Command/letterspacing
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Contents
\letterspacing
Summary
The command \letterspacing is used to highlight text with added kerning.
Settings
Description
\letterspacing is an instance of characterkerning (see \definecharacterkerning) and an alias of \kerncharacters. The default value is 0.125.
Examples
Example 1
\setupalign[flushleft] \subject{without letterspacing} \samplefile{ward} \subject{\tex{letterspacing} with default value 0.125} \letterspacing{\samplefile{ward}} \subject{same with \tex{kerncharacters}} \kerncharacters{\samplefile{ward}} \subject{kerning value 0} \letterspacing[0]{\samplefile{ward}} \subject{kerning value 0.5} \letterspacing[0.5]{\samplefile{ward}} \subject{kerning value 0.75} \letterspacing[.75]{\samplefile{ward}}
Issue that should be solved with upcoming update (current date 2025.03.18)
\startTEXpage[offset=1em] \letterspacing[1]{RELATIVE}\par \letterspacing[1]{\nokerning RELATIVE} % temporary solution \stopTEXpage
How to keep readability ?
Source: tex.stackexchange (2025)
The kerns within words grow linearly, proportionally to the emwidth. The spaces grow faster than that. It depends on the font (for latin modern we get (em/3) + 4 * (em/3) * factor, where em is the emwidth and factor is the factor you set up).
So you can play with \spaceskip to increase the effect on spaces.
\setupbodyfont[ebgaramond,20pt] \starttext \startTEXpage[offset=1em] {THE GRAND DESIGN} \par \letterspacing[.16]{THE GRAND DESIGN} \par {\spaceskip=.40em \letterspacing[.16]{THE GRAND DESIGN}}\par \stopTEXpage \stoptext
Second solution, play with \setupcharacterkerning
\setupbodyfont[ebgaramond,20pt] \starttext \startTEXpage[offset=1em] {THE GRAND DESIGN} \par \letterspacing[.16]{THE GRAND DESIGN} \setupcharacterkerning [letterspacing] [style=\spaceskip\dimexpression{6.0\spaceamount*\characterkerningparameter{factor}+\spaceamount}] \letterspacing[.16]{THE GRAND DESIGN} \stopTEXpage \stoptext
