How to make use of typographic refinement in Pages and other macOS software
Well-drawn type has been integral to the Mac since the very start. Steve Jobs, who famously adored a calligraphy course in college, insisted that the Mac use “real” fonts, something made possible by the company’s early partnership with Adobe Systems. From 1984 through the present day, Mac operating systems have always let you use typefaces that look great—as well as those designed poorly, to be fair—but the features associated with type aren’t always well exposed.
Apple has over several years gradually and quietly added support for refinement available by accessing features in OpenType, the standard way in which font files are created for digital use. Cracking open the Fonts palette in Pages and other Apple software (as well as some third-party apps or their alternative controls) can let you make routine documents look a little spiffier and more legible, and add flourishes to ones that could use some pizzazz.
(By the way, a is generally defined in modern days as the general appearance and characteristics of a set of characters meant to work together across all its weights and styles, like Roman, oblique, italic, bold, extralight, condensed, and so on. A font is the part of a typeface that you act on, whether it’s metal type from the letterpress era gone by or a font file that contains the digital outlines used to draw type onscreen and on
