Germandbls and germandbls

1

I know there is a lot of topics about this on the Forum, and it is doing a good job of confusing me.
should the glyphs in Glyphs be

Germandbls = <SS> with unicode 1E9E
germandbls.calt = <cap version of ß> with no unicode

or

Germandbls = <SS> with no unicode
germandbls.calt = <cap version of ß> with unicode 1E9E

or

Germandbls = <cap version of ß> with unicode 1E9E
germandbls.calt = <cap version of ß> with no unicode

or ignore Germandbls and just include

germandbls.calt = <cap version of ß> with unicode 1E9E

or ignore Germandbls and just include

germandbls.calt = <cap version of ß> with no unicode

any other permutations . . .

2

For what it’s worth, option 3 is what the tutorial produces.

3

Only option 3 is ok. All others are wrong.

4

I have:

  • cap versions of germandbls as Jeremy describes in option 3

  • an uppercase class with Germandbls as described this tutorial

  • a calt feature containing:
    lookup uppercaseSharpS {
    sub @Uppercase @Uppercase germandbls’ by germandbls.calt;
    sub germandbls’ @Uppercase by germandbls.calt;
    } uppercaseSharpS;

    Still in either InDesign or TextEdit changing case for germandbls results in SS and not the cap version.

Anyone else having this problem?

5

These are issues with the applications. The font can do nothing about that.

6

Thanks! So if I understand correctly with the Germandbls in my calt feature I can only acces that by typing ß in a string of uppercase characters?

7

Yes. Also, it would be GROẞARTIG if it had a Unicode value (U+1E9E).

8

It has! But not germandbls.calt. (is that one even still needed?)

9

See the note in the tutorial:

Some type designers and font engineers, including me [@mekkablue], find this differentiation between the lowercase .calt variant and the uppercase character superfluous. In practice, it does not seem to matter anymore. So, you can just take sub germandbls by Germandbls; instead, and get away without duplicating the glyph.

I agree, the .calt is not needed.

10

And what is best practice to handle the smallcap version of ß? Right now I have a c2sc feature with: sub Germandbls by germandbls.sc;
and an smcp feature with sub germandbls by germandbls.sc;

Is that correct?

11

Yes. Make sure your ‘c2sc’ feature is placed after ‘calt’ so that the Germandbls is already present in the glyph stream.

12

Thank you! :v:

13

In my Glyphs file the calt feature is on top, but in the exported font the c2sc feature is on top.
How to work around that?

14

It works in both Glyphs 2 and 3 for me. Could you post a screenshot of your feature tab?

15

Sure!

Screen Shot 2021-03-29 at 17.55.26
Screen Shot 2021-03-29 at 17.55.26755×856 92.3 KB

16

You still have a germandbls.calt. Either use just a Germandbls or define a rule for the germandbls.calt in the c2sc, too.

17

Even with germandbls.calt removed from the feature I can’t get it to work.
Typing ẞ and then applying All Small Caps in InDesign still gives me SS in small caps.

18

Sorry, this is InDesign’s fault again.

19

I give up. :man_shrugging:t3: In what applications does this all work?

20

Many, but Adobe is of course a particularly prominent exception to the norm.