Support of the KERN feature in Safari

Ramiro Espinoza

Hi there,
Checking my fonts at Fontdeck I discovered that using Safari kerning was not displayed. I made a tests and regenerated a couple of fonts with "old school" flat kerning tables in parallel and the kerning began to work in Safari.
Since this solution would dramatically increase font file sizes, my question is if there is a way around it. Is it impossible to get Safari to read the KERN feature?
Thanks in advance.

Ralf

text-rendering: optimizeLegibility

… turns on OT kerning and ligatures in Safari.

Ramiro Espinoza

Funny thing is that I am already using this method but my Safari 5.1.7 does not show it...

PabloImpallari

What happens if you separate your GPOS kerning in smaller groups, using lookups?
Maybe it's a possibility that the kerning is far too complex for the browser to understand it?

Ramiro Espinoza

It is not only happening to my fonts. If you check at Fontdeck using Safari, many fonts don't have kerning working properly.

Ramiro Espinoza

For example, using Safari set AVALT in:
http://fontdeck.com/typeface/reader
http://fontdeck.com/typeface/futura
http://fontdeck.com/typeface/vagrundschrift

On the other hand your font Ralf, seem to work:
http://fontdeck.com/typeface/wayfindingsanspro

I am puzzled...

Mark Simonson

I'm seeing kerning on all of those examples, Ramiro. (Safari 6.0.2, Mac OS 10.8.2)

Ramiro Espinoza

OK, I admit I have Safari 5.1.7 under OSX 10.6. I don't think it's possible to updated Safari without updating the OS (which I don't want since it would disrrupt my FL based workflow) :S

Ramiro Espinoza

Anyway, according to these tests: http://www.typotheque.com/articles/opentype_features_in_web_browsers_-_tests
Safari 5.1.7 should support kerning using the line:
text-rendering: optimizeLegibility
...and it does it for certain fonts.

Jasper de Waard

So, has anyone figured this out yet? Perhaps Ralf could tell us how the kerning is organized in his fonts?