Naming a typeface by combining letters and numbers

Design
1

Asked on Type Drawers already: I would like to name a typeface family using a name followed by a number, like ‘Name 10.’ This family will be expanded in the future with ‘Name 20,’ ‘Name 30,’ and so on. Rainer just warned me that some software stores fonts using only ASCII characters, which could be a problem.
If anyone has more information or advice on this, I would greatly appreciate your insights.

2

This is news to me as well. Doesn’t seem to have stopped the makers of fonts like 20 Kopeek or Aldine 721, and they’re popular enough…

But then regular numbers are ASCII characters, so why would software storing font names in ASCII make numbers in the name a problem?

3

A possible problem could be the differentiation between two families, Name 10 and Name 20

4

But why should that be a problem? 1 and 2 are different ASCII code points (31 and 32, respectively) just like a and b are (61 and 62), so any ASCII-based system should be able to distinguish them.

5

Hopefully, I’m asking about the potential issues with software that might find numbers in the name problematic. I’ll be glad if there are no problems with it.

6

I would advise using only ASCII characters to avoid compatibility issues. Most environments or software might load and read font files normally, but probably not all.

I believe that if most of the largest type foundries avoid using digits in the Family Name, it’s a good indication to do the same.

In CSS, font family names that contain numbers (or other special characters) should be enclosed in quotes. For example:

font-family: "Font123", Arial, sans-serif;
1 Like
7

Sharing is caring. I’ve got the answer from John Hudson over at Type Drawers:

"Your proposed naming should be fine. It is recommended to avoid starting a font family name with a number, as that has been found to cause problems (the details of which I don’t remember).

The term ‘typeface family’ means a number of different things depending on technical context. You will need to give careful thought to how you want the numbered elements of the family to appear in font style groups and menu listings, mostly through management of name table IDs 1, 2, 16, 17."

1 Like