[OTVar] Variable fonts in Windows 10 Creators Update and Insider previews

Peter Constable

If people are using the Windows 10 Creators Update or the more recent Windows Insider Preview builds, we have a bug bash in progress, with "Quests" which are scenarios we invite people to try out. One of the "quests" is for trying out variable fonts. So, if you're using the Creators Update or WIP builds, we invite you to help us out by going through the quest and providing feedback.

To do so, launch the Feedback Hub app (hit the Start button or the Windows key and just start typing "Feedback Hub"). If you haven't signed in for providing feedback, do so. Then try opening either of these links in Edge (might not work in other browsers):

https://aka.ms/Us0ihz
feedback-hub:?tabid=5&cid=61819e4e-b1ad-497a-b377-60b9de3c2aae&UriSource=ShareContent

(For the second one, you'll have to copy and paste into Edge's address bar.) You can select "Quests" in the navigation pane in the Feedback Hub app and scroll through the list to find the "Variable Fonts" quest.

Also...

As you may know, Microsoft held the Build 2017 developer conference last week in Seattle. In addition to the live sessions, there were lots of pre-recorded sessions posted online. One of our DirectWrite developers, Shrinath, and I gave a talk on variable fonts:

OpenType variable fonts: How to use fewer fonts and get a lot more typographic richness

Follow the link to find the video and slides. The session is geared primarily toward app developers. Some of the topics covered:

- We touched on reasons why to use multiple fonts from a family in presenting app UI or content, and presented benefits of variable fonts.
- We provided a bit of explanation of how variable fonts work.
- Demos showing named instances variable fonts working in existing apps (no changes) on the Windows 10 Creators Update. This goes into more depth in relation to XAML than my talk at Typo Labs.