Upcoming Change: Superscript and Subscript Rendering in GraFx Studio
What is changing: Many fonts include their own instructions for how superscript and subscript characters should look — how large they are and how far above or below the baseline they sit. Until now, GraFx Studio ignored those instructions and applied a single fixed style to all fonts. From GraFx Studio 1.46.0, superscript and subscript text follows the settings built into each font.
What this means for your templates: Superscript and subscript text may render at a slightly different size or position than before. Normal (baseline) text is unaffected, and content, fonts, and layout are otherwise unchanged. Because most fonts define these settings, templates that use superscript or subscript will generally see some change. How noticeable it is depends on the font — from barely perceptible to clearly visible — so it's worth reviewing any template where the appearance of this text matters.
Visual changes possible
If your templates use superscript or subscript text, its size and vertical position may change after this update. How noticeable the change is depends on the font and the design, so we recommend reviewing templates where the appearance of this text matters before adopting the new version.
How to check if your templates are affected
The most reliable way to see the impact is to compare your own templates before and after the update:
- Identify the templates that use superscript or subscript formatting. This formatting is common in trademark and registered symbols, footnote markers, ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd), prices with raised cents ($1999), units of measurement (m2, cm3), and chemical formulas (H2O, CO2).
- Before updating, export each of the identified templates to PDF or image on your current version and keep the output as a reference.
- After updating to 1.46.0, export the same templates again.
- Compare the before and after output and confirm the superscript and subscript text still looks acceptable.
Where the appearance has changed in a way you are not happy with, adjust the template on the new version — for example, the font, the text size, or the surrounding layout — until the result meets your needs.
Rolling back a version
As long as a template has not been saved on the new version, you can roll back to an earlier version. See Manage environment version for the steps.
Testing on a live environment
If you are testing on a live environment, changing the version could mean that end-user projects are saved in the newest version. Check with your integration team, or contact our support team to discuss options.
Technical details
For those who want to know exactly what changed:
- Source of the metrics: GraFx Studio now reads the superscript and
subscript values from the font's OS/2 table — the horizontal and vertical
size (
ySuperscript/ySubscriptX and Y size) and the vertical offset (Y offset) — and applies them when laying out the text. - Previous behaviour: Before 1.46.0, these values were ignored. Superscript and subscript were drawn at a single fixed scale and offset derived internally, regardless of the font.
- Fallback: If a font leaves these OS/2 values unset (zero), GraFx Studio keeps the previous default behaviour for that font. In practice almost all fonts define them, so the fallback rarely applies.
- Two things can shift: Both the size and the vertical position now come from the font. Size is no longer forced to be uniform, so superscript and subscript glyphs can be scaled slightly differently in width and height than before.
- Possible reflow: Because the size of superscript and subscript characters can change, the width they occupy can change too. In tightly fitted text frames, this may nudge the surrounding text slightly.
If you have questions or need more guidance, please open a ticket at mysupport.chili-publish.com.
