Variable Fonts with a Width axis don’t work in Illustrator unless the "space" glyph changes width
Operating system:
macOS Sonoma 14.1.1 (23B81)
The version of Adobe Illustrator (desktop):
Adobe Illustrator 2024 (28.2)
The steps you were taking when you experienced the issues:
I created a variable font with a width axis. The font works well in environments like web browsers, but the variable axis slider has no effect in Illustrator. This also affects variable fonts with a Width axis and other axes – none of the shaping changes of any axes are rendered in Illustrator.
After some debugging and experimentation, I finally learned that the "space" glyph must change in its character width, and only then will Illustrator actually apply variable shaping changes.
This is a problem for at least three reasons:
1. Variable fonts are a useful way to prototype logos or wordmarks, and in such fonts, designers may not think to adjust the "space" glyph for width changes, because the character isn’t relevant to a logo design.
2. Designers often prototype fonts with a few glyphs, and want to test results early in Illustrator. If they haven’t adjusted the "space" glyph yet, the font will appear to be broken, when it is in fact an Illustrator bug.
3. It should be possible to make a variable font with a Width axis which affects some glyphs, but not necessarily the "space" glyph. It would be unusual, but it there is no reason it shouldn’t be a possibility.
I’m happy to share test font files, but this forum doesn’t allow me to upload .ttf or .zip files.
Your expected result and the actual result:
• I expect variable axes to have an effect in variable fonts in Illustrator, especially when those fonts work elsewhere.
• Illustrator doesn’t apply variable axis changes if the "space" glyph doesn’t change along the Width axis, if the Width axis is included.
Upload your Illustrator file or a video (screen recording or gif, this helps us most to reproduce the issue and resolve it)
Stephen Nixon
shared this idea
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Thanks for sharing this, Stephen.
I passed this information to the Font team to look upon.
UserVoice should allow to attach ZIP-files, but their weird policies are somewhat unpredictable.
If the team needs a test file from you — I will message you directly.
