Hello everyone,
One of my clients is facing an issue in the Character Map where he is unable to access the stylistic alternates of a font. Instead of displaying the correct characters, it only shows boxes.
Your assistance with this matter would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
Which app? Did you double check the font you gave him?
Check these out! The font works perfectly in Mac OS, in the font book they show up perfectly. However, in the Character Map in Windows, they display as boxes.
They are not encoded in the PUA, are they? OT alternates are not supposed to be encoded or accessed through a Unicode value.
Thank you Rainer! How do I do that?
Judging by your screenshot, you donât have PUA values (basically, manually set Unicode values in the âPrivate Use Areaâ section of Unicode).
Why is your client trying to view characters in the PUA range? The alternates will not appear there.
What app is your client using? Does it support OpenType features such as stylistic sets?
Hello Sebastian,
I am not so familiar with Glyphs App, I am still learning.
The question is how do I incorporate the PUA values to my Stylistic Alternates? Should I put some sort of number next to âUnicodeâ? Please help me with that!
He is trying to access the characters (Stylistic Alternates) from the character map so he can copy and paste in another program such as Canva, Cricut, etcâŚ
How can he access the font alternates like the swashes in the preview from his character map? Or is there another way to access them without opening up the character map in Windows OS?
On a side note, the font in Adobe Products, the font works perfectly.
Thank you for your help and assistance Sebastian.
It is not encouraged to use PUA values, especially if it is for copying text between different applications.
The PUA range is a block in Unicode that allows you to âencodeâ completely custom glyphs, such as illustrations, ornaments or conlang (other than Klingon, which is encoded) letters.
As Rainer pointed out, this is not intended for accessing alternates of existing, encoded glyphs.
Basically: donât use PUA values if you donât know exactly why. Does your client know what the PUA Is for? What application is he using? Since you donât have PUA values set, they wonât show up in the PUA range, like in your first screenshot.
If you really want to use PUA values, you need to set them manually. In the bottom left of your second screenshot, you can see a âUnicodeâ text box, which is currently empty. Set the values there and research the appropriate code points. The range F0000 to FFFFD is what youâre looking for.
Thank you for your help and assistance, Sebastian.
He mentioned that he usually copies and pastes his stylistic alternates from the character map, and while other fonts show these alternates, mine does not. This led him to believe there might be a serious issue with my font.
Can I assign any number to stylistic alternates, such as a.ss01? Do I need to follow a specific numbering pattern for each alternate? I apologize as this seems a bit confusing.
Donât. It will break how your client interacts with other fonts, e.g., switching fonts will not work anymore. And you will find yourself doing free tech support for the rest of your life.
Explain to him how to use OpenType features instead. We can help you wit that if you tell me which apps he is using.
Then something was seriously wrong with the fonts he has been using.
Learn the difference between the terms âcharactersâ and âglyphsâ, and how you access encoded glyphs versus how to access OT alternates. Read this tutorial please:
Thank you for your well-detailed response, Rainer.
How can I teach him how to use OTFs when he is using only Canva for example?
You will need to find out how OT features work in Canva.
