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Bizarre results for superscript


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Type a M for reference. Then type 1 through 0 and superscript them. Now look at the string in various fonts. 

In Arial, everything is expected with a big M and all the digits superscripted.

In Segoe Print, only the 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8 are superscripted.

These are Microsoft fonts, which I expect to be "perfect." (May not be) Other fonts have other unpredictable results. Is this Designer, the font, or both?

I thought the app would just take the glyph, shrink it, then raise it, no matter the font, but....?

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4 hours ago, Ed Lyons said:

I thought the app would just take the glyph, shrink it, then raise it, no matter the font, but....?

No, the fonts have dedicated glyphs for super-/subscripts. Have a look at the screenshot. Still makes me wonder why 1, 2, 3 are not in the Glyph browser. Alternatively you can use the Superscript dropdown from the Character panel, which shrinks or raises the glyph no matter...

 

superscript.jpg

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Windows 10 / 11, Complete Suite Retail and Beta

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I've experienced the same thing that you did. As you may already know, fonts can be a very complex subject that's for sure. Especially when working across operating systems and applications, evolving font technologies, and cross platform font technologies in general.

I don't know exactly what is happening here. Seems like it may be related to glyph table and related technology. The topic is rather interesting despite its complexity, but very confusing at times when you come across situations such as this. 

All I know is that if I run the same test you mentioned in Microsoft Office, Libre Office and another program for example that is capable of adding superscript, everything works fine with those applications. As you mentioned some fonts work ok but others don't. I hope that this can be improved so that it is more predictable.

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  • Staff

This has been raised internally previously for a different font and was considered by design. Applying a super/subscript from the Typography section is font derived, since 4,6,9 are not provided/supported glyphs for this font it does not apply. When applying from the Positioning and Transform section it will scale and reposition the original glyphs and will work as @joe_l mentioned.

https://affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/Text/superscriptsSubscripts.html

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Hi Ed, thanks for bringing that up. 

I was having trouble with this in the beginning but then I got it to work.

Typography >  S button is "font derived" 
Positioning and Transform > (faux)Superscript dropdown is "not font derived"

Nathan did mentioned that the "Typography section is font derived" as you have also just stated. It is important to know that the (faux)Superscript dropdown in the Positioning and Transform section is "not font derived."

To get it to work you need to turn off Superscript in the Typography section with the Positioning and Transform (faux)Superscript activated.

If you read the lightbulb tip in the instructions and it says, "Avoid using both typographic and faux settings simultaneously".  In other words the instructions are indicating  not to use the Superscript option in in both the Positioning and Transform section and the Typography section at the same time in the Character panel.

If you notice in the screenshot the S in the Typography section is turned off and the (faux)Superscript dropdown is activated in the Positioning and Transform section. Notice how the point size is the same when comparing the large and small appearing characters. In effect what it is doing is taking the normal sized font and transforming it to appear as Superscript it is a (faux)Superscript. In order for this to work you need to disable superscript in Typography section while activating the dropdown in the Positioning and Transform section before you can see the desired effect. 

Here is the result I got when following the instructions. 

84722.jpg.76678b35e8a7900d1bba43680b430e8f.jpg

 

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