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A
Anonymous
December 6, 2018
Answered

Fonts that can use swashes

  • December 6, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 19141 views

I'm so aggravated with this right now. I need to work in fonts that I can apply swashes to through the open type box, however, every one I try has that option greyed out, in fact most fonts have most stylistic options greyed out. Is there any way I can save some time and get or see a list of fonts that swashes can be used with. This is so frustrating and time consuming having to go through font after font and come up with nothing.

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer Jeff Witchel, ACI

      Any Font that has a Slanted O next to it in the Font menu is OpenType. (See screenshot below.) But not all OpenType fonts have the same Glyphs. So if you're looking for Swashes for instance, some OpenType faces may have that option others won't.

      If you're in CC 2018–19 you're in luck. Find any OpenType typeface that has the Swashes glyphs you're looking for and set a line of text with the characters you wish to use, select the text and apply Swashes in the OpenType panel.

      Then, with the text still selected, do the following: In the Character panel, go to the Font Family menu. As your cursor moves over a Font Family Name, if that font has the Swashes it will show you the Swashes in your text.

      For more, see the following New and enhanced features | Latest release of Illustrator CC and look for Font Browsing.

      2 replies

      Jeff Witchel, ACI
      Community Expert
      Jeff Witchel, ACICommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 6, 2018

      Your Cloud fonts (Adobe fonts, formerly Typekit) are also OpenType

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 6, 2018

      The font needs to support it.

      You need to get a font that has those features.

      A
      Anonymous
      December 6, 2018

      Yes well that's what I'm trying to get! Is there a way to find out which ones have that feature? It's a time waster to have to go through every script font!

        B
        Community Expert
        Bobby HendersonCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        December 6, 2018

        There's nothing out there such as a "master list" of sorts tracking OpenType fonts with swash alternative characters. You'll have to look up those details typeface by typeface unfortunately. With commercial fonts I'll often go to the MyFonts web site and look up specific details about a certain typeface, like its table of glyphs. Things like swashes, small capitals, ligatures and more will show up there. The Font Squirrel web site offers something similar with quite a few open source typefaces.

        I wish Adobe Fonts (aka Typekit) offered glyph table views of fonts on its web site (or even within Illustrator and InDesign). Laura Worthington has a number of outstanding script typefaces available to sync with Illustrator. It would be nice not to have to hop between MyFonts and Adobe Fonts web pages when font browsing.

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