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25 minutes ago, mac_heibu said:

Postscript fonts ≠ .otf fonts :)

You are wrong.

OTF = Fonts with PostScript outlines.
TTF = TrueType fonts

...some people rename .ttf fonts to .otf and it mostly works, but the base square size in units is different and the type of curves also.

Edit: There is, of course, plenty of other differences, like Open Type features, compression etc., but if font contains True Type curves, it should not be generated as .otf, but a .ttf - just for sanity purposes.

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No, I am definitely not wrong.

There are two types of OTF: TrueType flavoured and Postscript flavoured. But this doesn‘t mean at all, that otf fonts are the same as postscript fonts – and that is, what DWright implies, when he says „Affinity supports the features of any Postscript font (.otf) installed on your computer“. Not every otf font is postscript flavoured. And if it is, it is flavoured and not identical. :)

In short: DWrights answer doesn‘t really help the initial poster, because his key question was, which fonts support open type features. Postscript fonts don‘t.

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Yes. TTF outlines are supported, but not recommended. Just see FontLab user manual or Adobe Font Guidelines.

People do silly things, indeed - like using a software without reading its manuals first. Then they generate wrong results and come back to forums or post questions, that are answered in user manuals, to reddit.

True OTF font is a font with PostScript outlines. OTF font containing TrueType outlines is just a fallback. Works but only creates issues.

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DWright's answer was correct. He states (and I quote)

2 hours ago, DWright said:

...Affinity supports the features of any Postscript font (.otf) installed on your computer...

He doesn't argue that OTF is ONLY PostScript font at all.

Edit: Anyway, DWright was correct, TTF fonts don't support any OpenType features anyway. His point was correct.

Never mind. [drops the mic]

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20 minutes ago, mac_heibu said:

No, I am definitely not wrong.

Definitely not! TrueType was originally developed as a competitor to PostScript, and the OpenType specification came much later.

4 minutes ago, CLC said:

True OTF font is a font with PostScript outlines. OTF font containing TrueType outlines is just a fallback. Works but only creates issues.

OTF with TrueType outlines is still OTF. The important difference is that TrueType uses quadratic Bézier curves whereas PostScript uses cubic Bézier curves.

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4 minutes ago, CLC said:

He doesn't argue that OTF is ONLY PostScript font at all.

If “He” refers to @DWright, he implied — by writing “Postscript font (.otf)” — that PS and OTF are one and the same.

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6 minutes ago, Alfred said:

If “He” refers to @DWright, he implied — by writing “Postscript font (.otf)” — that PS and OTF are one and the same. 

DWright's point was that TTF font's don't allow stylistic features (or other OpenType features), while OpenType fonts do.
Mentioning PostScript was completely irrelevant.

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1 hour ago, CLC said:

Edit: There is, of course, plenty of other differences, like Open Type features, compression etc., but if font contains True Type curves, it should not be generated as .otf, but a .ttf - just for sanity purposes.

A font file with CFF (PostScript) outlines should be named with a .otf extension. A font file with TrueType outlines can have either a .otf or a .ttf extension: the choice depends purely on whether or not you need backward compatibility (e.g. on older systems, or with previous versions of the font).

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7 minutes ago, CLC said:

DWright's point was that TTF font's don't allow stylistic features (or other OpenType features), while OpenType fonts do.

As I mentioned earlier, a TrueType font uses quadratic Bézier curves. The inclusion (or not) of OpenType features is a separate issue.

8 minutes ago, CLC said:

Mentioning PostScript was completely irrelevant.

Mentioning PostScript wasn’t merely irrelevant, it was misinformed.

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8 minutes ago, Alfred said:

As I mentioned earlier, a TrueType font uses quadratic Bézier curves. The inclusion (or not) of OpenType features is a separate issue.

Mentioning PostScript wasn’t merely irrelevant, it was misinformed.

Alfred. Read OP's question.

18 hours ago, WestCoastPDX said:

Hello!
Can someone tell me what fonts support OpenType font features in Affinity?
I don't seem to be able to find one I like that also support this Open Type font feature!
 

Again, I must insist that Dwright's answer:

2 hours ago, DWright said:

Affinity supports the features of any Postscript font (.otf) installed on your computer, most of the default fonts installed with the OS are TrueType fonts and only a few such as Ariel have a alternative stylistic set.

was completely correct and the point about PostScript is irrelevant.

You argued that DWright's answer was misleading:

30 minutes ago, Alfred said:

If “He” refers to @DWright, he implied — by writing “Postscript font (.otf)” — that PS and OTF are one and the same.

That is imo wrong. See the highlighted part of your own quote.

The rest of the debate is irrelevant to OP's post and can be considered Thread Hijacking.

Anyway, here is some interesting stuff from FontLab manual, no further discussion is imo necessary:

 

ttf.jpg

otf.jpg

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19 hours ago, WestCoastPDX said:

Hello!
Can someone tell me what fonts support OpenType font features in Affinity?
I don't seem to be able to find one I like that also support this Open Type font feature!
 

Here you go, as a sample, this font might be enough to test the features ;)

https://pinspiry.com/10-latest-modern-script-fonts-free-for-personal-use/#download

(Harland or Hypathia font ie)

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Can‘t believe it! My post did nothing but pointing out, that there was a (inadvertent?) mistake in DWright‘s answer, which may lead the thread opener in a wrong direction. But, I learned, you are a real know-it-all“. :)

… and by the way, linking a font, which supports OpenType features, doesn‘t answer the initial question at all.

I am out here.

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23 hours ago, WestCoastPDX said:

Can someone tell me what fonts support OpenType font features in Affinity?

The OpenType features available are determined by the font designer, not by Affinity applications.
 

23 hours ago, WestCoastPDX said:

I don't seem to be able to find one I like that also support this Open Type font feature!

Which "OpenType font feature" are you looking for?

 

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11 hours ago, mac_heibu said:

In short: DWrights answer doesn‘t really help the initial poster, because his key question was, which fonts support open type features. Postscript fonts don‘t

I have no horse in this race but I believe @DWright was trying to answer the OP's first question, which was about which fonts support "OpenType font features" in Affinity. As he said, most fonts installed with the OS are Truetype fonts, which do not support OpenType features like Discretionary & Historic Ligatures, Historic Forms, Case Sensitive Forms, etc.

I don't know what it is like for Windows but for the Mac OS, only .otf fonts support such features. In Apple's Font Book app, all such fonts are identified as "OpenType PostScript," like below for Adobe Caslon Pro regular:

1578960024_FontBookCasion.jpg.4a8cd4cd3641a9a9620daf493effff7c.jpg

So, in this context (which may be Mac-only) I believe he is correct because in Mac-speak only "OpenType Postscript" fonts support these features & they all have the .otf extension.

IMO, that answers the OP's first question as well as can be expected so perhaps it is time to move on to the OP's second question, which as @LibreTraining mentioned, needs clarification before it can be answered?

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2 hours ago, R C-R said:

As he said, most fonts installed with the OS are Truetype fonts, which do not support OpenType features like Discretionary & Historic Ligatures, Historic Forms, Case Sensitive Forms, etc. 

This is not true. The majority (almost all) of the fonts installed with Windows are OpenType fonts with almost all having some OpenType features. Some have a lot of advanced OpenType features. The only actual old TrueType fonts are those used for some system functions (e.g. symbols.ttf), just like the old non-Unicode system fonts on the Mac (e.g. ZapfDingbats).

This never-ending PS vs. TT nonsense is just that - nonsense - and it certainly should not be hijacking a discussion about OpenType features. There is ZERO difference in available OpenType features based on the kind of glyph outlines. NONE.

I would be happy to point the OP to some fonts with his desired OpenType features if he will just tell us what it is that he is actually looking for.

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13 hours ago, CLC said:

True OTF font is a font with PostScript outlines. OTF font containing TrueType outlines is just a fallback. Works but only creates issues. 

This is complete nonsense.
The OpenType file format is basically the old TrueType file format that they added a couple tables to so they could stuff postscript outlines into it.

There is no resemblance whatsoever to the old Postscript Type 1 font structures.

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3 minutes ago, LibreTraining said:

The majority (almost all) of the fonts installed with Windows are OpenType fonts with almost all having some OpenType features.

Maybe so, but that is not true for Macs, at least for the Apple distinction of "OpenType PostScript" vs. "OpenType TrueType" fonts, & for the advanced OpenType features like Discretionary & Historic Ligatures I mentioned. Only the former have any of these features & they all use the .otf extension. None of the latter have any of the advanced features & they all have the .ttf extension.

I have no idea if this a Mac thing, a Mac + Affinity thing, or what, but I have yet to find any ttf font from any source that in Affinity's Typography panel shows any of the advanced features. 

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4 hours ago, LibreTraining said:

This is complete nonsense.
The OpenType file format is basically the old TrueType file format that they added a couple tables to so they could stuff postscript outlines into it.

There is no resemblance whatsoever to the old Postscript Type 1 font structures.

I never mentioned anything about resemblence to the old Type 1 PostScript fonts.
Just convert an OpenType font with TrueType outlines to curves in any vector editor. Do the same with the same font that's distributed with PostScript outlines. Compare the output (amount of points, differences in curves). That was my point - you can see the difference when you want to plot or CNC the TrueType outlines. Do the same with PostScript outlines of any chosen font. First one will take 3 times more time to finish than the 1st one, yet they are the same fonts from the same distributor.
I had no other points. That's the reason why I say that the true OpenType font is the one with PostScript outlines. Just my 2 cents.

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4 hours ago, LibreTraining said:

The OpenType file format is basically the old TrueType file format that they added a couple tables to so they could stuff postscript outlines into it.

From https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/ttochap1

Quote

A TrueType font is a collection of several tables that contain different types of data: glyph outlines, metrics, bitmaps, mapping information, and much more. OpenType Layout fonts contain all this basic information, plus additional tables containing information for advanced typography.

At least to the extent we are talking about "OpenType Layout fonts" and/or "advanced typography features," this does not seem to be simply about postscript outlines ... I think. I started reading about the five OpenType Layout tables (GSUB, GPOS, BASE, JSTF, and GDEF) but my feeble old brain started overheating so I am suspending further study of that subject for now. :S

But before I forget it, there is an old forum topic (in the iPad section) that discusses some aspects of advanced typography features that might be of interest to the OP.

 

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  • 7 months later...
On 7/13/2019 at 8:00 AM, LibreTraining said:

This is complete nonsense.
The OpenType file format is basically the old TrueType file format that they added a couple tables to so they could stuff postscript outlines into it.

There is no resemblance whatsoever to the old Postscript Type 1 font structures.

They (OTF & TTF) are distinguished primarily by their different outline formats and the contrasting approaches employed to rasterize those outlines. For designers, both amateur and professional, the main useful difference between OTF and TTF is in the advanced typesetting features. OTF features embellishments like ligatures and alternate characters—also known as glyphs—that exist to give designers more options to work with. In other words, OTF is indeed the “better” of the two due to the additional features and options, but for the average computer user, those differences don’t really matter. TTF stands for True Type Font , a relatively older font, while OTF stands for Open Type Font Open Type Font, which was based in part on the TrueType standard. TTF fonts are still so much more popular than OTF fonts.

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