Stylistic Set workarounds in Glyphs Mini

Is there a way to create something similar to stylistic sets in Glyphs Mini so we can give the user access to alternate characters? I know that Glyphs Mini doesn’t support stylistic sets but I didn’t know if there was a way to create something similar using copy/paste or something like this.

Thanks!

Glyphs Mini supports localized forms, fractions, ordinals, discretionary and standard ligatures, no stylistic sets.

So there’s no way to make an alternate version of an “O” for example and give the user the ability to switch out the regular “O” in the glyphs panel of an app? I’ve associated a few alternate letters with random characters (like I put the alternate “O” in a “tilde” box) and they show up in the glyph panels in Illustrator but I’m not sure if this is good practice.

Mini does not support stylistic sets. You need the full Glyphs for more advanced OT features.

Sure, if the project permits it, you can put it in other glyphs. I would not recommend it in a shipping font.

A shipping font meaning one that you’re intending to sell? I think I read about someone suggesting making 2 font versions, but this doesn’t seem optimal if you’re replicating most of the characters and changing only 4-5 of them, do you agree?

Yes, if you are selling the font, a user would expect a stylistic set or a character variant. That is why I would switch to Glyphs and implement a set. Again, Mini does not support sets, but the full app does.

I’m new to Glyphs Mini and font design this year - if I understand the thread correctly (and my intention is to sell my fonts) that it would NOT be a good idea to create additional glyphs (named something like a.001, a.002, etc) to give people alternative styled letters that they can access through the glyphs panel in Adobe products? I have a few fonts I have purchased over the years that do this, but is it not a recommended practice?

Just checking to make sure, because I am not 100% sure I understand what a stylistic set is and how it differs from this.

Thanks in advance for the help in navigating this!

The information on the Glyphs Mini page is accurate:

Automatic OpenType feature generation for localized forms, fractions, ordinals, discretionary and standard ligatures

These are all the OT features Mini supports. The appendix of the Mini handbook has in-depth descriptions on how to implement them.

Glyphs supports advanced OT features, including manual feature code.

This works though, but only in Adobe apps. You decide if that is a good idea for your client. I would not recommend it for a commercial retail font, because this is hard to explain to users.