[XeTeX] weird kerning with GFS Didot's italic face

[Ralf Stubner]

Jonathan Kew <jonathan_kew at sil.org> writes:

> Fontspec doesn't seem to have a predefined option for this (how about  
> it, Will?!), but you can declare one; I think the form would be  
> something like this (untested):
>
> 	\newfontfeature{NoKerning}{-kern}
> 	\setromanfont[NoKerning]{GFS Didot}

Actually fontspec supports 'Kerning=Off'. Since this would be
counterproductive for all but the italic shape in this case, it is
proably best to use 'ItalicFeatures={Kerning=Off}'. Of course, a *little
bit* of kerning for [VW][eo] would be nice, hence switching the kerning
off completly is no real solution.

Related question: The 'kern' feature defaults to 'on'. Are there other
features that are on by default? Where is that defined?

cheerio
ralf