Bickham Script
I'm trying to access the glyph features for Bickham Script Pro using Illustrator v. 10 ( i know! i'm outdated!) i'm having trouble even finding the glyph menu. It doesn't show up as something I can choose when I select the letter I wish to change. Is it not possible with this font?
22.Feb.2006 3.30pm
Is that font in OpenType format?
I mainly use InDesign CS2, and, of course, alternative glyphs can only be employed in OpenType fonts. In InDesign there is a glyph "flyout" menu where you click on an arrow and it displays the alternates.
Correct me, anyone, if I'm wrong. Because the other day, I wuz working with a PS font and I typed "f" and then "i", and it became the "fi" glyph. Evidently, if a font has those glyphs, InDesign will use them, regardless of whether the font is OpenType or not.
22.Feb.2006 3.40pm
InDesign is a clever beast - it examines properly encoded PS fonts and can find the ligs.
Cheers, Si
22.Feb.2006 3.58pm
InDesign is an awesome alternative to Quark, and PageMaker ...
... but at a $700 price tag ...
But I'm not picking sides ... *grin* ... :)
22.Feb.2006 5.08pm
Yes, it is an open type font .... but I can't seem to find Illustrator's fly out glyph menu in version 10. :)
22.Feb.2006 6.05pm
I don't think there is a glyph menu in version 10. Can you input via Unicode?
23.Feb.2006 4.57pm
Hmm. Unicode. I'm unfamiliar. Let me look into it!
23.Feb.2006 5.11pm
InDesign will use the "standard" ligatures if the "ligatures" box is checked, which it is by default. This means that the Mac PST1-standard fi and fl glyphs will be accessed. But if the designer happened to stick ff, ffi, ffl, or any other ligatures to replace programming or mathematic glyphs, InDesign won't recognise them. That's because a ffi ligature inserted in the spot normally taken up by pi - for example - will still be pi as far as InDesign is concerned.
23.Feb.2006 5.34pm
AFAIK, Illustrator 10 doesn't support OpenType features or Unicode. Illustrator CS and CS2 do.
InDesign will recognize ligatures if they have names like "ffi" or "f_f_i" and automatically use them, if they exist in Type 1 fonts and even OpenType fonts that don't have a "liga" feature. Not sure if it works with TrueType fonts, but I would think so.
NB: If you are making a font, you have to be careful about this. It will work with any ligature, even discretionary ones, if you don't explicitly add the "liga" and "dlig" features. You may end up with st and ct ligatures showing up whether you want them to or not.