Style Linking Problem in My Font Family

[sanisanjaya]

Is it possible for Style Linking to work correctly without any issues in a font family with three axes (5 widths, 9 weights, and italic) where all styles are built from a single master?

I have followed the Style Linking setup in the Glyphs documentation, but when testing the exported font in Apple Pages, only the Normal and Expanded widths seem to work correctly. Other styles fall back to the Normal width.

Could this be related to using a single master for a multi-axis font family, or should I check something else in my setup?

Thanks in advance

[knikola (Nikola Kostic)]

@sanisanjaya

single master?

Do you mean a single Glyphs file?

Did you test the font in Adobe Illustrator or InDesign? There are many details to get right, check your Font Info > Exports and see if you configured the Weight Class and Width Class correctly – I usually miss some of those. Also the order of the Axes in Font Info must be correct. You could post some screenshots of your Font Info/Masters/Exports setup perhaps we’ll spot something.

Also, the order of the Masters can affect things, see the example in this post: Slanted and Backslanted Variable Font Adobe Menu Sorting

[knikola (Nikola Kostic)]

Also, if I remember correctly, if the Italic is in the same file as the Upright then the Italic axis should be treated as Slanted. But I would wait for @mekkablue to confirm that

[mekkablue (Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer)]

I am not sure I understand your setup. Style linking is a tricky thing in some apps. Not every app supports it well. IIRC, Pages was a known offender.

• RIBBI: link to the Regular in all Italic, Bold Italic and Bold styles
• All other italics should link to the corresponding (i.e. same-weight and same-width) uprights
• Bold bit only for Bold weights, and only to the respective (same-width) Regular weight. Not Extrabold, not Semibold, not Black, etc.

[jkutilek (Jens Kutilek)]

Style linking on macOS doesn’t even work with Apple’s own fonts in Apple’s own apps, so I wouldn’t lose sleep over it.

Check SF Pro in TextEdit: When I select the Compressed Regular style and use the Bold button, it goes to Condensed Bold. When I press the button again, it goes to Condensed Regular.

[sanisanjaya]

Sorry, I meant a single Glyphs file, not a single master.

I have attached screenshots of my Masters and Instances setup, including the Style Linking names.

If there is nothing obviously wrong with this setup, what other factors could cause Style Linking to still not work correctly in the text editor?

I have also tested the exported font in Apple Pages, where some styles work correctly but others do not seem to link as expected.

I would appreciate any suggestions on what else I should check.

[qassimhaider]

Try with Localized, Style Map and Typographic … that’s helps especially for windows

[knikola (Nikola Kostic)]

I would put (just drag) the Width axis at the top, so in Font Info > Font > Axes:

1. Width
2. Weight
3. Slant (I would switch the Italic for Slant here, and that slant is going to have a negative value in the Master Axis e.g. Slant: –14)

I would also try re-ordering the masters to have the Slanted on top, so in Font Info > Masters:

[knikola (Nikola Kostic)]

OK, I just realized that the Slant Axis might clash with the Italic Style Linking, but give it a try anyway

[GeorgSeifert]

Those extra names shouldn’t be needed. In a setup like this, Glyphs is able to generate.

[GeorgSeifert]

Your setup seems to be correct. But as Jens said, Pages is not the best app to test it.