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alisonl0shi
alisonl0shi
Known Participant
October 11, 2019
Question

Need help with a Font Issue: Change in the way Small Caps are processed?

  • October 11, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 1358 views

Hi there,

My client prefers the look of the small caps applied to the "Regular" Font (in this case Bembo) as opposed to the Small Caps font version of the font (chunkier and less elegant). I *used* to be able to do this--in fact it seemd to do it without any fussing on my part. But this time when I opened the file, it was substituting the Small Caps font. So, I deleted the Small Caps font from my fonts folder. But now instead of being able to apply the small caps button to the font, it doesnt work, in fact it is showing up as Lucida or something like that, with a pink band. If I click on TT rather than TT, it changes back to Bembo.

 

Is this a change in the new upgrade, which I just installed? Is there a way around this? Please help, thank you!

I am using the latest version of Indesign CC, on a MacbookPro running Sierra.

 

 

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    2 replies

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 11, 2019

    as opposed to the Small Caps font version of the font (chunkier and less elegant)

     

    If you really want fake small caps—small caps that are not drawn to match the capital’s weight & width—then don’t use an .otf font.

     

    Usually with .otf fonts the true small caps are included with the font and are used when you spec Small Caps either as Small Caps or Open Type>All Small Caps from the Character panel.

     

    True small caps normally are preferred because they match the font’s weight when are mixed with upper and lowercase text. Here the T1 version’s small cap appears to be a lighter weight. In high resolution print the weight difference becomes more obvious.

     

     

    alisonl0shi
    alisonl0shiAuthor
    Known Participant
    October 11, 2019
    Yes, very true. But in this case the client is always right : ) . Beside which with fake caps you can change the proportion of small caps to regular caps to fit what you like. These small caps aren't used in a conventional way anyway. I agree that when used as above the real ones look much nicer.
    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 11, 2019

    I think you‘ll have to use TT or T1 fonts, or avoid the Small Cap spec and make a custom Character Style that sizes capitals. The point of OTF fonts is to fold true small caps, full ligature sets, number sets, etc. into a single font—they are not limited to 256 glyphs.

    Derek Cross
    Community Expert
    Derek CrossCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 11, 2019

    Taking the first sentence first - did you use Bembo small caps (I assume you realise that small caps are especially designed as small caps and are not a smaller size of the capital letters) and are you saying your customer didn't like them?

    alisonl0shi
    alisonl0shiAuthor
    Known Participant
    October 11, 2019
    Hi Derek, well, it's a long history, but in answer to your question, at one point the small caps font was substitutd and the client did not like that look
    alisonl0shi
    alisonl0shiAuthor
    Known Participant
    October 11, 2019

    Oddly, it's working now. Maybe I needed to quit out of ID and restart.

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