OpenType features (was: [XeTeX] re: XeTeX Digest, Vol 7, Issue 12)

[Jonathan Kew]

On 4 Oct 2004, at 1:36 pm, Simon Spiegel wrote:

> Is there a tool
> which displays all features of a OpenType font?

The OpenType-info.tex file included in the "XeTeX examples" download 
will list the available feature tags for a given font; they're usually 
somewhat mnemonic, once you get the general idea, but for the actual 
definitions of what each tag is supposed to do, you can look at the 
specifications on Microsoft's Typography site 
(http://www.microsoft.com/typography), or probably somewhere on Adobe's 
site.

(Yes, I know, that's not terribly convenient.....)

If you have access to a Windows machine, and install MS's Font 
Properties Extension (that might not be the exact name), you can view 
the available features in the Properties window for a font file.

Some other (Unix-based?) tool that can show the features was mentioned 
on the list a few months back, IIRC.

>  Apple's font dialog doesn't care
> about OpenType.

Not yet, anyway.

How about providing feedback to Apple, requesting full support for 
OpenType features in addition to AAT? (You won't be the first, but the 
more people ask, the higher priority it'll get.)

JK