Which superscript feature to use?

Feature requests, and in-depth discussions of features and the way Mellel works

Moderators: Eyal Redler, redlers, Ori Redler

Post Reply
Sayyaar
Got the auto-title mojo working
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006 7:49 pm

Which superscript feature to use?

Post by Sayyaar »

Fellow Mellelers,

Mellel seems to permit at least two different ways of using superscripts for footnotes. Option 1: check the "superscript" boxes in the edit footnote stream dialogue box, and (typically) save this setting to the footnote stream. Option 2: define a character style for the note symbol and reference symbol that uses the opentype feature called "Superscript/Superior," and set the footnote stream to use this character style. I notice that option 2 seems to look much better on the screen. Does anyone know why this is the case? Does it depend on the font (I'm using Linux Libertine)? Is there any reason to choose one method over another? I'd love to know people's thoughts and experiences. Thanks.
SYR
rpcameron
Knows everything, can prove it
Posts: 980
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:48 am
Location: IE, CA, USA

Re: Which superscript feature to use?

Post by rpcameron »

The reason the OpenType version looks better is because the font designer specifically created the superscript numbers to look good with your chosen type size. When you use the first option, Mellel creates a superscript by reducing the font size and adjusting those characters' baseline. Think of it in a similar fashion to italic/oblique faces: One uses shapes created by the font designer to specifically look good, while the other lets the computer program try to create a version the approximates what you want, but more often than not does so in a less-than-stellar manner.
— Robert Cameron
Sayyaar
Got the auto-title mojo working
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006 7:49 pm

Re: Which superscript feature to use?

Post by Sayyaar »

Thanks. You confirm what I suspected. I'm just beginning to try to use the opentype features of certain fonts, and this turns out to be one of the most useful in my case.
SYR
Post Reply