Please document how to use variable fonts
Given the variable font file "Recursive_VF_1.085.ttf" from recursive.design, how do I specify a font name such that I get a font with, for example, MONO=0.33, CASL=0.42, wght=500, slnt=-8, CRSV=auto?
Is that font even the full variable font? I could not find out how the fontconfig tools would tell me.
Looking at https://freedesktop.org/software/fontconfig/fontconfig-user.html, one would expect some help in the section "font properties". However, that says
Fontconfig uses some of these properties for font matching and font completion. Others are provided as a convenience for the applications' rendering mechanism.
In the table below it is not indicated which is which.
It does mention the properties "fontvariations" and "variable" but that is the only sliver of documentation there is.
When randomly trying the command fc-match --verbose Recursive:variable=True
, the output specifies indeed variable: True(s)
but also fontvariations: "wght=400"(s)
, which seems to be missing 4 out of 5 variable axes. Clearly I am not seeing everything.
For font setting in for example GVim, I tried things like Recursive:CASL=0.42, but this didn't appear to work.
So how do I specify variable axes on a font name? Can this please be documented in an obvious place?