TypeTalk: Spell-Check Sabotage

Ilene Strizver

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Q. I often use ligatures and alternate characters, but occasionally they confuse spell checkers, which don’t seem to recognize the individual glyphs that make up some ligatures and alternate characters. Is there a fix?
A. For ligatures and alternate characters to be recognized by your design programs’ spell checkers, they must be ‘named’ or encoded properly. While most of the newer OpenType fonts work fine in spell check (Figure 1), some OpenType fonts released when the format was in its infancy contain ligatures and alternate characters that aren’t properly named, thus creating a hiccup with spell check.
Figure 1. A spell checker has no problem reading the ligatures in the top text, set in Adobe Caslon Pro, an OpenType font. No problems with spell checking on the text in the green box, either, which is set in House Industries Ed Interlock, and uses lots of non-standard ligatures. Excerpt from Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell.

This problem can also occur in Type1 and TrueType fonts, when ligatures and other alternate characters are placed in nonstandard positions, such as in Expert Sets, Alternate Sets, or standard fonts where extra characters are tucked into the font in place of other seldom used characters, such as math symbols, etc. (Note that standard fi and fl ligatures should be read by spell check with no problem.)
My “fix” is more of a recommendation. If the problem lies with an OpenType font, check with the foundry to see if it has an updated version. If the problem lies with a Type1 or TrueType font, find out whether it’s been released recently as an OpenType font. If so, the alternates will probably be included in the font and be read by spell check. If this advice doesn’t solve your problem, you might need to spell check the text in question in a word-processing program before inserting into your work. And last but not least, stay current with your software — spell checkers get smarter all the time.
Love type? Want to know more? Ilene Strizver conducts her acclaimed Gourmet Typography workshops internationally. For more information on attending one or bringing it to your company, organization, or school, go to her site, call The Type Studio at 203-227-5929, or email Ilene at [email protected]. Sign up for her e-newsletter at www.thetypestudio.com.