OpenType Fonts Tips and Techniques, Best Resources for Learning about the Open Type font format

OpenType Tips, Techniques,
and Resources

What the heck is "Open Type" and how will it impact your projects and workflow? Start your research here.

Windows 2000/XP and Macintosh OS X fully support OpenType fonts, the new Unicode-based (instead of ASCII-based) standard for fonts. The format was a joint development venture by Adobe and Microsoft. Adobe no longer sells Type 1 fonts; they've converted their entire library to OpenType, and other font vendors will likely do the same.

OpenType offers a ton of new creative and production capabilities to the graphic design industry; as well as a few land mines. It's in all our interests to get up to speed!

OpenType Tips and Info from DesignGeek e-zine

Anne-Marie's InDesign Handouts and Tutorials

InDesignSecrets Guide to OpenType Fractions (PDF, 450K): I created this 5-page PDF to show what happens when you apply the OpenType: Fractions feature to different kinds of fractions set in each of the 30+ OpenType fonts that are bundled with the Creative Suite. Use it to help yourself troubleshoot fractions oddities in OT fonts and to identify the ones that will work best for your publications. They don't all work alike, surprise, surprise.

OpenType Resources from Adobe and Microsoft (the creators)

OpenType Overview from Adobe: This introductory page explains the basics of Open Type's capabilities and offers some specialized info on typography via a number of downloadable PDFs.
Open Type Overview from Microsoft: More technical than Adobe's explanation; designgeeks might find some useful tidbits, but the intended audience are OpenType type designers and software developers who want their products to support OpenType.
Adobe's OpenType User Guide (PDF, 1.3M): A very handy, helpful PDF! It steps you through applying Open Type layout features in InDesign and Photoshop and addresses important cross-platform issues.
Adobe Type Library Online: Even if you never buy fonts online, this is a great resource. Use the search field to enter the name of a font and access its "info page" including all weights and styles available and a downloadable PDF of its character chart. (So helpful for those free Open Type fonts shipped with Creative Suite programs!)
OpenType Character Access Chart (PDF, 189K): Another handy PDF courtesy of our Adobe friends, this chart neatly lists character names & glyph symbols and the corresponding Unicode and keyboard shortcuts for both Macintosh and Windows platforms.
Adobe's OpenType Glyph Primer: Quick: What are "Proportional Lining Figures" and why should you care? If you've ever wondered what all those categories in the Open Type formatting menus mean (Diagonal Fractions, Titling Capitals, etc.), this one-page cheat sheet is for you.
Moving from Type 1 to OpenType? Help is Available: Check out one or more of these resources from Adobe's web site to help ensure a smooth transition to OpenType for your company's publications:

Type 1 to OpenType Font Conversion FAQ
A plain-English guide written by Adobe's Program Manager for Fonts (and all-around nice guy) Thomas Phinney. Check out his blog, Typblography.
Pi font info (PDF, 250K)
A one-page document explaining why Adobe supplies — and you may still need — Pi fonts (aka dingbat or symbol fonts) in both Type 1 and OpenType format.
Type 1 to OpenType Cross-Reference (PDF, 1.6M)
Your publication uses the Type 1 font Helvetica Neue Black. What is the equivalent OpenType font name? What is its "menu name" in the Mac OS and Windows OS? This densely-packed PDF (looks like one huge Excel chart, 32 pages worth) will tell you.
Multiple Master to OpenType Cross-Reference
If you're using Chaparral MM, you need the Chaparral Pro OpenType font. But if you're using Chaparral Expert MM, you need Chaparral Pro Opticals OpenType. And so on.

OpenType User Communities

Adobe's OpenType Forum (for both platforms): With posts ranging from the most basic ("How can I use Adobe's free OpenType fonts in MS Word?") to quite advanced ("Decompiling OT fonts in FontLab?") you'll find a wealth of valuable knowledge here. Don't be surprised if your question gets answered by Thomas Phinney, Adobe's Font Program Manager, or Adam Twardoch, FontLab Marketing Manager. As with all the Adobe forums, you can log in as "guest" if you just want to read the posts, but to post your own question you'll have to register (free).
Typophile Forums: Vibrant community of typeface designers and those who just love typefaces. Best places to ask OpenType questions are the subtopics General Discussions and Build.

Other Open Type Resources on the Web

MyFont's OpenType Resource Page: A very good introduction to OpenType along with some links to detailed information and to the OpenType sections of various font developer's sites.
FontLab: FontLab is the software that Macintosh and Windows type designers use to create fonts of any flavor: OpenType, Type 1, TrueType, even Pixel fonts. The company also sells a number of related programs and utilities, many with free demos, and has a great forum for their customers. (Interesting side note: FontLab's beautiful new site design was created by Brian Sooy's studio — Brian's "Unofficial Adobe GoLive Dynamic Content Guide" is one of the top resources described in the GoLive Resources page.)
Quark Tech Note: Open Type Fonts in Quark V3—V6: Explains how QuarkXPress partially supports Open Type fonts. The info is a bit dated but it's better than nothing. Full support is expected in QuarkXPress v7, due out sometime in 2005.
Unicode Home Page: The mothership source of all things Unicode-related; it's the home site for the official Unicode Consortium. (Like the W3C of Unicode). Especially useful is the Unicode FAQ at http://www.unicode.org/faq/
David McCreedy's Gallery of Unicode Fonts: Samples of Unicode fonts in different writing systems (Urdu, Cherokee, Klingon, Lao, Hebrew, hundreds more — over 50 Japanese ones alone!) and links to download them (some freeware, some shareware, some commercial.)

Identifont: More of a general resource for font-using designers regardless of format, Identifont helps you identify a mystery font via a series of multiple choice questions ("Which way does the uppercase Q's crossbar point?") that narrow down the possibilities to one or several fonts, showing you sample of those fonts along with links to the developer's site. Identifont is the engine behind many similar services offered by type vendors. I like using the "mothership" because it's unbiased and knows about fonts from over 200 vendors. But in the unlikely event that Identifont can't help, try the next link . . .

WTF Guru Forum: This isn't strictly an OpenType-related resource, but it can save you hours of frustration if you're trying to identify a font from a printed or GIF sample. You can upload a small image of the type and the gurus on WTF (stands for "What the Font?" silly) will identify it for you.
FontLab's Collection of Type-Related Links: Are you into fonts and typeface design, OpenType or otherwise? You'll love this comprehensive collection of web links to type-related books, magazines, web sites, software, listservs, and more put together by FontLab (see above).