Font Editor

Variants and features

A character can have more than one glyph. Add one with + Add variant, under the glyphs beside the canvas, then tick the OpenType feature that switches it on in its Edit tab:

• Stylistic set 01 to 03, each of which can have its own name;
• small caps, caps to small caps, petite caps and titling;
• old-style, lining, proportional and tabular figures;
• swashes and historical forms;
• superscript, subscript, ordinals and fractions;
• vertical forms.

Half and proportional widths for CJK text aren't variants: set them under Width variants in the Edit tab.

A feature starts as a draft. Drafts show in the preview, marked draft, but are left out of exported fonts, so you can work on a stylistic set without releasing it. When one is ready, tick it under OpenType features in Font setup to publish it; that's also where a stylistic set gets its name. The Report tab of the Review panel lists the features you've drawn but not yet published.

Regional forms

Many Han characters are written differently depending on the region. Tag a variant with the regions it belongs to, and the exported font picks the right one from the language of the text.

Ligatures and sequences

A ligature draws two or more characters as one glyph, like fi. The Ligatures panel lists the usual Latin ligatures, and makes new ones from any characters.

The Contextual sequences panel swaps in variants when certain characters appear together.