changing Small caps percentage in Preferences

[alisonl0shi]

Hi all --

I have some small caps styled in Character styles, which I use at the beginning of a chapter. I have been trying to change the relative size of the small caps (I want them to be nearly the same size as the large cap) using "Preferences"--> Advanced Type.  It seems to have no effect at all. Is this because there is some built in small caps in the font I'm using (I've switched from a Type 1 to an Opentype font of Bembo)? Any clues?

Thanks so much!

[Willi Adelberger]

If OTF small caps are available un the font and the user chooses OpenType Small Caps InDesign is using them.

If Small Caps are used (eithout OTF functionality, inDesign is using the values from preferences.

[Bill Silbert]

Adjusting the small cap percentage in Advanced Type will work for some fonts such as Helvetica but not for others—Bembo falling in the latter catagory. A workaround might be to adjust the font size of the small cap Character style you're creating to simulate a change in the small cap percentage. Be careful that the paragraphs involved do not have auto leading applied. If they do then the leading of the paragraphs will be affected by this workaround. Use only absolute leading.

[rob day]

(I've switched from a Type 1 to an Opentype font of Bembo)

Hi @alisonl0shi , One of the many advantages of OpenType fonts is they can have very large sets of glyphs, so most high quality text fonts include true, weighted small cap glyphs. Older Type 1 fonts are limited to 256 characters so if the typeface included true small cap glyphs they would have to be included in a separate font.

If the font does not include a true small cap glyph, the small cap is faked by setting a full cap at a smaller point size. The Advanced Type Preferences does that but only when the font does not include true small caps. Here is Minion Pro vs. the old Minion Type 1 font—the Glyph panel shows the Type 1 Minion M is really a scaled capital M:

The Small Cap preference affects the Type 1 Minion, but not the OpenType Minion:

If you want to increase the relative size of the OpenType version, you would need to create a Character Style with a larger point size: