I just learned of the concept of kerning. Now I am curious about whether one can change kerning in a typical word processor, like Word or MS Works. I do not see a kerning function in my MS Works. What is the nature of this adjustment? Must it be built into the font itself? Are there any programs that allow one to change kerning in a given font? Any general insight would be appreciated.Now that I know of this variable, I would love to be able to change it.
This is one of the biggest lack in a word processor (among many others).
You need a real typography program, like InDesign or QuarkXPress, to change the kerning of a font. As far as I know, Word does not even respect the kerning built into the font itself, let alone allow you to alter it. Unless this has changed....
Kerning data is typically built into a font indeed, but it’s not a requirement in any way neither for the font to provide it nor for the app to use it. Typesetting apps usually use font’s kerning data by default if available, but can of course also impose any user tweaks or even run its own kerning algorithms. But that’s for the typesetting apps, text processors are entirely different story…
Kerning has been supported in the Windows version of Word (and probably the Mac version too), since like forever, select "Fonts", "Advanced", and select the size at which kerning turns on. Kerning has been "on" by default in PowerPoint for at least the last two releases.
Changing the kerning values built into a font is a different story. If there's a letter combination that you don't like you can turn off kerning and use tracking (called spacing in the same Word menu) to adjust the space between a pair or group of characters.
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