
Turns capital characters into Petite Capitals.
O
2
ABC
opentype layout feature
14
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
petite capitals
Some fonts contain an additional size of capital letters,
shorter than the regular Small Caps and whimsically referred
to as Petite Caps. This feature turns lowercase characters
into Petite Capitals. Forms related to Petite Capitals, such as
specially designed figures, may be included.
P
example
abc
capital spacing
The Capital Spacing feature adjusts inter-glyph spacing for
all-capital text. Most typefaces contain capitals and lower-
case characters, and the capitals are positioned to work with
the lowercase. When capitals are used for words, they need
more space between them for legibility and aesthetics.
ABC ABC
case sensitive forms
By default, glyphs in a text face are designed to work with
lowercase characters. This feature shifts various punctua-
tion marks up to a position that works better with all-capital
sequences or sets of lining figures. This feature also changes
Oldstyle Figures to Lining Figures.
{I)›I« II
..............................................
»I-2— I
..............................................
E
M
titling
This feature replaces the default glyphs with corresponding
forms designed specifically for titling.
Y
ABC ABC
opentype layout feature
15
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
swash
This feature replaces default character glyphs with corre-
sponding swash glyphs.
C
example
FONT
contextual swash
This feature replaces default character glyphs with corre-
sponding swash glyphs in a specified context.
W
Font on
fractions
The feature replaces figures separated by a slash with com-
mon (diagonal) fractions. The number of fractions in a font
may vary. OpenType Standard FontFonts include at least
fractions for ¼ ½ and ¾
2 13/16 2⁄
G
alternative fractions
This feature replaces figures separated by a slash with an
alternative (nut fraction) form. E. g. if you enter 3/4 in a
document you will get a specified three-quarter nut fraction.
1/4
:
¹
-
₄
ordinals
This feature replaces default alphabetic glyphs with the cor-
responding ordinal forms for use after figures.
Z
1st 1
opentype layout feature
16
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
example
scientific inferiors
This feature replaces Lining or Oldstyle Figures with inferior
figures (smaller glyphs which sit lower than the standard
baseline, primarily for chemical or mathematical notation).
May also replace lowercase characters with alphabetic
inferiors.
CO2 CO
superscript
Lining or oldstyle figures are replaced with superior figures
(primarily for footnote indication), and lowercase letters
are replaced with superior letters (primarily for abbreviated
French titles).
denominators
Replaces selected figures which follow a slash with denomi-
nator figures in order to build additional fractions. /9 ⁄
numerators
This feature replaces selected figures which precede a slash
with numerator figures, and replaces the typographic slash
with the fraction slash.
9
8
4
5
4/ ⁄
m3 m³
subscript
This feature will replace a default glyph with a subscript
glyph.
6
N2 N
opentype layout feature
17
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
example
1
proportional figures
This feature replaces figure glyphs set on uniform (tabular)
widths with corresponding glyphs set on glyph-specific (pro-
portional) widths.
tabular figures
This feature replaces figure glyphs set on proportional widths
with corresponding glyphs set on uniform (tabular) widths.
lining figures
This feature changes selected figures from oldstyle to the
lining form. 289
oldstyle figures
Changes selected figures from the lining style to the oldstyle
form.
0
3
2
167
||
|| 152
||
152 ||
slashed zero
Some fonts contain both a default form of zero and an alter-
native form which uses a diagonal slash through the counter.
Especially in condensed designs, it can be dicult to distin-
guish between 0 and O (zero and capital O) in any situation
where capitals and lining figures may be arbitrarily mixed.
This feature allows the user to change from the default 0 to a
slashed form.
/
on 08 on �8
opentype layout feature
18
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
example
L
ornaments
This is a dual-function feature which uses two input methods
to give the user access to ornament glyphs (e.g. fleurons,
dingbats and border elements) in the font. One method
replaces the bullet character with a selection from the full
set of available ornaments; the other replaces specific lower
characters with ornaments assigned to them.
alternate annotation forms
Replaces default glyphs with various notational forms (e.g.
glyphs placed in open or solid circles, squares, parentheses,
diamonds or rounded boxes).
123! 123!
mathematical greek
This feature replaces standard typographic forms of Greek
glyphs with corresponding forms commonly used in math-
ematical notation.
7
J
ΠΣ ∏∑
abc
localized forms
This feature replaces certain glyphs with a dierent preferred
form depending on the language of the text.
l
AŞ AȘ
opentype layout feature
19
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
example
stylistic sets
This feature replaces the default forms with stylistic alter-
nates organised in one or more corresponding sets. A font
can contain up to 20 stylistic sets, each of which can be
switched on separately.
optical size
If a font family comes in various design sizes, this feature
allows an application to automatically choose the design best
suited for a specific text size instead of simple linear scaling.
s
¡
´
01
20
abc abcabc abc
Age 24 ¡ Age
Age 24 £ Ae 24
Age 24 ¡ £ Ae
opentype layout feature
isolated forms
Replaces a glyph with its isolated form. Like the other positional
forms features it is mainly used in the Arabic writing system.
ü
initial forms
This feature replaces a glyph with a dierent form used at the
beginning of words.
p
medial forms
This feature replaces a glyph with a dierent form used in the
middle of words.
o
examples
c | 4 ff Seria Arabic
fontfont opentype®
section c
SUPPORTED
LAYOUT FEATURES
nIstandard ligatures fi e fi
nEcase-sensitive forms ()[]{ e ()[]{
nMcapital spacing HOH e HOH
nGfractions 1/2 e ½
nZordinals 1a2o e 1ª2º
nNaccess all alternates 1 e ¹
nüisolated forms عfع
niterminal forms �ع
f
examples
c | 5 ff Seria Arabic
nomedial forms f
np
q
initial forms f
required ligatures f
nrglyph composition /
decomposition
f
nzmark positioning f
ntmark to mark
positioning f
examples
c | 5 ff Seria Arabic
nomedial forms f
np
q
initial forms f
required ligatures f
nrglyph composition /
decomposition
f
nzmark positioning f
ntmark to mark
positioning f
20
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
exampleopentype layout feature
final forms
This feature replaces a glyph with a dierent form used at the
ending of words.
i
required ligatures
This feature replaces a sequence of glyphs with a single
glyph which is not only preferred for typographic purposes
like in the Standard Ligatures feature, but is required.
q
glyph composition/decomposition
This feature contains information on how to compose and
decompose accented glyphs.
r
examples
c | 4 ff Seria Arabic
fontfont opentype®
section c
SUPPORTED
LAYOUT FEATURES
nIstandard ligatures fi e fi
nEcase-sensitive forms ()[]{ e ()[]{
nMcapital spacing HOH e HOH
nGfractions 1/2 e ½
nZordinals 1a2o e 1ª2º
nNaccess all alternates 1 e ¹
nüisolated forms عfع
niterminal forms �ع
f
examples
c | 5 ff Seria Arabic
nomedial forms f
np
q
initial forms f
required ligatures f
nrglyph composition /
decomposition
f
nzmark positioning f
ntmark to mark
positioning f
examples
c | 5 ff Seria Arabic
nomedial forms f
np
q
initial forms f
required ligatures f
nrglyph composition /
decomposition
f
nzmark positioning f
ntmark to mark
positioning f
mark to base positioning
This feature contains information on where to position dia-
critical marks in relation to their base glyphs.
z
examples
c | 5 ff Seria Arabic
nomedial forms f
np
q
initial forms f
required ligatures f
nrglyph composition /
decomposition
f
nzmark positioning f
ntmark to mark
positioning f
mark to mark positioning
This feature contains information on where to position dia-
critical marks in relation to other diacritical marks, e.g. for
stacked diacritics.
t
examples
c | 5 ff Seria Arabic
nomedial forms f
np
q
initial forms f
required ligatures f
nrglyph composition /
decomposition
f
nzmark positioning f
ntmark to mark
positioning f
21
LAYOUT
FEATURES
|
combining layout features
Layout features may be combined, allowing access to additional glyph forms not found in any single feature.
May 6, 2007 0 May , 0 A
M ,
May 6, 2007 A M 6, 2007
Swashes F washe F ¤ washe
Catfish I Catfish I ¢
Catsh
Catfish ¢ Catish
54m2 5 54m² 5 ¡ 5m 5 ¡ A
