Bug in MS Office

[linneaforce]

When using Light and applying bold to it in MS Office PowerPoint some letters look weird, e.g y and e. Some strokes are thick and others are thin. Is this a bug or what can we do to prevent this?

[erikdkennedy]

What version of the font do you have? (from Github or from Google Fonts?)

Could you attach a Loom or screenshot of what's happening?

Thanks!

[linneaforce]

Here I added bold to "your text" so as you can see y and e looks weird. We downloaded font from Google Fonts a few months ago. I think version is 2.001;gftools [0.9.30].

[erikdkennedy]

This is horrifying! 🫢

If you uninstall the font, then reinstall from Github, does the same thing happen?

On Tue, Apr 30, 2024 at 10:33 AM linneaforce @.***> wrote:

Figtree.Light.bold.JPG (view on web) https://github.com/erikdkennedy/figtree/assets/168562605/29e3abe7-0d64-4c2c-a96b-23896b1f1f9a

Here I added bold to "your text" so as you can see y and e looks weird. We downloaded font from Google Fonts a few months ago. I think version is 2.001;gftools [0.9.30].

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/erikdkennedy/figtree/issues/41#issuecomment-2086159529, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AA2IBR6GWIZKDH4F3X6ZNALY77IWBAVCNFSM6AAAAABHAMYNWGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDAOBWGE2TSNJSHE . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>

[linneaforce]

It seems to be working with the version from Github. Is there an easy way to fix thi? As we have already pushed out this font to all employees. Is it possible to make a new version or do we need to download it from Github and push it out once again (= more work for our IT).

[kenmcd]

Which fonts did you install from GitHub - OTF or TTF?

The Bold button in PowerPoint is a style-link to another font which has been linked as the "bold" of that style. There is no "bold" style font style-linked to the Light style. So what you are seeing is a fake bold being created by PowerPoint.

Usually the Bold button style-links just the Regular style font to Bold style font.

Sometime fonts will also style-link the Light and the Medium or SemiBold. So when the Bold button is pressed while using the Light the Medium font is selected as the "bold" of the Light. That is not the case in Figtree.

The best thing to do is create a character style for the text you want to be "bold" and use that character style instead of the Bold button. That way when Figtree is updated it will all still work.

You can also create your own RIBBI style group from the fonts you want. RIBBI = Regular, Italic, Bold, BoldItalic You could use the Light as the Regular, and the Medium or SemiBold as the Bold. Then the Bold and Italic buttons would link to actual fonts rather than be faked. But in this case you would have to update these custom fonts every time Figtree is updated.

---

@erikdkennedy While reviewing this I found an error in the style-linking. The SemiBold Regular and the SemiBold Italic are in two different style groups. They should be in the same style group. (nameID 1) This means when SemiBold is being used, and the Italic button is pressed, it will not link to the actual SemiBold Italic font - it will be faked italic. SemiBold Regular nameID 1 = Figtree SemiBold SemiBold Italic nameID 1 = Figtree Semibold So the Italic nameID 1 needs to match the Regular.

[linneaforce]

We use TTF.

The thing is we have set our typography guidelines to Regular for headings and Light for bodytext and only push out Light, Light Italic, Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic to our employees, not all font styles, so we cannot add Medium or Semibold to our font pack as that would confuse our employees (non designers). They will push the bold button, as that is what they are used to do. I usually work in Adobe and then this is not a problem, as I choose Bold style, so this is only a problem in MS Office.

So I guess only solution is to download it from Github and push it out once again? How does it work with updates - how do I know if there is a new version to update?

[erikdkennedy]

Hey @emmamarichal, does it make more sense to do the style-linking as described by @kenmcd above?

There is no "bold" style font style-linked to the Light style. So what you are seeing is a fake bold being created by PowerPoint. Usually the Bold button style-links just the Regular style font to Bold style font.

Sometime fonts will also style-link the Light and the Medium or SemiBold. So when the Bold button is pressed while using the Light the Medium font is selected as the "bold" of the Light. That is not the case in Figtree.

[emmamarichal]

I'll take a look tomorrow if I have time, thanks for reporting this!

[kenmcd]

Hey @emmamarichal, does it make more sense to do the style-linking as described by @kenmcd above?

There is no "bold" style font style-linked to the Light style. So what you are seeing is a fake bold being created by PowerPoint. Usually the Bold button style-links just the Regular style font to Bold style font. Sometime fonts will also style-link the Light and the Medium or SemiBold. So when the Bold button is pressed while using the Light the Medium font is selected as the "bold" of the Light. That is not the case in Figtree.

Generally, not a good idea. Tends to confuse users because the SemiBold does not appear in the font menu anymore. It is only accessible via the Bold button. The old Ubuntu fonts did this which lead to a bunch of confused LibreOffice users. The newer Ubuntu fonts have just the one usual RIBBI style group.

If someone wants this it best for them to create their own custom version with those weights as their RIBBI styles.