A ligature is a special character that combines two (or sometimes three) letters into a single character. Type designers create ligatures because they look better than setting the same character combinations individually, and also to solve the problem of characters that “crash” into each other when set in adjacent positions. Learning when and how to use ligatures, and when not to, is an important typographic skill.
|
|
|
|
If ‘ffi’ and ‘ffl’ ligatures aren’t available in your font, non-ligature characters often look better than a single ‘f’ next to a double ligature.
|
F-ligatures
The most commonly used ligatures are the f-ligatures: fi, fl and sometimes ff, ffi and ffl. These specially designed letter combinations avoid the unattractive collision that occurs in some typefaces between the hook of the ‘f’ and the dot of the ‘i,’ or the ascender of the ‘l’ or second ‘f’ (see illustration).
The fi and fl ligatures are standard in most fonts. They can be accessed manually by typing a specific combination of keystrokes, but the simplest way to take advantage of these characters is to turn on the ‘automatic ligature substitution’ feature in your software application. This helps ensure consistent use of ligatures throughout your project.
One thing to be careful of, though: if there are no triple f-ligatures available in the font (there usually aren’t), don’t let your application replace the second and third letters of ffi or ffl letter combinations with the fi or fl ligatures; these generally look bad with a single ‘f’ preceding them. For these three-letter combinations, use all non-ligature characters (see illustration).
Where are they located?
F-ligatures that are included as alternate characters within a standard font can be located with Key Caps, Character Palette, Fontek Character Chooser, Character Map or any keyboard layout utility. More commonly, though, ligatures are located in separate fonts, such as expert sets with extended character complements.
NOTE: Ligatures should be used with extreme care (or avoided entirely) if you plan to adjust the overall letterspacing of the text containing these combinations. Since a ligature is a single character, its internal spacing won’t change when you tighten or loosen the letterspacing. If the ligatured letters don’t match the spacing of the rest of your text, use non-ligature characters.
There’s more information to come in Part II: this time, on decorative ligatures.
Visit our Articles & News Page to read other FYTI Articles.
For Your Typographic Information and fy(t)i are trademarks of Monotype Imaging, Inc. Copyright © 2003 Monotype Imaging, Inc. All Rights Reserved.