Post #1454861

2024-12-06 12:47 UTC

For anyone using variable fonts in Affinity design apps: ⚠️ BEWARE ⚠️ Affinity applies kerning values from a variable font’s default instance (usually a moderate “Regular” style) to *all* variants of that font, even if it includes design variants with drastically different kerning. It’s easy to miss in variable fonts with relatively limited stylistic ranges (where kerning doesn’t change much throughout), but it’s quite problematic for variable fonts that cover more expansive ranges of variation.

Replies (10)

@HEX@typo.social 2024-12-06 13:49

To further illustrate the variable kerning issue: This video shows the expected behavior for variable fonts as demonstrated in Figma, below (kerning varies with changes in design variations), and the current behavior in Affinity apps, above (the same default kerning values are applied to all design variations, resulting in not enough kerning for wide styles and too much kerning in condensed styles, causing glyphs to crash).

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@superpixel@mastodon.social 2024-12-06 13:11

@HEX Does Affinity know?

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@barrymieny@mastodon.social 2024-12-06 13:33

@HEX Sorry for not posting this in the forums from my side yet. I’ve seemingly lost my login details and the password reset emails never reach me.

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@Sobex@social.sciences.re 2024-12-06 13:34

@HEX Uh-Oh. Is this something that can be considered a bug and has been reported to them ? (And is this something that could eventually be fixed ?)

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@ronanmcd@mastodon.green 2024-12-06 14:06

@HEX thanks for sharing. I've been a variable fonts user since the early days and I'm moving across to Affinity in steps. This is really useful info

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@dcporter@better.boston 2024-12-06 14:32

@HEX @gruber They accidentally invented a pretty dope "AV" ligature tho

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@danielgibert@mastodon.online 2024-12-06 14:47

@HEX Have Affinity assigned a Bug ID to this or is still not under their radar in the forum? Also, Can you share the forum thread link so we can comment on it adding pressure and preserving the thread actively relevant? ;-)

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@notimefortv@mastodon.social 2024-12-06 15:55

@HEX that's why I am moving designs in sigma more and more often, reluctantly I might add 😞

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@Chancerubbage@mastodon.social 2024-12-06 15:57

@HEX @gruber Damn I’m so font illiterate after OS X became a thing. I lost all my fonts and font knowledge in the transition. I never figured out how OS X managed them. I had big plans for Adobes multiple master fonts. Then everything became TrueType, web fonts. I don’t know if they are all free now, how or where to license buy or use them. If they are not ‘part of an OS’ I don’t know about them. In a way OS X helped kill DTP

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@mario@mastodon.mariobreskic.de 2024-12-06 17:52

@HEX Thanks for the info. I think everyone will find it insightful.

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