True small caps for system fonts

[Member jos…]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

My employer (a law firm) has adopted Century or Century Schoolbook for most documents I produce. (This is a result of a combination of style and very restrictive court rules.) I'd like to use a true small caps in those documents, but I can't find anywhere to buy a set with small caps in either font. Any tips? Thanks.

[Member jos…]

I should probably have stated that I’m using Microsoft Word 2010.

[Member J.…]

Josh, sorry I have no suggestion about small caps in Century. You may be confusing people with your reference to "system fonts". When I read that, I thought you wanted small caps for a UI (user interface) for some software. But from your post it seems that you're just making documents with Microsoft Word. What "system" are you talking about?

[Member Si_…]

Unfortunately Office 2010 does not provide access to OpenType encoded small caps, although they are included in a number of Office fonts, eg Cambria and Calibri, and a bunch of Windows 8 fonts, Georgia, Verdana, Times New Roman etc.,

[Member Fro…]

I don’t know if any of these include small caps as an OpenType feature, but you could commission someone to draw a set of small caps in a separate font file.

[Member Jen…]

It makes me wonder why most digital Century fonts are lacking small caps. Perhaps the Century style went out of fashion before any old typefaces had been digitized properly & completely.

One of the few digital Century versions that have small caps is Eames Century Modern. But it may be too special for your court rules ;)

[Member Geo…]

I'm very surprised that Linotype doesn't still offer Century Small Caps. During the 90's they had the Linotype GX Core Set which had Century Schoolbook Small Caps. Have you tried contacting Linotype via email and asking about it? You may find that they do in fact have it, but you need to be able to buy it as a standalone font for use in Word.

Linotype does sell Red Rooster's TC Century New Style Expert which has Small Caps but I haven't compared it to mainstream Century's.

http://www.linotype.com/317346/TCCenturyNewStyle-family.html

HTH

George

[Member jos…]

J. Tillman, sorry if the title confused anyone. I started out thinking about fonts that come built into software, which I've seen referred to as system fonts.
Si_Daniels: I'm aware of Word's limitations on OpenType small caps. I'm looking for a separate font file that contains a Century version of small caps. Are you saying that the fonts that come packaged with Word 2010 have small caps, but Word doesn't have a way to access them, or are you saying that small caps is available for those fonts elsewhere?
Jens: Thanks. I'll look into that font and see how it works.

[Member jos…]

George: Thanks for your suggestion! I'll send an e-mail to LinoType to find out. I think any variant of Century will work.

[Member Nic…]

Worldwide is a semi-condensed Century with a small caps font for the Regular Roman.

[Member Joh…]

See also:
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/century-old-style/sc-t-regular/glyphs.html

[Member sgh…]

The free TeX Gyre Schola font (which is based off the free URW Century Schoolbook) has small caps. The fonts are packaged in both OTF and Type 1. The Type 1 may be easier from which to use the small caps in Microsoft Word.

[Member The…]

For Word 2010, Josh needs a small caps font, rather than "a font that contains small caps" -- I interpret the latter to contain small caps as an OpenType feature.

Stephen's suggestion is a good one; a quick Google found at least one version that has a separate SC font.

(Although I'm surprised about the description on that page:

New Century Schoolbook is a slab-serif font.

... Hopefully they do know the difference between Small Caps and regular.)

[Member alt…]

It'd be considered a Clarendon serif, wouldn't it? Those generally seem to be classified under the slab serif category.

[Member jos…]

Theunis: That's a helpful list of faces, but that page was last updated in July 1997. A Google search for “New Century Schoolbook Caps and Small Caps” produces one result: the page you linked to. And I don’t see a link to download any of those font files.

That set looks like it would more than meet my needs. New Century Schoolbook would also work, but it’s less desirable because it doesn’t come installed in Word for Windows. I’d like to avoid compatibility issues. Searching for “New Century Schoolbook SC” brings up several sites to download some free fonts. I’m a little nervous about doing that, but it’s the best option I’ve seen so far.

For the curious, the law firm adopted Century/Century Schoolbook because it’s/they’re already installed on our computers and acceptable in almost any court we practice before. The U.S. Supreme Court requires a font in the Century family, which is also acceptable in any of our local federal courts, and Indiana appellate courts, which just have a list of acceptable fonts rather than a chosen family, require one of the following fonts:
Arial, Baskerville, Book Antigua, Bookman, Bookman Old Style, Century, Century Schoolbook, Courier, Courier New, CG Times, Garamond, Georgia, New Baskerville, New Century Schoolbook, Palatino or Times New Roman http://www.in.gov/judiciary/rules/appellate/index.html#_Toc313022210.

The only overlap between the U.S. Supreme Court and Indiana appellate courts is with Century, Century Schoolbook, or New Century Schoolbook. Only the first two are included in the firm’s software.

Thanks to all. This forum has been a real help.

[Member jos…]

I just got an e-mail response from LinoType: no version of Century Schoolbook with small caps. Thanks again for everyone's help.