Font Features revisited --they work again in Paratext 9.4 for SIL fonts

Question

Yes, Paratext 9 displays specified OpenType font features, but the GUI for selecting/specifying features is broken?? (Details here... editing the feature list is available in PT Lite!)

A few years ago version 6 of the SIL fonts--Charis, Gentium, Andika, Doulos--switched from Graphite to OpenType for accessing Font Features, or "alternate glyphs." Since then Paratext's Font Features selection list works for v. 5 of any of these fonts but if your system has v. 6 the "Choose" button is greyed out, as in the screenshot.

However, I decided to check out my own Paratext project. I was surprised to see the OpenType codes for LiteracyAlternates=off and GlottalStop=large already typed into the Font Features text box, as the screenshot shows. These features are displaying correctly in my Paratext projects--in PT9 and also in PT Lite--Android and --Desktop-Linux. Surprisingly though, I can not edit the pictured feature list in PT 9, nor add feature specs into other projects. My feature choices are just "present and working" in PT9.

Paratext Lite (Beta version for Linux desktop), however, provides the easiest-to-use OpenType graphical font feature editing screen that I've seen--much better than LibreOffice! Kudos to the PTLite team!

PT9 Language Settings:

PTLite Language Settings > Edit Font Features (snippet):

Comments

hindlemail helped me understand that the font feature information is stored in the project Settings.xml file, and you can edit the FontFeatures element if you need to add or change the font features.

In a new project, the Settings.xml file will have

<FontFeatures />

for your situation, change this to

<FontFeatures>ss01=1,cv70=1</FontFeatures>

Answer 1

In Paratext 9, the font features are only enabled for Graphite fonts. New work would have to be done to support features in Open Type fonts.

Paratext Lite and Paratext 9 share the same project settings, so changing the font settings in Paratext Lite will update the settings that Paratext 9 uses when Send/Receive is done.

Comments

The "Choose..." button to display the graphical font feature picker, indeed only works for graphite fonts. (as it uses graphite api's to determine what font features the font has). However applying specified font features isn't graphite specific, and so should apply to Open Type fonts being used in Paratext.

Answer 2

I can't seem to attach pics to a "comment" on John's answer, so here's another "answer" ...

In Paratext 9, the font features are only enabled for Graphite fonts. New work would have to be done to support features in Open Type fonts.

Yes, that's what I thought. So I checked PT 9.4 in my Win10 VM again, to be sure about what I'm seeing. Compare these screenshots from a project and its BT. Note the "a", "g" and the oversized "apostrophe" in the vernacular, where these font features are specified. The alternate features are definitely on display, contrasted with the BT's glyphs. A serendipity?

 

And, to be sure that Andika is actually installed in this VM:

Comments

Yes. It's the GUI / Choose... that's not going to work for non graphite fonts in Paratext. Applying font features will likely work, as that's not graphite specific.