Question: to use OpenType locl feature to adjust quotes following the language in use. Good idea? Bad idea? Any font already using this technique? #typography #fonts #OpenType #typedesign

Igor Freiberger Tiro Typeworks Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian Vassil Kateliev @[email protected] Dutch Type Library Adam Twardoch ৵ Nadine Chahine Localfonts André Simard The issue in English is nested quotes. Do you begin with single (British) or double (American) quotes? And how do you automate the nesting? Really, people are going to have to solve this problem in the authoring and editing.

James Souttar Igor Freiberger Tiro Typeworks Vassil Kateliev @[email protected] Dutch Type Library Adam Twardoch ৵ Localfonts André Simard Nested quotes are trouble... but relatively rare, compared to the bigger issue of an apostrophe abutting a quote mark. That's the main reason I prefer guillemets, but if that's too saucy at least the closing quote marks should point up instead. Ductus, shmuctus.

James Souttar Igor Freiberger Tiro Typeworks Vassil Kateliev @[email protected] Dutch Type Library Adam Twardoch ৵ Localfonts André Simard That said, here's a great example for you to brandish!
twitter.com/hhpapazian/sta…
(Now I have to dig up one of my old tweets that shows the same disaster with the apostrophe.)

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian James Souttar Tiro Typeworks Vassil Kateliev @[email protected] Dutch Type Library Adam Twardoch ৵ Localfonts André Simard I was thinking… To use guillemots doesn't help the nesting. Maybe a better try is to have second- and third-level quotes with extra spacing and a lower position. So their collision presents a sense o hierarchy. OT calt can do this.

Igor Freiberger James Souttar Tiro Typeworks Vassil Kateliev @[email protected] Dutch Type Library Adam Twardoch ৵ Localfonts André Simard Guillemets are actually great for nesting if the second level is floating marks. And you can visually harmonize the two by using either quotemets for the first level, or guillequotes for the second level! :-) Yes, I helped make up those NON-STANDARD terms, sorry not sorry. :->

Igor Freiberger James Souttar Tiro Typeworks Vassil Kateliev @[email protected] Dutch Type Library Adam Twardoch ৵ Localfonts André Simard >>
Another option for floating ones:
twitter.com/LucidaFonts/st…

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian James Souttar Tiro Typeworks Vassil Kateliev @[email protected] Dutch Type Library Adam Twardoch ৵ Localfonts André Simard The three-like mark resembles too much the medieval Latin letter et. And also paleographic marks used to abridge texts in pre-Gutemberg manuscripts.