OpenType Font Features | CSS3 Font Suite | CSS: Presentation Layer
Standards Based Development
OpenType Font Inspection and Management Tools and Support
TrueType ExplorerFind Glyph — a small, quick, and simple utility that allows you to find out which installed fonts have the Unicode point you are looking for.
Microsoft Windows Font Properties Editor — Microsoft's free Font Properties Editor lets Windows users modify some of the text entries stored within TrueType and OpenType fonts. The editor gives type designers access to the following entries.
- designer, designer link,
- type foundry, foundry link,
- description,
- license, license link,
- vendor ID.
The editor also allows embedding permissions to be made more restrictive.
Adobe Type Manager — Font management made easy... Organize your PostScript® Type 1, OpenType®, and TrueType fonts to suit the way you work with Adobe® Type Manager® (ATM) Deluxe."
Adobe Type Manager Light — Free font utility for viewing and printing PostScript fonts... Adobe® Type Manager® (ATM) Light is a system software component that automatically generates high-quality screen font bitmaps from the PostScript® outlines in Type 1 or OpenType® format.
BabelMap BabelMap is a free Windows character map utility that allows you to specify a font, and so can be used to see the encoded glyphs in a font.
Bitstream Font Reserve — Font Management for the Macintosh or Windows... Font Reserve effectively manages thousands of fonts. Activate, view, sort, and copy fonts quickly and efficiently."
FontExpert — Previews, prints and manages PostScript, TrueType, OpenType and raster fonts. Detects and solves problems with fonts and font substitutions.
SIL ViewGlyph ViewGlyph allows you to see a font's contents from different perspectives: Unicode, a particular codepage, or the raw glyph palette. It also allows you to view the name and cmap tables, and to see various font metrics.
TrueType Explorer — TTE is a font tool for searching and exploring TrueType fonts. TTE works with fonts installed on your computer. TTE also works with fonts that are not installed on your computer, which may reside on your computer's drives (hard disk, CD-ROM, network, etc). TrueType fonts of any size or quantity--installed or not--are available for you to search and explore with TTE.
UniSearch for Fonts — Unicode Search is a Windows program which runs on Win2000 and XP. The program is designed to explore your Fonts Folder to discover those fonts which have selected Unicode Blocks.
Font Playground — a useful resource to test the rendering of many of these open fonts directly in your browser.
- Microsoft OpenType Registered Feature Tags
- OpenType Feature Support in Applications (PhotoShop, etc.
- Adobe Registered OpenType Feature Tags
- Windows Font properties extension allows for analysing OpenType font files with a right mouse click
- DTL OTmaster Light - Tool for inspecting what's inside an OpenType font
- OpenType feature support in web browsers
Microsoft OpenType Font Properties Extension and x64 Extension.
OpenType In-Browser Font Testing and explanation.
DTL OTMaster Light is a tool for finding out what an OpenType font contains; allows for checking fonts and exporting.
Windows Font Properties Extension allows the analysing of OpenType font files with the click of a mouse. Seems like just a desktop version of Font Squirrel's tool, without converting/generating font types and front-end code.
OpenType Features Browser Support
Microsoft Registered OpenType Settings
| Feature Tag | Friendly Name |
|---|---|
| aalt | Access All Alternates |
| abvf | Above-base Forms |
| abvm | Above-base Mark Positioning |
| abvs | Above-base Substitutions |
| afrc | Alternative Fractions |
| akhn | Akhands |
| blwf | Below-base Forms |
| blwm | Below-base Mark Positioning |
| blws | Below-base Substitutions |
| calt | Contextual Alternates |
| case | Case-Sensitive Forms |
| ccmp | Glyph Composition / Decomposition |
| cfar | Conjunct Form After Ro |
| cjct | Conjunct Forms |
| clig | Contextual Ligatures |
| cpct | Centered CJK Punctuation |
| cpsp | Capital Spacing |
| cswh | Contextual Swash |
| curs | Cursive Positioning |
| cv01-cv99 | Character Variants |
| c2pc | Petite Capitals From Capitals |
| c2sc | Small Capitals From Capitals |
| dist | Distances |
| dlig | Discretionary Ligatures |
| dnom | Denominators |
| expt | Expert Forms |
| falt | Final Glyph on Line Alternates |
| fin2 | Terminal Forms #2 |
| fin3 | Terminal Forms #3 |
| fina | Terminal Forms |
| frac | Fractions |
| fwid | Full Widths |
| half | Half Forms |
| haln | Halant Forms |
| halt | Alternate Half Widths |
| hist | Historical Forms |
| hkna | Horizontal Kana Alternates |
| hlig | Historical Ligatures |
| hngl | Hangul |
| hojo | Hojo Kanji Forms (JIS X 0212-1990 Kanji Forms) |
| hwid | Half Widths |
| init | Initial Forms |
| isol | Isolated Forms |
| ital | Italics |
| jalt | Justification Alternates |
| jp78 | JIS78 Forms |
| jp83 | JIS83 Forms |
| jp90 | JIS90 Forms |
| jp04 | JIS2004 Forms |
| kern | Kerning |
| lfbd | Left Bounds |
| liga | Standard Ligatures |
| ljmo | Leading Jamo Forms |
| lnum | Lining Figures |
| locl | Localized Forms |
| ltra | Left-to-right alternates |
| ltrm | Left-to-right mirrored forms |
| mark | Mark Positioning |
| med2 | Medial Forms #2 |
| medi | Medial Forms |
| mgrk | Mathematical Greek |
| mkmk | Mark to Mark Positioning |
| mset | Mark Positioning via Substitution |
| nalt | Alternate Annotation Forms |
| nlck | NLC Kanji Forms |
| nukt | Nukta Forms |
| numr | Numerators |
| onum | Oldstyle Figures |
| opbd | Optical Bounds |
| ordn | Ordinals |
| ornm | Ornaments |
| palt | Proportional Alternate Widths |
| pcap | Petite Capitals |
| pkna | Proportional Kana |
| pnum | Proportional Figures |
| pref | Pre-Base Forms |
| pres | Pre-base Substitutions |
| pstf | Post-base Forms |
| psts | Post-base Substitutions |
| pwid | Proportional Widths |
| qwid | Quarter Widths |
| rand | Randomize |
| rkrf | Rakar Forms |
| rlig | Required Ligatures |
| rphf | Reph Forms |
| rtbd | Right Bounds |
| rtla | Right-to-left alternates |
| rtlm | Right-to-left mirrored forms |
| ruby | Ruby Notation Forms |
| salt | Stylistic Alternates |
| sinf | Scientific Inferiors |
| size | Optical size |
| smcp | Small Capitals |
| smpl | Simplified Forms |
| ss01 | Stylistic Set 1 |
| ss02 | Stylistic Set 2 |
| ss03 | Stylistic Set 3 |
| ss04 | Stylistic Set 4 |
| ss05 | Stylistic Set 5 |
| ss06 | Stylistic Set 6 |
| ss07 | Stylistic Set 7 |
| ss08 | Stylistic Set 8 |
| ss09 | Stylistic Set 9 |
| ss10 | Stylistic Set 10 |
| ss11 | Stylistic Set 11 |
| ss12 | Stylistic Set 12 |
| ss13 | Stylistic Set 13 |
| ss14 | Stylistic Set 14 |
| ss15 | Stylistic Set 15 |
| ss16 | Stylistic Set 16 |
| ss17 | Stylistic Set 17 |
| ss18 | Stylistic Set 18 |
| ss19 | Stylistic Set 19 |
| ss20 | Stylistic Set 20 |
| subs | Subscript |
| sups | Superscript |
| swsh | Swash |
| titl | Titling |
| tjmo | Trailing Jamo Forms |
| tnam | Traditional Name Forms |
| tnum | Tabular Figures |
| trad | Traditional Forms |
| twid | Third Widths |
| unic | Unicase |
| valt | Alternate Vertical Metrics |
| vatu | Vattu Variants |
| vert | Vertical Writing |
| vhal | Alternate Vertical Half Metrics |
| vjmo | Vowel Jamo Forms |
| vkna | Vertical Kana Alternates |
| vkrn | Vertical Kerning |
| vpal | Proportional Alternate Vertical Metrics |
| vrt2 | Vertical Alternates and Rotation |
| zero | Slashed Zero |
Standard Ligatures
Standard Ligatures are typographic replacements for certain pairs of characters, such as fi, fl, ff, ffi, and ffl.
Contextual Alternates
Contextual Alternates are alternative characters included in some script typefaces to provide better joining behavior. For example, when using Caflisch Script Pro with contextual alternatives enabled, the letter pair “bl” in the word “bloom” is joined so that it looks more like handwriting.
Note: Although the characters in ligatures appear to be joined, they are fully editable and do not cause the spelling checker to flag a word erroneously.
Discretionary Ligatures
Discretionary Ligatures are typographic replacement characters for letter pairs, such as ct, st, and ft.
Swash
Swash substitutes swash glyphs, stylized letterforms with extended strokes (exaggerated flourishes).
Lining Figures
Tabular figures are those where each numeral has the same total character width (width of numeral plus white space on both sides). Tabular spacing (also known as monospacing) allows numerals to align vertically in tables, charts, and other columns of figures. Tabular figures are typically lining figures.
Oldstyle Figures
Oldstyle Figures, also called lowercase figures or non-aligning figures are numerals shorter than regular numerals, with some old style numerals descending below the type baseline.
Oldstyle Figures are a style of numeral which approximate lowercase letterforms by having an x-height and varying ascenders/descenders; considerably different from more typical "lining" (or "aligning") figures which are all-cap height and typically monospaced in text faces to line up vertically on charts. Oldstyle figures tend to have a more traditional, classic style; are proportionately spaced, eliminating the white space that results from monospaced lining figures, especially around the numeral one.
Where to use
- within text, unlike lining figures they blend in
- headlines (less intrusive than lining figures)
Proportional figures are those where each numerals total character width varies; typically of the lining/oldstyle variety. The varying widths give them a more even color/texture, especially around the numeral 1.
Stylistic Alternates
Stylistic Alternates formats stylized characters that create a purely aesthetic effect.
Titling Alternatives
Titling Alternatives formats characters (usually all in capitals) designed for use in large‑size settings, such as titles.
Ornaments
Ornaments are devices that add a personal signature to the type family and can be used as title page decoration, paragraph markers, dividers for blocks of text, or as repeated bands and borders.
Ordinals
Ordinals automatically formats ordinal numbers (such as 1st and 2nd) with superscript characters. Characters such as the superscript in the Spanish words segunda and segundo (2a and 2o) are also typeset properly.
Fractions
Fractions automatically formats fractions; numbers separated by a slash (such as 1/2) are converted to a shilling fraction (such as ).
Three categories of fractions:
- Basic Fractions: ¼, ½ and ¾, standard in many fonts across all formats.
- Extended Fractions: found in many OpenType fonts, and usually include 1/8, 3/8, 5/8, 7/8, and sometimes 1/3 and 2/3.
- Arbitrary Fractions: include anything and everything else, such as 18/256.
Diagonal Fractions (½, not 1/2) come prebaked as part of the font or can be created on the fly via software. Typically prebuilt fractions are listed under Numbers in a fonts glyph palette.
OpenType Features
NoteOpenType features cannot be previewed in Photoshop before they are applied. However, you can preview and apply OpenType features by using the Adobe Illustrator Glyphs panel. Copy and paste your text into Adobe Illustrator and use the Glyphs panel to preview and apply OpenType features. You can then paste the text back into Photoshop.
Glyphs
Adobe's This specification does not standardize any of the suffixes. Any suffix will work as well as any other suffix for the purposes of text searching. For convenience during devlopment and testing, Adobe uses the most appropriate OpenType Layout feature name for a suffix. For example, a smallcap "a" could be named "a.smcp", a initial form "a.init", a final form "a.fina" and a swash form "a.swsh". If there are more swash forms, they could be called "a.swsh1", "a.swsh2" etc. | |
| Suffix | Definition |
|---|---|
| a.sc | small capital a |
| T.swash | swash variant of T |
| T.begin | variant of T used at the beginning of a word |
| T.end | variant of T used at the end of a word |
| T.end1 | another variant of T used at the end of a word |
| T.alt01 | first decorative variant of T |
| T.alt02 | another decorative variant of T |
| one.superior | variant of one to be used in superscripts |
| one.inferior | variant of one to be used in subscripts |
| one.numerator | variant of one to be used in fractions |
| one.denominator | variant of one to be used in fractions |
| one.fitted | proportional variant of one, used when default numerals are all tabular. |
| one.tab | tabular variant of one, used when when default numerals are all proportional. |
| one.oldstyle | proportional oldstyle variant of one |
| one.taboldstyle | tabular oldstyle variant of one |
Accessing OpenType Features in Photoshop.