Enabling c_t and longs_t without enabling s_t ligatures
@tohecz: Thomas's Q is closely related to the questions I referred to, but it seems he's suffering from a problem that's not addressed in these.
I tried to use the selnolig package to selective disable the s_t ligature
(\nolig{st}{s|t})
but that also stops the longst ligature from being used.
If I understand correctly, you're expecting selnolig
to differentiate between an s
and ſ
. You're not providing an MWE, but I'm assuming that in your case selnolig
just can't differentiate between the two because you don't -- I guess your text only has s
and s
, so there's nothing selnolig
could do for you.
Educated guess: entering your s
s correctly is going to produce decent results.
selnolig
disabled. Minion Pro, all availableſ_
ligatures as well asc_t
and (inappropriate?)s_t
are present.
selnolig
enabled. As above, onlys_t
is gone.
code:
\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{fontspec,selnolig}
\setmainfont[Ligatures=Rare]{Minion Pro}
\nolig{st}{s|t}
\begin{document}
The ſide attraction for moſt ſpectators was the mustard
\end{document}
How about the ſ_t
? -- I don't have Hoefler Text, and Minion Pro doesn't have an ſ_t
(technically, it does, it's just indistinguishable from unligated ſ
t
). But, for example, EB Garamond does, and it's not affected by \nolig{st}{s|t}
(q.e.d.).
PS: if you're planning to reproduce early 19th century style, Hoefler Text (as well as Minion) will be a bad choice. It's off by at least two centuries, as is obvious from the two Encyclopædia Britannia pages (from the second one even more drastically so than the first). Have a look at a Hoefler's Didot instead, maybe Old Standard or -- inexpensive and most appropriate -- Miller from Font Bureau.
update
Looking at your own answer and your insisting on the idea that a mere Contextuals=Inner
is going to suffice to produce correct results -- what needs to be stressed is that correct ſ
usage is not as simple as »replace all non-final s
by ſ
«. I suggest you have a look at how the ſ
was handled in the period/the culture whose style you're trying to reproduce. In what contexts was it used? When was a s
used instead? Think compound-word word boundaries. What ſ_
ligatures were available? Think, among others, ſ_s
. In what contexts were which ſ_
ligatures appropriate/inappropriate? Again, think compound-word word boundaries. What was considered a compound word in the first place? etc.
Further reading: http://babelstone.blogspot.ca/2006/06/rules-for-long-s.html