inter/docs/index.html

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<div class="row"><div>
  <h1>The Inter UI font family</h1>
  <p>
  Inter UI is a typeface specially designed for user interfaces
  with focus on high legibility of small-to-medium sized text on computer screens.
  </p>
  <p>
  The family features a tall x-height to aid in readability of mixed-case and
  lower-case text. Several OpenType features are provided as well,
  like contextual alternates that adjusts punctuation depending on the shape of
  surrounding glyphs, slashed zero for when you need to disambiguate "0" from "o",
  tabular numbers, etc.
  </p>
</div></div>

<div class="row white" style="padding-bottom:0"><div>
  <p id="samples" class="samples items sample-images">
    <a href="samples/" class="plain"><img src="samples/img/01.png" srcset="samples/img/01@2x.png 2x" width="888"></a>
  </p>
  <p style="text-align:center">
    <a href="samples/" class="plain">More samples -></a>
    <br><br>
  </p>
</div></div>

<div class="row dark"><div>

  <h2><a id="usage" href="#usage">How do I use it?</a></h2>
  <p>
    Using the font is as easy as
    <a class="download-link" href="https://github.com/rsms/inter/releases/latest/">download &amp; installing</a> locally on your computer.
  </p>
  <p>
    You're free to bundle copies of Inter UI with your software, even if it's
    commercial and you charge money for your software. Inter UI can also be used
    on the web by either hosting the font files yourself or by including this CSS:
  </p>
  <code>@import url('https://rsms.me/inter/inter-ui.css');</code>
  <p>Use the following CSS rules to specify the Inter UI family:</p>
  <code>font-family: 'Inter UI', sans-serif;</code>

  <p>&nbsp;</p>

  <h2 id="dynamic-metrics"><a href="{{url_root}}dynmetrics/">Dynamic Metrics</a></h2>
  <p class="dynmet-calc">
    Font size
    <input id="dynmet-font-size" type="number" value="12"
    ><span title='Display points — "px" in CSS, "pt" on iOS, "sp" on Android, and "pt" (1/72 of an inch) in print'>dp</span>
    <span class="arrow">—></span>
    letter spacing
    <input id="dynmet-tracking" type="number" value="0.008">
    <span id="dynmet-unit">em</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    There's of course no absolute right or wrong when it comes to expressing yourself with typography, but Inter UI <em>Dynamic Metrics</em> provides guidelines for good typography. You simply provide the optical font size, and the tracking and leading is calculated for you to produce the best results.<br>
    <a href="{{url_root}}dynmetrics/">Learn about Dynamic Metrics —></a>
  </p>

  <p>&nbsp;</p>

  <h2><a id="free" href="#free">How much does it cost?</a></h2>
  <p>
    Inter UI is a <a href="https://github.com/rsms/inter">free and open source</a> font family. You are free to use this font in almost any way imaginable.
    Refer to the <a href="https://choosealicense.com/licenses/ofl-1.1/">SIL Open Font License 1.1</a> for exact details on what the conditions and restrictions are.
  </p>

</div></div>

<div class="row"><div>
  <p>
  There are currently four <a id="weights" href="#weights">weights</a>
  </p>
  <img src="res/weights-and-styles.svg" style="opacity:0.76;width:100%;display:block;margin:2em 0 3em 0">
  <h2><a id="features" href="#features">Features</a></h2>
  <boxes>
    <box>
      <h3>Contextual alternates (<q title='OpenType feature ID'>calt</q>)</h3>
      <tablex><t>
        <h><in>Disabled</in><to></to><out>Enabled</out></h>
        <r><in>12<em>:</em>34,  FE<em>—</em>X</in><to></to><out>12:34,  FE—X</out></r>
        <r><in>4<em>.</em>2</in><to></to><out>4.2</out></r>
        <r><in>SFO <em>-></em> STO</in><to></to><out>SFO -> STO</out></r>
        <r><in>IIA <em>—></em> OGG</in><to></to><out>IIA —> OGG</out></r>
        <r><in>M<em>@</em>N m@n</in><to></to><out>M@N m@n</out></r>
      </t></tablex>
    </box>

    <box>
      <h3>Tabular numbers (<q title='OpenType feature ID'>tnum</q>)</h3>
      <tablex><t>
        <h><in>Disabled</in><to></to><out>Enabled</out></h>
        <r><in><em>1</em>23456<em>7</em>890</in><to></to><out class="tnum">1234567890</out></r>
        <r><in>1131711<em>&nbsp;</em></in><to></to><out class="tnum">1131711<em>&nbsp;</em></out></r>
        <r><in>0040900<em>&nbsp;</em></in><to></to><out class="tnum">0040900<em>&nbsp;</em></out></r>
        <r><in>11:31,711<em>&nbsp;</em></in><to></to><out class="tnum">11:31,711<em>&nbsp;</em></out></r>
        <r><in>00:40.900<em>&nbsp;</em></in><to></to><out class="tnum">00:40.900<em>&nbsp;</em></out></r>
      </t></tablex>
    </box>

    <box>
      <h3>Slashed zero (<q title='OpenType feature ID'>zero</q>)</h3>
      <tablex><t>
        <h><in>Disabled</in><to></to><out>Enabled</out></h>
        <r><in><em>0</em>123</in><to></to><out class="zero">0123</out></r>
      </t></tablex>
    </box>

    <box>
      <h3>Fractions (<q title='OpenType feature ID'>frac</q>)</h3>
      <tablex><t>
        <h><in>Disabled</in><to></to><out>Enabled</out></h>
        <r>
          <in><em>1/3</em>  <em>22/9</em>  <em>3/4/5</em></in>
          <to></to><out class="frac">1/3  22/9  3/4/5</out>
        </r>
      </t></tablex>
    </box>

    <box>
      <h3>Stylistic set 1: Alternate digits (<q title='OpenType feature ID'>ss01</q>)</h3>
      <tablex><t>
        <h><in>Disabled</in><to></to><out>Enabled</out></h>
        <r>
          <in><em>1</em>23<em>4</em>5<em>6</em>78<em>9</em>0</in>
          <to></to><out class="ss01">1234567890</out>
        </r>
        <r><in><em>1</em></in><to></to><out class="ss01">1</out></r>
        <r><in><em>4</em></in><to></to><out class="ss01">4</out></r>
        <r><in><em>6</em></in><to></to><out class="ss01">6</out></r>
        <r><in><em>9</em></in><to></to><out class="ss01">9</out></r>
      </t></tablex>
    </box>

    <box>
      <h3>Case alternates (<q title='OpenType feature ID'>case</q>)</h3>
      <tablex><t>
        <h><in>Disabled</in><to></to><out>Enabled</out></h>
        <r>
          <in><em>(</em>Hello<em>)</em> <em>[</em>World<em>]</em> <em>{</em>9000<em>}</em></in>
          <to></to><out class="case">(Hello) [World] {9000}</out>
        </r>
        <r><in>SCHOOL <em>@</em> RUN</in><to></to><out class="case">SCHOOL @ RUN</out></r>
        <r><in>3 <em>+</em> 9 <em>=</em> 12 <em>*</em> 1</in><to></to><out class="case">3 + 9 = 12 * 1</out></r>
        <r><in><em>*</em> <em>+</em> <em>÷</em> <em>±</em> <em>×</em> <em>=</em> <em>≠</em> <em>•</em></in><to></to><out class="case">* + ÷ ± × = ≠ •</out></r>
        <r><in><em>→</em> <em>←</em> <em>⟶</em> <em>⟵</em> <em>−</em> <em>-</em> <em>–</em> <em>—</em> <em>:</em></in><to></to><out class="case">→ ← ⟶ ⟵ − - – — :</out></r>
      </t></tablex>
    </box>

  </boxes>

  <p>
    Also includes some
    Localized Forms (<q title='OpenType feature ID'>locl</q>),
    Numerators (<q title='OpenType feature ID'>numr</q>) and
    Denominators (<q title='OpenType feature ID'>dnom</q>).
  </p>

  <p>&nbsp;</p>

  <h2 class="banner"><a href="glyphs/">Browse all glyphs -></a></h2>
</div></div>

<div class="row-divider"></div>

<div class="row"><div>
  <h2><a id="story" href="#story">The story behind Inter UI</a></h2>
  <p>
  Inter UI started out in late 2016 as an experiment to build a perfectly
  pixel-fitting font at a specific small size (11px.) The idea was that
  by crafting a font in a particular way, with a particular coordinate system
  (Units Per EM), and for a particular target rasterization size (11), it would
  be possible to get the best of both sharpness and readability.
  </p>
  <p>
  However after a few months of using an early version of Inter UI, it dawned
  on everyone exposed to the test that this approach had some serious real-world
  problems. Most notably that it was really hard to read longer text. Because of
  the pixel-aligning nature of that approach, the font took an almost
  <a href="https://www.figma.com/file/HPqDViSCB8fAWuxaV2ousFMv">mono-spaced appearance</a>,
  making it really easy to read numbers, punctuation and very short
  words, but eye-straining to read anything longer.
  </p>
  <p>
  The project was rebooted with a different approach, sticking with the
  specific UPM, but crafting glyphs and kerning in a way that made for
  more variation in the rhythm and smoother vertical and horizontal stems.
  As Inter UI was being developed, it was tested on an internal version of
  <a href="https://www.figma.com/">Figma</a>—where the author of Inter UI works as a designer—and slowly improved upon based on experience and feedback.
  </p>

  <p>&nbsp;</p>

  <h2><a id="status" href="#status">Current status &amp; usability</a></h2>
  <p>
  Inter UI works great for English-language text, and pretty well for other
  Latin and Cyrillic languages. There's still a lot of work to be done, and
  <a href="https://github.com/rsms/inter/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md">contributions are warmly welcomed</a>. The playground contains <a href="lab/?sample=Body%20text%201&size=16">a lot of samples</a>, including some common <a href="lab/?sample=Kerning%20body%20multi-lang&size=16">non English-language words in the playground.</a>
  </p>

  <p>
  Please refer to the <a href="glyphs/">glyph repertoire</a>
  for an overview of currently-available glyphs and their quality.
  </p>

  <p>&nbsp;</p>

  <h2><a id="faq" href="#faq">FAQ</a></h2>
  <ul class="faq">

    <li class="q" id="faq-using-features">
      How do I enable and disable font features?
    </li>
    <li class="a">
      In web browsers you'll want to use
      <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/font-feature-settings"><q>font-feature-settings</q></a>.
      In Figma you can access features via the
      <a href="https://help.figma.com/text/opentype-features">Advanced Typography panel.</a>
      In Illustrator, Photoshop and friends, you can access features via the
      <a href="https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/special-characters.html#opentype_panel_overview">Characters and OpenType panels.</a>
      Sketch doesn't provide a UI for configuring font features, but there's
      <a href="https://sketchtalk.io/discussion/comment/1478/#Comment_1478">a workaround using macOS's native font UI.</a>
    </li>

    <li class="q" id="faq-unhinted-vs-hinted">
      What is the difference between "unhinted" and "hinted" font files?
    </li>
    <li class="a">
      The font files in the "hinted" folders have additional data in them
      for assisting
      <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClearType">ClearType</a>,
      the text rasterizer used by Microsoft Windows (and some Linux distributions.)
      You want to use the "hinted" fonts only if you are targeting Windows users
      <em>and</em> prefer the different look of these "hinted" fonts.
      Additionally, hinting data makes the font files larger, so if you are
      using Inter UI on websites, the extra size of these files is another
      consideration to make.
      <a href="https://www.typotheque.com/articles/hinting">
      This article explains hinting at a greater length.</a>
    </li>


    <li class="q" id="faq-cdn">
      How reliable are the fonts served from rsms.me/inter? Is it on a CDN?
    </li>
    <li class="a">
      rsms.me/inter is backed by GitHub's server network and distributed
      globally on the CloudFlare CDN, making usage of
      <q>https://rsms.me/inter/inter-ui.css</q> and associated font
      files very reliable and fast throughout the world. 
    </li>

    <li class="q" id="faq-contribute">
      Can I help with improving Inter UI?
    </li>
    <li class="a">
      Yes you can! Inter UI is an open-source project, meaning the source
      code—or "source design" if you will—that is used to build the font files
      <a href="https://github.com/rsms/inter">are freely available</a> to improve upon.
      Font making requires a fair bit of technical work and
      depending on what you'd like to do, some things might be more fun
      depending on your technical skills.
      The <a href="https://github.com/rsms/inter/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md">"Contributing" document</a> is a great place to start. The document outlines where
      you can have the biggest impact, how things are setup and how to get
      started.
    </li>

    <li class="q" id="faq-start-date">
      This website claims work started in 2016, but the git repository's log says it started later?
    </li>
    <li class="a">
      Inter UI was developed in an a private, internal git repository
      starting in November 2016, prior to being published on August 22, 2017.
      Between November 2016 and August 2017, there were
      <num>2&#x2006;990&#x2006;150</num> line edits made across 247 versions.
      The reason the public GitHub repository does not reflect this is the
      fact that the project was initially only internal at the company where
      the author works and had some sensitive information "checked in",
      like AWS server details and internal author identity in
      all commit messages. Maybe one day we can write an elaborate git
      filter-branch program and convert the filter the old repository to make
      it public, but what would be the point of that?&nbsp; :—)
    </li>

    <li class="q" id="faq-contact">
      I've made a cool thing that uses Inter UI, can I share it with you?
      &nbsp;<dem>or</dem>
    </li>
    <li class="q">
      I have a different question
    </li>
    <li class="a">
      Reach out on <a href="https://twitter.com/rsms">Twitter (@rsms)</a> or over <a href="mailto:rasmus@notion.se">email</a>
    </li>


  </ul>

</div></div>


<div class="row"><div>
  — <a href="https://twitter.com/rsms" class="plain">@rsms</a>
</div></div>

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