Re: [libreoffice-users] font liberation sans narrow, small capitals

On 04/12/2013, Virgil Arrington <cuyfalls@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I just tried it with mine. Selecting "small caps" turns *lower case* letters
> into small upper case letters. It does *not* change upper case letters into
> smaller upper case letters.

Yes, did not realise this behaviour, which is surprising. If a
document is written with many acronyms typed in upper case and it is
then decided to change to small capitals (better aesthetics!), the
text has to be converted to lower case and then to apply the font
effect. It's also surprising that small capitals is not an option
available the menu bar option 'change case'.

> This is normal behavior with LO (and other word processors). The program
> takes your typed lower case letters and turns them into shrunken upper case
> letters. Those of us who are OCD about typography are put off by this
> manufactured imitation of true small caps. With the "fake" small caps, the
> stroke weight is noticeably lighter and the letter spacing noticeably
> tighter than with true small caps.
>
> Some fonts (such as Linux Libertine G) come with "true" small caps, in which
> the stroke weight will remain consistent with other letters and the letter
> spacing will be preserved. Other OpenType fonts have true small caps, but
> most programs (like LO) can't access them. They can be accessed by such
> programs as LaTeX/XeTeX and Adobe InDesign.

True; how did you know libertine g is a font with true small caps? Is
there a list of such fonts somewhere?

Compared LaTeX small caps to LO (liberation sans narrow) and agree,
the "fake" small caps has noticeable lighter weight, making the
appearance poor. However the upper case size in liberation sans narrow
seems small, almost removing the need for small capitals in this font.

> Probably much more than you wanted by way of response, but I do *love*
> typography.

No, appreciated thanks!

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