Bug 137296 - Artificial character spacing limitation of -2.0 points (next to Kerning) is INSUFFICIENT for a font like Lucida Casual when using Small Caps for a word like "The". Need at least flexibility to go to -14.0 points.
Summary: Artificial character spacing limitation of -2.0 points (next to Kerning) is I...
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 107405
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.0.1.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
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Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2020-10-06 16:40 UTC by TH
Modified: 2020-10-25 20:29 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

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Description TH 2020-10-06 16:40:45 UTC
Description:
Artificial character spacing limitation of -2.0 points (next to Kerning) is INSUFFICIENT for a font like Lucida Casual when using Small Caps for a word like "The".  Need at least flexibility to go to -14.0 points.

In a word like "The" for a title using a font such as Lucida Casual (e.g., Regular), which is available for download at https://fontsgeek.com/fonts/Lucida-Casual-Regular , it is NOT possible to properly kern the characters "Th" when using Drop Caps with a hard limit of -2.0 (minus 2.0).  There is no good reason for such a hard limit condensing the space.  We can expand spacing (going the other direction) far beyond 2.0; here we need to be able to condense the spacing beyond -2.0 (e.g., to -14.0) to get the desired pair kerning for "Th" using Drop Caps.  This limitation, if it remains a hard limit like this, forces use of another word processor (e.g., MS Word) just to produce the title on a page using such a font.  (That happens to be the font I HAVE to use in my case.)

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Download and install Lucida Casual font (regular and italic), getting it from https://fontsgeek.com/fonts/Lucida-Casual-Regular
2. Add a 42-point title such as "The Document in LibreOffice" to a page, select it, and while it's selected, go to Character -> Character... -> Font Effects, and specify "Small capitals".
3. Select "Th" in the title text, go to Character -> Character... -> Position -> Character Spacing, and there enter the highest NEGATIVE number you can in Writer, which currently has a hard limit of "-2.0 pt".  Look at the result, which is UNSATISFACTORY.

Actual Results:
With a hard limit of -2.0 pt for condensing text such as "Th" using small capitals in a title with the word "The", we CANNOT get sufficient reduction in the space between the "T" and "h" to achieve proper kerning.  We need to be able to enter a higher negative value to achieve tighter kerning, such as -12.0 or -14.0, in this case.

Expected Results:
I need and want to be able to further decrease the space between characters, beyond what the strange hard limit of -2.0 can achieve.  (Lucida Casual is NOT the only font with such an issue in LibreOffice, it's just the one I need to immediately address in this context.)


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
There are two downloadable versions of the Lucida Casual font at https://fontsgeek.com/fonts/Lucida-Casual-Regular , each with Regular and Oblique styles.  Either one of those downloadable fonts will suffice to demonstrate the above issue / unnecessary limitation.  (I would prefer to not have to go to a paid word processor such as MS Word to do the title, which is currently the only reasonable workaround.)
Comment 1 TH 2020-10-06 17:05:52 UTC
See the cover of the book "The AntiChrist and a Cup of Tea" (or its title page if you can find that somewhere) for an example of the desired kerning, which cannot currently be achieved in LibreOffice due to the hard limit of -2.0 pt for condensed character spacing:  https://www.amazon.com/Antichrist-Cup-Tea-Tim-Cohen/dp/0966279301/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=antichrist+and+a+cup+of+tea&qid=1602003724&sr=8-1
Comment 2 TH 2020-10-11 17:44:01 UTC
I sure would like to see some responses to, and movement on this easily reproduced and artificial kerning limitation issue in LibreOffice!  Anyone, please?
Comment 3 V Stuart Foote 2020-10-25 20:29:17 UTC

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 107405 ***