Testing with DrawBot

Variable fonts are supported natively in macOS 10.3 and higher.

DrawBot supports variable fonts too. The following commands are available:

fontVariations(wdth=0.6, wght=0.1, ...)
selects a location in the current variable font using parameters
listFontVariations(fontName=None)
returns a dictionary with variations data for the current font

The MutatorSans repository includes two DrawBot scripts for testing and previewing variable fonts:

previewMutatorSans.py
preview the variable font interactively using sliders
animateMutatorSans.py
animate font variations along the width and weight axes

Testing in the browser

Variable fonts are supported in all major browsers.

Use the CSS property font-variation-settings to select an instance in the font’s design space using parameters:

.example { font-variation-settings: "wght" 500, "wdth" 327; }

The MutatorSans repository includes a simple HTML test page which shows how to:

  • animate font variation parameters with CSS
  • control parameters interactively using sliders

There are also a few websites that you can use to test your variable fonts:

Testing with FontGoggles

FontGoggles supports variable fonts. Just drag and drop your .ttf file on the application window and switch to the variations tab.

Last edited on 01/09/2021