Non-Designer’s Type Book, The, Second Edition

Auto Kern Pairs, the Lowest Common Denominator

Now, a well-designed typeface includes a number of auto kern pairs. Certain pairs of letters always need kerning, such as “To” or “Va.” A well-designed face has the kerning built into the font metrics so when you type certain combinations of characters, they tuck into each other nicely. A font might have anywhere from fifty to several thousand auto kern pairs. InDesign, by default, applies these auto kern pairs, as you can tell by the kerning field: it typically says “Metrics.”

This means it’s using the font metrics and applying the kerning value built into the font. That’s why when you click the ...