When selecting text and trying to use OpenType features using a variable font in InDesign I noticed that the little OT icon shows ‘OpenType properties are not applicable’.
What do you mean by this exactly? What is “the otf’s”? The otf’s what? Do you mean replacing the variable OpenType font with a static OpenType font?
Yes, OpenType fonts.
Not the most obvious of nomenclature since all the fonts (static and variable) are presumably OpenType fonts.
I can’t reproduce this with any of the fonts I have lying around as both variable and static fonts – the OpenType icon works equally well for both in my InDesign.
Have you checked your variable font in FontGoggles or similar to make sure the OpenType features are correctly exported?
This can happen if the text box contains fonts from more than one font file. Even if it is just a word space.
Thanks.
All features work in Glyphs, and they also generate as otf fonts, but some features, or parts of features don’t work.
It’s a bit hard to tell in the image, but it looks to me as if it doesn’t work in Script, (before the comma) either in the little OpenType pop-up thingy, even though it does in the actual text box. That, at least, seems most likely to be an InDesign issue.
Are you using the Adobe folder your fonts to avoid caching issues?
It does work in script, as you can see it’s much shorter than the other lead-out strokes.
Yes, I’m using the Adobe folder.
Is it different if you switch to a different composer? (In the paragraph palette.)
And does it work in Font Goggles?
Do you mean the Character > OpenType palette?
I have been tearing my non-existant hair out trying to sort this, but I can’t make it work.
I have made all features inactive apart from Standard ligatures fi and fl, but even then it’s not working:
Everything works in Font Goggles.
Substitution with “space” are tricky in Indesign. I think that they use some special characters to represent the space and that is messing with the openType. You might be able to get it to work with ignore substitutions. Then the shorter stroke would also show at the end if the text.
Thanks Georg. It always worked before. How do you suggest I use ignore substitutions?
something like this:
ignore sub @AllLetters g' @AllLetters;
sub @AllLetters g' by g.001;
I’m still having the same problem that I posted at the top in InDesign with every single variable font that I generate. The OpenType icon doesn’t work in a block of text but features are available in the Character menu. This is a new one:
Has something been changed in InDesign that certain substitutions no longer work?
Adapting your code above, I managed to get the .ends to work, except the ‘a’ when on its own.
But I can’t get the lead-ins (i, r, s) shown in pink to work.
As you can see it works in Glyphs. (But OpenType properties still are not applicable using the O icon).
Glyphs on the left, InDesign on the right.
The way to do the connecting substitutions is described extensively in the Positional Alternates tutorial. This is how to get it right in your font. If it works in FontGoggles then your font is not to blame.
Adobe apps have had massive issues with OpenType in the past two years, most of which were fixed in recent iterations. Make sure you update the apps to the latest versions.
Also, Adobe apps behave very differently with different composers. If you say it worked before, the OT icon not showing up, and everything works in FontGoggles, that may point to a change in composer (or another setting, but composer is the most likely one). Does it behave differently if you switch composers?
