Typophile

OpenType capable software for the PC

TypeSETit

I got a question from a customer who can't take advantage of all the OpenType features with his PC... if anyone can help, I'd appreciate it. Here is what he asked:

Do you have any recommendations on PC software capable of using the different letter options (swash characters) in fonts such as your Estonia Nouveau? I purchased a similar font from MyFonts once before (Mussica) in the OTF format, only to realize that none of my main software applications (Word, CorelDRAW) could use the extended character set.

I realize the PC is behind the Mac in this type of functionality. I have also considered purchasing a program like FontCreator in order to re-map an existing font into different font sets so all the characters are available for use (just using different font names).

Thanks in advance.

twardoch

Among the applications that come to my mind, Adobe apps (InDesign, Illustrator) come to mind first. Even the CS2 version would do.

TypeSETit

Yes, I told him about InDesign and the Adobe Suite. I know that for some, they can be a bit pricey, and thought maybe folks on the PC side would know of apps that are a little less expensive. I work on a Mac, so my ability to help him is limited.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

thanks

Igor Freiberger

As long as I know, just Adobe suite and Quark Xpress offer this in Windows world. Suite 602 had partial support back in 2002, but the product was discontinued.

I know some apps that does not have OT proper support: all Office releases (it seems Office 10 will have at least partial OT support), CorelDraw, Xara, OpenOffice and Scribus. Not sure about Ulead and ACD software.

Henyk

Notepad (Windows 7) supported at least liga, clig and calt :)

TypeSETit

Thanks Henyk, I've passed that along.

Ray Larabie

You don't necessarily need OT feature functions in an application to access alternates. It's more tedious but as long as the alternates have been given Unicode values, you can make a text file which the customer can copy and paste into Corel Draw or Word. They can also be accessed with the character map tool. (accessories/system tools/character map)

Windows has supported OpenType(OTF) with no additional software required for a decade . . . a couple of years before OSX was released. It's the apps that are the issue.

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