Note:
The following section is purely a factual overview, it is in no way meant to be taken as a comprehensive list of typographical features in 3B2 and should therefore not be used for comparative purposes.
This section aims to provide an overview of the extensive typographical features in 3B2. 3B2 provides tools that produce professional typesetting with the minimum of effort. Typographical control and output from 3B2 is unparalleled. This has made 3B2 the first choice for publishers and typesetters who demand the highest standards of typographical quality.
Publications with high quality typography result in improved communication, a more pleasing experience for the reader and therefore a better understanding of the content.
Typography is the arrangement, style and appearance of printed matter. The ability to adjust the typography to your requirements is paramount. It is well understood that poor typography reduces the legibility of written material.
It is with this in mind that Advent ensures that the highest standards of typography are maintained in 3B2.
The benefits of good print layout and good typography are that text is aesthetically pleasing, consistent, unambiguous and easy to read.
Learning and understanding 3B2's typographical features is incredibly useful, as they provide professional effects together with the ability to add value to every letter.
3B2 offers many features that give users complete typographical control including:
3B2 font handling is unique. Fonts are stored in outline format and the outline data is used for screen display and final output. This allows complete control of the scaling factor of a font for screen zooming or final output. Because the same data is used for screen and output, the representation is 100% WYSIWYG, at any size regardless of how it is used.
SmartFonts are outstanding and incomparable to any other fonts on the market. The powerful tables combined with 3B2's advanced ligature features and extensive typography controls result in easy to use, automatic and superior type.
SmartFont data outlines are supplied from the Monotype library. All SmartFonts have built-in kerning and tracking tables which automatically adjust the letter and word spacing for optimum line fit at all point sizes. Most of the kerning tables have up to 6,000 kerning pairs to give the best possible visual spacing which results in easy to read body and headline text.
SmartFonts are only available in 3B2; there is no other publishing software that can handle the extensive built-in tables and ligatures without loss of speed or performance. 3B2 also has special functions which are available when using SmartFonts, for example, changing from table figures to old style figures on a temporary or global basis with a single command, figure kerning off-function for tabular work (kerning is turned off for all combinations with figures, but works in text in the same paragraph).
Every character in a typeface has a definite space on each side known as the sidebearing. The sidebearing is determined by the typeface designer to function in combination with all other occurring characters in the typeface. The width of the sidebearing is a compromise and therefore extra functions are required to achieve optimum readability.
To change the distance between combinations of two characters, for example, T and o, a kerning value is used. A kerning value is a plus or minus distance value between two characters these values can be stored and reaplied with the use of kerning tables.
The kerning tables also contain values for character pairs, which are not normally used in words, for example, the kerning values for combinations such as o and T or . and V. In 3B2 all kerning values are used, even when there is a space between the characters. We call this wordspace kerning. The function results in visually more even sized spaces, as you take into consideration the design of the characters before and after the space.
Letter spacing is a general change of the space between characters for whole documents, paragraphs, lines or words. It is often used for fine adjustments of word wrapping and to avoid or change hyphenation.
Tracking is an automatic, size related change of the letter spacing value. If a larger grade is used, not only is the font size increased, but also the sidebearing of the font. The tracking/letter spacing value then reduces the space between all characters. Headings without proper letter spacing adjustment look straggled and become difficult to read.
Also important for good readability is the space between words. Unevenly spaced lines and vertical rivers in text columns are disruptive and make reading difficult. Space between words can be adjusted for both font design (narrow and wide design) and user size (font size). You can differentiate between optimum, minimum and maximum space value. Optimum space is the basic setting for the spaces size. Minimum and maximum space value is the smallest/largest allowed value to avoid hyphenation when using justified text.
The line spacing is also important. Larger line spacing can make larger spaces between words without affecting the readability. Space tracking is an automatic size related change of the optimum, minimum and maximum space value. In a SmartFont these values are stored and consideration has also been given to the design of the typeface. As a basic setting a change in the optimum space results also in a change of the minimum and maximum values in corresponding grade.
Line spacing is the distance between the baselines of two lines of text within a paragraph. 3B2 divides the line spacing as 3/4 above the baseline and 1/4 below. The baseline is the line on which your text sits, ignoring the descenders of characters. It is from the baseline that the line spacing distances are measured.
You can add extra white space between lines of text. In the days of metal type, printers achieved this effect by putting strips of lead between the lines of type and the process became known as leading.
It is possible to change the position of the text baseline. This can be applied in the middle of a paragraph and for individual words or characters if required.
Adding comments helps keep track of files, tags and information. It is also possible to highlight important pieces of text with a background colour on the paragraph, word or character.
3B2's hyphenation functions mean that you can ensure that words are broken up in the correct place. As with all functions in 3B2, flexibility, control and customisation are prominent features of the hyphenation options. This means that 3B2 provides extensive hyphenation options even in the most demanding situations.
3B2 enables you to apply automatic hyphenation by algorithms and exception dictionaries. A hyphenation exception dictionary provides 3B2 with information and rules about how to hyphenate specific words.The standard computer hyphenation algorithms are built into 3B2 and are always available. If you have purchased the Dieckmann hyphenation algorithms these can also be used in 3B2.
When some characters, for example devices, hyphens, inverted commas etc, are at the beginning or the end of a line, this results in visually uneven margins. In SmartFonts there are tables with kerning values, which are used when these characters are at the beginning or the end of a line. In other words, a kerning value between margin and character or vice versa.
The function can be used or turned off independent of the other tables in the font and separately for right or left side of the column. It is also possible to choose a % value to increase or decrease the effect.
Optical alignment is a variation of hanging characters and eliminates the sidebearing when a character is at the beginning or the end of a column.
In some cases a kerning value is used to move the character partly over the edge of the column, for example, a capital T. This function is mainly useful when the heading should be vertically in line with the body copy. As the sidebearing is enlarged with the character, the heading is always put further into the column than the body copy. The function, for instance, automatically lines up a 100pt heading with 8pt body copy vertically. All built in values can be affected as described under the heading Hanging Punctuation above.
Justified text is when both sides of a paragraph of text are set flush against the column margins. When justifying text, 3B2 adjusts the horizontal spacing so that the text is aligned evenly along both the left and right hand margins. Justifying text creates a smooth edge on both sides of a paragraph.
Vertical justification lets you reduce or extend the text on a page to fill the column depth. When vertical justification is being calculated, 3B2 can add extra space to the column top or paragraph top or paragraph bottom margins, either inside or outside the paragraph area, or between lines as extra line spacing. Priorities can also be assigned to each of these settings. Extra space in these positions will affect the appearance of your document.
Professional typesetters try to avoid ending a page with the first line of a paragraph (known as an 'orphan'), or beginning a page with the last line of a paragraph (a 'widow'). The widows/orphans option prevents odd lines of text separating from the main body of a paragraph.
All number combinations can be used and generate perfectly lined fractions. Automatic fractions can be created with horizontal or slanted bars, all with simple key sequences. The relative positioning of the fraction elements are predefined for all sizes in all fonts and all digital combinations, perfect every time even when automated. Fractions are generated in SmartFonts via ligature tables which use in the character setting available elevated numbers. These are not decreased normal numbers, but characters in their own right designed for the purpose. Fractions are built for each SmartFonts different positioning values (depending on the design of the font).
All tables and values that are used in a SmartFont are built-in and cannot be changed. But all values can be changed permanently by building your own kerning tables to an unlimited extent. These can be used together with the built-in tables or on their own.
If they are used together with the built-in tables they will work as a filter between the SmartFont and the screen/end result. If, for example, the value in the SmartFont table is -10 units and the user's table has a +4 units value the result will be -6 units. All kerning tables can be used on a percentage basis. You can for instance choose to use 65% of the built-in values together with 100% of the table.
All these controls can be used on document, paragraph, line or word levels. Your own tables for all mentioned functions can be built for all other occurring font formats, for example, TrueType or PostScript fonts.
Two different character settings are available in each SmartFont. The original character setting SmartFont has more functions whereas the standard character setting ISO is easier to manage as it is a standard. In both settings there is access to all characters, also many more characters than in a standard font. However, some functions in 3B2 only work with SmartFont character settings, such as automatic change between old style figures and table figures.
If old style figures and/or small caps are available in the font, they are included and easy to access. The use or change of figure type can be controlled with a simple on/off command at a document, paragraph, line, and word or character level.
If there are small capitals in the design of the font, then these are separate fonts with all characters as in the standard font. The normal positions for lower case characters then contain small capitals and the positions for normal numbers (table figures) then contain old style figures. The kerning tables are adjusted to a looser small capital kerning.
A ligature is a combined character that replaces two or three characters. For instance, f and i. The readability is better as the f-dash and i-dot create a unit instead of an ugly combination that is difficult to read. Other examples of ligatures in SmartFonts are ff, fl, ffi, fl. Closely related are, for example, ti, Vi, Wi and Yi, where the i character is changed to a dotless i and is moved closer to the previous capital character. Automatic change of ligatures can be controlled in levels. Only f/i ligatures, T/i ligatures, both or no ligatures. The levels can be used on document, paragraph, line and word or character level.
SmartFonts contain accent characters that are set and have their own positions in the font. SmartFonts contain complete sets of floating accents with adjusted design for both lower-case and capital characters. The function automatically chooses lower-case or capital design depending on the previous character. The accents size and position can also be changed without limitation. Any changes can be saved and reused whenever required, manually or automatically.
Different types of line effect include:
SmartFonts contain many more special characters than normal fonts. Mathematical characters, squares, bullets etc. Over 80 special character fonts are also delivered with more than 10,000 special characters with the SmartFont library.
Support for unicode in 3B2 obviously opens up support for all the accents and special characters that could possibly be required in a publishing environment including CJK.
Some typographical effects of 3B2 include:
3B2 provides a fabulous combination of tools and functions to make the production of good character typography easier. The advantage of using SmartFonts for perfectly spaced text and headlines is particularly important in an automatic production environment to maintain typographical excellence.
Many other parameters affect the quality of the end result and the readability of the text. Use of 3B2 is not a guarantee for a good end result and cannot replace knowledge. However when used correctly, 3B2 is a prerequisite for automatic production and high quality publishing and typographical quality.
Technical information on typographical control is available to users in the technical documentation available from documentation.3b2.com
Information on typography and its history can be found at: planet-typography.com