Re: [docbook-apps] Customizing font kerning / letter spacing in Arial with FOP/XEP

[Bob Stayton <bobs@sagehill.net>]

Hi,
I doubt if kerning will have much effect, since it only adjusts spacing 
between certains pairs of characters.  In this case, I think you mean 
tracking, which is the general horizontal spacing between characters 
(also called letter-spacing).

You can use the 'letter-spacing' attribute in XSL-FO to adjust that. 
Since this property is inherited, you can set this property in the 
DocBook table.table.properties attribute-set, something like this:

<xsl:attribute-set name="table.table.properties">
  <xsl:attribute name="letter-spacing">0.02em</xsl:attribute>
</xsl:attribute-set>

Its value is added to the normal spacing between characters.  A positive 
value spreads the text, and a negative value compacts the text.

Bob Stayton
Sagehill Enterprises
bobs@sagehill.net

On 5/14/2014 11:42 PM, Bergfrid Skaara wrote:
> After switching font from Verdana to Arial (company policy), we have gotten
> feedback that the 8pt text in tables is too tightly kerned and a bit hard
> to read. Increasing the font size is not an option due to space issues.
>
> Is it possible to customize kerning beyond flipping the kerning attribute
> in the font config file to yes/no?
>
> We have both FOP1.1 and XEP4.22 in the tool chain and need the
> customization for both.
>
> Bergfrid