creating an ordinal superscript character style

[Rita32868529b3mp]

I am unable to create a ordinal superscript character style in InDesign. In opening the create new character style there is no choice for a superscript in the panel. I’m using Bell MT true type font. Bringing in the superscripted ordinal from Word causes a paragraph style override as does using GREP in find/change. Any suggestions?

[Barb Binder]

Hi @Rita32868529b3mp:

Your character style for superscript could also change the font to one that does offer ordinal superscripts. The trick is to use a font that looks a lot like Bell MT so that it doesn't draw attention. And yes, you can ignore the override, but it's not a best practice. 

~Barb

[Rita32868529b3mp]

Thank you for your opinion Barb.

[Scott Falkner]

Since it seems your font does not have an Opentype with superscripts option you’ll have to fake it. I find the best way is to type the superscript 1 (most fonts have a 1 and 2 in superscript) using the Glyphs panel, then a normal 1. Use horizontal and vertical scale plus baseline shift to make the 1 match the superscript 1 as best you can. It might be a good idea to bump the weight up by one value (normal to semibold, for example). Make that a character style.

In the example below I used 1, 2, and 3 since those were available. I gave the superscript style more vertical compression than horizontal compression (V: 52%, H: 60%). It’s a coin flip whether to go with Normal or Semibold.

[Rita32868529b3mp]

I appreciate your explanation Scott. This is a little complicated for me. I decided not to superscript the ordinals.

[Rita32868529b3mp]

I'm not sure how to mark the problem as solved. My problem is solved and I thank everyone for your responses.