The Adobe Font Folio 11.1 web page states, among other things: ‘Take advantage of updates to the Adobe Type Library. Every font that shipped on Font Folio 11 has been updated and is now up-to-date with the latest version of the OpenType specification’.
Does anyone have any experience or understanding as to what this means? A little research tells me that Microsoft are behind the OpenType format and there are various versions of the OpenType specification (I believe OpenType 1.8.3 is the latest). I want to know whether I must carefully consider what version I am purchasing or whether this is simply an Adobe marketing ploy to sell their latest products. I have contacted Adobe and they were unable to help me.
In many ways, OpenType is the same as TrueType with some extra features that enable type designers to add various extra features if they wish.
That’s an oversimplification, but truer than you’re seemingly concerned about. If you don’t know about OpenType features, you probably don’t need them. This doesn’t mean, however, that the newest OpenType fonts are anything to worry about. They’re perfectly backwards compatible with whatever you’re using now.
All the Adobe apps are becoming more OpenType aware, and those apps will enable users of those fonts to use those features if they’re included in the fonts. Very few of those features are in most OpenType fonts, however, and if you don’t use them anyway, you’ll never know the difference.
Sorry, looking back over my original question, I think it might have been a little misleading. I am aware of the differences between TrueType, PostScript Type 1, OpenType, etc… and the extra features that can be made available through OpenType.
In the comment referred to originally, Adobe seemed to be drawing comparisons between older versions of OpenType and newer versions of OpenType (from Adobe’s Font Folio Opentype Edition 1.0 to 11 and through to 11.1). Before a few days ago, I was unaware that the OpenType specification was being upgraded or changed at all. As I previously understood, a TrueType font is a TrueType font… it seems the same cannot be said for OpenType. My question is are these specification upgrades negligible and Adobe’s ploy to market there new version of Font Folio 11.1 or is there a genuine upgrade worth pursuing.
I think I answered your question, but perhaps I couched it in too many words.
If you want to take advantage of a few new features that might be in some fonts, great, go ahead and upgrade your fonts. If you haven’t needed those OpenType features or the 80 new fonts in the package, I see no reason to upgrade. Whatever fonts you have now will work just like they’ve always done.
Just because Adobe Font Folio has been updated, doesn’t mean that each font contains every OpenType feature that the update supports. My best guess (and only a guess) is they mostly just opened the source files and recompiled the fonts.
If you’re still uncertain, you might want to post your question to the http://typedrawers.com forum.