Applying Open Type features to characters

When working with Open Type fonts, you can use old style figures, ordinals, swash, titling, connection forms, stylistic alternates, ornaments, ligatures, discretionary ligatures, and fractions if the font provides them. For Japanese Open Type fonts, you can use ligatures, discretionary ligatures, Fractions Japanese 78, Japanese Expert, Japanese Traditional, Proportional Metrics, Kana, and italics if the font provides them. For more information on Japanese Open Type fonts, see Using Asian Open Type fonts.

To apply Open Type features:

1. Make sure you have an Open Type font chosen when using the Type tool.
2. From the Character palette menu, choose one of the following:

Old Style

Are numerals shorter than regular numerals, with some old style numerals descending below the type baseline.

Ordinals

Automatically formats ordinal numbers (such as 1st and 2nd) with superscript characters. Characters such as the superscript in the Spanish words segunda and segundo (2a and 2o) are also typeset properly.

Swash

Substitutes swash glyphs (stylized letterforms with extended strokes).

Titling

Formats characters (usually all in capitals) designed for use in large-size settings, such as titles.

Connection Forms

Are alternate forms that provide better joining behavior.

Stylistic Alternate

Formats stylized characters that create a purely aesthetic effect.

Ornaments

Are devices that add a personal signature to the type family and can be used as title page decoration, paragraph markers, dividers for blocks of text, or as repeated bands and borders.

Ligatures

Are typographic replacements for certain pairs of characters, such as fi, fl, ff, ffi, and ffl.


Type with Ligatures option unselected and selected

Discretionary Ligatures

Are typographic replacement characters for letter pairs such as ct, st, and ft.

Fractions

Automatically formats fractions, numbers separated by a slash (such as 1/2) are converted to a fraction (such as 1/2).