Alternates for Selection in Photoshop

Jeremy Dooley
Jeremy Dooley Posts: 67
in Font Technology
I've observed that "Alternates for selection" (AFS) behavior varies amongst Adobe programs. Although that shouldn't come as much of a surprise, I'm intrigued if there's a solution because I'm working on releasing a Variable remaster that includes a ton of alternates. InDesign and Illustrator both function as expected when using "Alternates for selection."

I gave a few of the Adobe fonts I had loaded a try. AFS was provided by a few, but not by all. Is there something Photoshop is looking for in the OTF code? The sample fonts were installed via Adobe Fonts, thus I am unable to open them to analyze them.

I'm using "FEA syntax (compatible with AFDKO 2.5 and FLS 5.1)"

Has anyone had this experience? Is this merely a Photoshop glitch or a Adobe software team dynamic?

Thanks,

Comments

  • Cory Maylett
    Cory Maylett Posts: 248
    As an art director who uses Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop, the inconsistencies in how each application handles OpenType features and variable fonts are frustrating. I have no knowledge of the interworkings at Adobe, but the way each app handles these things makes me think there's a lack of coordination between the different teams.

    As someone who also designs type, these inconsistencies and lack of prominence in the apps are doubly frustrating since Adobe is a key to the use and success of these typography technologies.

    Most designers I know, have little knowledge of OpenType features. Most have heard of variable fonts, but few have used them. This doesn't surprise me since Adobe has inconsistently scattered access to these capabilities in various obscure submenus and icons that are often buried multiple layers deep in their menu system.
  • André G. Isaak
    André G. Isaak Posts: 634
    Jeremy Dooley said:

    I gave a few of the Adobe fonts I had loaded a try. AFS was provided by a few, but not by all. Is there something Photoshop is looking for in the OTF code? The sample fonts were installed via Adobe Fonts, thus I am unable to open them to analyze them.
    FontLab lets you open installed fonts, which will let you open fonts installed via Adobe Fonts.
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,897
    So, this is… complicated. Probably the answer is to put all one-to-one substitutions in the 'aalt' feature as well as whatever else they are in. The AFDKO syntax allows you to do this pretty easily by referencing other features to include in 'aalt'.

    Of course, if you are already doing this, my assumptions about what is going awry are incorrect!

    Some background:

    Historically, Photoshop shares a text engine with Illustrator, while InDesign does its own thing. But all these apps are moving to Harfbuzz.

    BUT… at least originally (this could have changed since! My knowledge is old) each of them programmed their own glyph panel and its access-all-single-sub-alternates functionality.

    Although the 'aalt' feature was created specifically to enable app functions such as the glyph panel subsitutions, some apps (at least InDesign) supplement the info they get from 'aalt' by crawling the rest of the font’s GSUB.

    But that doesn’t mean all apps do that, and maybe Photoshop does not. So, I would try adding 'aalt' and see if that fixes things.

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