Variable Font Support

[Shrinks99]

Firstly, a thank you to all involved for working towards this implementation of variable fonts!  This is a big feature for me personally and I'm very excited to see it make its way towards release!  A few thoughts on this implementation

Unit Snapping

I quite like Figma's implementation of this, where weight (a historically standardized axis of typefaces) comes with marks every hundred, but other axes are left open for the user to dial in.  Right now Affinity's increments seem to be defined in increments of 0.05, my suggestion would be to follow in Figma's footsteps exactly here and let users dial in the sliders to whatever two decimal points they desire with snapping at the nearest hundred for weight alone.  Both applications offer this through the text entry field which is great.  Here's a screenshot of Recursive in Figma for reference:

Hidden Axes

I too am a UX designer working on professional software and have to frequently make calls about what advanced options from our back-end should be hidden from users on the front-end.  Wherever possible, I prefer to give users sensible defaults with the ability to override when necessary.  Would like to echo @kenmcd: "Enable knowledgeable advanced users to do advanced stuff."  Couldn't agree more... and it sounds like this has already been done!  Happy to see it!

Speaking of Hidden Axes...

I also wanted to confirm that I ran into some of the bugs mentioned in this thread with Recursive on the latest 2.5.0.2437 beta (Windows 11) as it was mentioned in the release notes that another similar variable font was specifically fixed.  The Figma screenshot above lists all of Recursive's many variable axes correctly, though only MONO & CASL show up correctly for me in Affinity Publisher in the main toolbar, though they all display correctly in the character style menu.  This should likely be unified!

[Bobby Henderson]

On 5/7/2024 at 11:07 AM, Pauls said:

@Bobby Hendersoncan you confirm which platform you are using and if you have any third party font manager installed ?

I'm using Windows 11 Pro. I'm seeing the axes like Optical Size disappear and reappear with Affinity Designer running on its own and any other graphics applications closed. I do have Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW installed on the same computer.

Edit on May 13: after updating the 2.5 Beta to the latest build it looks like the issue of disappearing and reappearing variable axes has been fixed. At least it seems to work properly on my PC.

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "Axes Panel is sized incorrectly" (REF: AF-2974) has been fixed by the developers in internal build "2.5.0.2449".
This fix should soon be available as a customer beta and is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Affinity Info Bot to notify us.

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "Variable Fonts - Italic state lost when varying axes away from an italic preset" (REF: AF-2950) has been fixed by the developers in internal build "2.5.0.2449".
This fix should soon be available as a customer beta and is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Affinity Info Bot to notify us.

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "Character Panel: All fonts, selecting a Font Book Collection with Variable fonts will crash Affinity" (REF: AF-2922) has been fixed by the developers in internal build "2.5.0.2449".
This fix should soon be available as a customer beta and is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Affinity Info Bot to notify us.

[Ash]

The newly released 2.5.0.2449 includes UI on the context toolbar to optionally allow you to see all the axes of a Variable Font, and not just the ones that the axes that the font designer thinks should be shown.

 

[MikeTO]

I understand why this is happening, but the hidden axes control makes for an awkward toggle on smaller screens when accessed from the Character panel.

 

 

[Patrick Connor]

14 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

I understand why this is happening, but the hidden axes control makes for an awkward toggle on smaller screens when accessed from the Character panel.

 

Screen Recording 2024-05-14 at 9.20.48 AM.mov 7.61 MB · 1 download  

 

But that is already true for a font that has lots and lots of axes visible by default

[garrettm30]

Showing hidden axes should be considered an “advanced” option, kind of a “use at your own risk” feature. As I understand it, it opens up the possibility, depending on the font, that the user could find combinations of axes that yield unexpected results. I think we should try to convey that idea to the users if possible, both to minimize Affinity or font designers getting blamed for what was never intended to work, and also as service to the user to be on the alert.

With the current checkbox right at the top, I would be tempted to reason, “Yes, give me all the options.” Without the benefit of this discussion, I would not have been aware that some axes were hidden because they were just intended for internal use; I would have rather supposed that they were extra controls that could be hidden to make it easy for some users but should be fully functional to those who want the additional control.

I am not sure how to convey the idea of “use at your own risk” without being wordy. Maybe some others can come up with good ideas, but I think the first step is to move the checkbox to the bottom rather than the top. With it at the top, it looks like something everyone should consider. Then when it is checked, I recommend visually grouping the hidden axes so it is apparent which axes are advanced, and therefore “risky,” axes. Possibly such grouping could lead with small text such as “Hidden axes may not function as intended.”

[MikeTO]

Just now, Patrick Connor said:

But that is already true for a font that has lots and lots of axes visible by default

I meant only that the toggle control jumped around due to the popup position making it difficult to click again, not that the popup can be positioned in different places. I don't think there's a way to change this without moving the axes into the panel proper so it's not important.

But to @garrettm30's point, the position of the toggle gives it perhaps a lot of visibility for options you didn't initially want to expose. Since it's just a disclosure control, perhaps move it to the bottom and show the hidden axes above it? Then its position would be moving anyway.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Ash said:

The newly released 2.5.0.2449 includes UI on the context toolbar to optionally allow you to see all the axes of a Variable Font, and not just the ones that the axes that the font designer thinks should be shown.

<sigh!> For reasons I do not understand, on my Mac running Catalina I still always see all the Roboto Flex axes & I do not see the "Show Hidden Axes" option.

I have not tested with nor do I have installed any other variable font with normally hidden axes so if someone could suggest one for me to test with, I would be grateful.

[benam]

1 hour ago, garrettm30 said:

Showing hidden axes should be considered an “advanced” option, kind of a “use at your own risk” feature.

Maybe there could be a checkbox in the settings to enable the "Show Hidden Axes" checkbox?
At least this way the user would be able to be shown that this is a 'use at your own risk' option and they can then turn it on and off in the menu.

I think that this would be a good middle-ground between having it completely disabled and having people mess around with things that the designer never intended for.

[dominik]

1 hour ago, MikeTO said:

Since it's just a disclosure control, perhaps move it to the bottom and show the hidden axes above it?

I do think it makes sense to have the checkbox at the bottom. But I'd find it more logical to show the hidden axes below. That way they are visually seperated from the 'standard' axes (and could be preceded with an explanatory text).

d.

[walt.farrell]

3 hours ago, R C-R said:

For reasons I do not understand, on my Mac running Catalina I still always see all the Roboto Flex axes & I do not see the "Show Hidden Axes" option.

If you're not seeing Show Hidden Axes, are you sure you're using .2449 there?

I would suggest some other fonts to check, but I'm having extreme issues trying to use the Fonts pull-down from any of the .2449 applications on my laptop, so I can''t check any of them at the moment.

[R C-R]

11 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

If you're not seeing Show Hidden Axes, are you sure you're using .2449 there?

Yes, I am certain I am using the just released .2449 beta version. It's the same in all 3 betas -- for Roboto Flex I see all 13 axes but there is no "Show Hidden Axes" option, neither at the top nor the bottom of the Font Variations dropdown menu, nor is there a scrollbar to show anything that might be hidden. It is the same for the dropdown in the Character panel -- 13 axes showing, no show hidden option.

20 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I would suggest some other fonts to check, but I'm having extreme issues trying to use the Fonts pull-down from any of the .2449 applications on my laptop, so I can''t check any of them at the moment.

When you say "Fonts pull-down" do you mean for instance the Font Family item on the context toolbar when a text item is selected, the Character panel's Font Collection dropdown, or something else? These at least still all work as expected for me on my Mac.

[Hangman]

Just now, R C-R said:

Yes, I am certain I am using the just released .2449 beta version. It's the same in all 3 betas -- for Roboto Flex I see all 13 axes but there is no "Show Hidden Axes" option, neither at the top nor the bottom of the Font Variations dropdown menu, nor is there a scrollbar to show anything that might be hidden. It is the same for the dropdown in the Character panel -- 13 axes showing, no show hidden option.

Have you tried a factory reset (holding Ctrl on launch) to see if it fixes the issue?

[walt.farrell]

16 minutes ago, R C-R said:

It's the same in all 3 betas -- for Roboto Flex I see all 13 axes but there is no "Show Hidden Axes" option, neither at the top nor the bottom of the Font Variations dropdown menu, nor is there a scrollbar to show anything that might be hidden. It is the same for the dropdown in the Character panel -- 13 axes showing, no show hidden option.

That might suggest that your version of Roboto Flex has no hidden axes. Can you upload it here so we can look at it?

[Hangman]

5 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

That might suggest that your version of Roboto Flex has no hidden axes. Can you upload it here so we can look at it?

I already checked it in an earlier post and it is the same version we are all using which does have hidden axes...

[R C-R]

30 minutes ago, Hangman said:

Have you tried a factory reset (holding Ctrl on launch) to see if it fixes the issue?

No, not yet. I hate having to do that because I never know which items to reset or which ones will remove something I don't want removed.

I guess I may eventually try it in one of the 3 betas but first I would like to install another variable font that has hidden axes to see if somehow it is something unique to Roboto Flex, so I am hoping someone can suggest another font for me to try.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

 

My iPad version sees all the axes. Looks ok to me. iPad Mini 6. 

[Hangman]

2 minutes ago, Affinity-Inspiration said:

My iPad version sees all the axes. Looks ok to me. iPad Mini 6.

This is a new feature in the latest Beta, @R C-R's issue is different...

[R C-R]

2 minutes ago, Hangman said:

This is a new feature in the latest Beta, @R C-R's issue is different...

Does that mean that in the latest iPad betas all hidden axes should be shown & there is no "Show Hidden Axes" option? Can someone confirm this?

[Hangman]

5 minutes ago, R C-R said:

No, not yet. I hate having to do that because I never know which items to reset or which ones will remove something I don't want removed.

I would try it and just select the first option, i.e., 'Clear User Data' to see if that fixes the issue...

8 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I would like to install another variable font that has hidden axes to see if somehow it is something unique to Roboto Flex, so I am hoping someone can suggest another font for me to try.

I'm actually struggling to find any, to be honest...

[Hangman]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

Does that mean that in the latest iPad betas all hidden axes should be shown & there is no "Show Hidden Axes" option? Can someone confirm this?

No, there is a toggle switch at the top of the panel to 'Show/Hide' hidden axes...

[Affinity-Inspiration]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

Does that mean that in the latest iPad betas all hidden axes should be shown & there is no "Show Hidden Axes" option? Can someone confirm this?

The option is there at the top. I switched it on to show hidden axes.