Fractions — Please help!

[Thomas22842972ml5u]

Hello,

Does anybody know if it is possible to write arbitrary fractions (i.e. any numbers I want) in Photoshop (or other Adobe software... or Microsoft Word?) with any font that I want?

Thank you.

[Leslie Moak Murray]

Is this what you mean?

https://skillforge.com/creating-fractions-adobe-photoshop-cc-2015-1/ 

[Thomas22842972ml5u]

Thanks, Leslie. I'm trying to do custom fractions and make them look as nice as the default ones.

Kind regards,

Thomas

[jane-e · Accepted solution]

Does anybody know if it is possible to write arbitrary fractions  in Photoshop with any font that I want?

By @Thomas22842972ml5u

No, you cannot create fractions in any typeface you want — you can only do so if the type designer created a numerator, denominator, and solidus. Only OpenType fonts will have fractions, and even then not all of them do.

Character panel > OpenType > Fractions OR click select the fraction and click the fraction button (1/2) at the bottom right of the Character panel.

You can also do real fractions in InDesign and Illustrator.

If the fraction button (1/2) is grayed out as in this next screenshot, then the designer did not create it.

Jane

[Thomas22842972ml5u]

Hello,

Thanks for your informative response. Here is what I can see when I open the character panel:

Does this mean that the font doesn't support arbitrary fractions? Or have I not accessed the correct tools in Illustrator? (I have the .otf version of this font installed.)  

Thank you.

[jane-e]

Hi @Thomas22842972ml5u 

You asked about fractions in Photoshop before and now you are in Illustrator.

In Illustrator, you need the OpenType panel (Window menu > Type > OpenType) and not the Character panel. The fraction button is in the bottom right and the fraction command is in the panel menu.

Notice in the panel menu below that some OpenType attributes are gray. Those are the ones the type designer did not include when he/she designed the typeface. If either is gray, then your typeface does not support fractions.

In macOS you can open the Character Viewer, then start to type "fraction" in Spotlight and choose common fractions (and the solidus) from this list.

⅞    ⅜   ⅓   ⁄

There are no keyboard shortcuts as @Trevor.Dennis gave for Windows, but there are more choices in macOS.

Jane

[Thomas22842972ml5u]

Hello Jane,

Thank you for your answer. Sorry for my late reply, I've been quite busy.

I have followed the method you describe but the fractions are still too horizontal. I would like something that fits more of a square shape than a rectangle (i.e. like the default simple fractions which the fonts already allow). I want to use double- and triple-digit numbes, so perhaps this is too some extent unavoidable, but, perhaps it can be improved?... 

Also, Illustrator, for some reason, seems to make the denominator slightly larger than the numerator...

I have accessed the character viewer but how does this help me to create custom fractions?

Additional question:

1. I want to use the oldstyle numbers which my font provides. How do I access these in Illustrator and in Photoshop? Ideally, I would also use these with the fractions I am trying to make.

General font question:

1. How do I get rid of the Lorem Ipsum thing?

Thanks for your help, whoever wishes to answer.

Thomas

[Lumigraphics]

You may need to do some customizing of individual characters to get fractions exactly like you want them (baseline shift, width/height, spacing, etc.) Invisible attributes such as hinting can affect layout as well.

You can turn off placeholder text in Preferences.

[Trevor.Dennis]

It sounds like you are looking for complete flexibility with fractions. i.e. 17/32 so this would not be helpful, but Windows Alt can be useful.  I use them constantly. 

The Ariel font range can do ¼ , ½  and ¾ as apparently can this forum's default font.  You use them by Holding down the Alt key and typing the code.  I have no idea if they work with OSX using the Opt key (Google tells me that they do).  This list shows all the Alt codes

In Photoshop I used the Type tool directly to produce

My most used Alt codes are

M dash Alt 0151 —

Degrees symbol Alt 0176 °

GB pound Alt 0163 £

Would it be too inconvenient to create the fractions as shapes and save them to a CC Library?  Type layers can be converted to vector shapes and edited, so it would be easy to do.

[Thomas22842972ml5u]

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for your answer. I'm working on a Mac. 

I'm curious about your suggestion regarding the CC library. Does this also work in Illustrator? What stepsw would this involve?

All best,

Thomas

[Lumigraphics]

Create the graphic you want and save it as a Library item. https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/libraries.html