Text Sample View

The Text Sample view view shows a sample of the currently selected font in the main view.

Choose the type of sample text from the drop down list on the toolbar: Alphabet, Text Sample, Symbols, Numbers, etc.

To set margins of the text sample or to load a text sample from a text file, choose Tools/Options... from the main menu.

Ligatures

OpenType fonts usually define ligatures. Two or more letters can be joined into a single glyph. Most commonly used sequences of letters combined into a single glyph in Latin text are "fi" and "ffi" which are defined in many fonts as ligatures. Ligatures are also defined in non-Latin alphabets. Not all text editor allow formatting text with ligatures, but the advanced text processors do allow that. In FontExpert you can preview OpenType fonts with or without ligatures. Thus, you can determine which font has ligatures, and which has not. Many OpenType fonts designed for text display have ligatures, while decorative fonts my not have ligatures. In FontExpert Library, the fonts that appear within TrueType node does not have ligatures, while the fonts within OpenType node may have or may not have ligatures defined in a font.

Press ligature button to format text with or without ligatures:

The text formatted without ligatures:

The same text formatted with the same font but also with ligatures:

Kerning

Kerning is the process of improving font appearance and legibility by adjusting the white space between certain paired characters, such as 'To', 'Te', or 'VA', which are known as kerning pairs. Many fonts include a kerning table with predefined, font-specific kerning pairs.

Select View/Text Sample/Draw Text with Kerning (Read Only) from the main menu to turn on or off kerning in the Text Sample view. Or click the button on the Text Sample toolbar.

TrueType fonts defined kerning pairs in a special table. Choose Show Kerning Pairs... from the popup menu to display all kerning pairs defined in the selected TrueType font:

OpenType fonts define kerning pairs by another way. FontExpert can also preview text sample formatted with or without kerning if selected OpenType font defines kerning pairs.