How do I fix a font with a problematic kerning pair.
The problematic pair is capital T preceded by a space, when set in Helvetica Neue 55, and with kerning set to ‘Metrics’, using InDesign. The automatic kerning preceding the ‘T’ will change from (0) to (-125) resulting in the word space almost disappearing.
Typical scenario:
- I’m setting a document with some all-caps subheads in Helvetica.
- I decide subheads need to be a touch bolder, and change font from 45 to 55.
- Bammo. Now client thinks I don’t know how to spell check.
The screenshot shows the difference between this font and the two weights either side (45 and 65), without any manual kerning.
Would you recommend I edit my Helvetica 55 and how would I go about that?
Or set optical as the default. Might this open a different can of worms?
And just say it’s possible to fix the font itself, what then happens when I open old jobs with the amended font? Am I then looking for big spaces preceding ‘T’s ?
EDIT: I should add this is a Type 1 font.
Answer
While I don’t know what the guidelines and technologies are that would allow/enable modification of font software, I bet InDesign GREP styles would be a quick way to patch things up.
You can add a pattern of characters (in the example, .\sT) to the GREP Styles panel within a Paragraph Style dialog, and create a new Character Style to adjust kerning as necessary. I’ve included a screenshot that also colorizes the matched pairs, for clarity. The rule is added to a single paragraph style, but if you have a chain of inheritance all the way back to “Basic Paragraph,” you could totally add it there.
The expression used to highlight the pattern is roughly: “Any character followed by a space, then a capital T.”
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : MG_ , Answer Author : August Miller