Fonts that do not have real small caps simply scale down capital letters when you use \textsc. This looks unbalanced, as the letters are too thin. Can this be improved?
asked Nov 4, 2013 at 16:52
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6Not really. Avoid small caps if the real thing is not available.– egregCommented Nov 4, 2013 at 17:04
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Strongly related: Fake small caps with XeTeX/fontspec?– Tobias KienzlerCommented Dec 7, 2015 at 13:10
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1 Answer
One idea is to simply scale down capitals and then "fatten" them, which in my opinion looks much better than simple scaling. The fattening can be implemented by copying and shifting by a small amount several times. This example uses the fourier font, which doesn't include real small caps.
\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt, pdftex]{scrartcl}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{fourier}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\newcommand{\fakesc}[1]{\textls[100]{\rlap{\scalebox{0.8}[0.75]{#1}}\hskip0.02ex\rlap{\scalebox{0.8}[0.75]{#1}}\hskip0.02ex\scalebox{0.8}[0.75]{#1}}}
\begin{document}
\noindent
Lorem Ipsum \textsc{Lorem Ipsum} Lorem Ipsum \\
Lorem Ipsum L\fakesc{OREM} I\fakesc{PSUM} Lorem Ipsum
\end{document}
Here is a pictorial view:
This solution is not perfect. Vertical serifs (like in the E above) tend to become too thick, and diagonal strokes that were the same thickness as vertical strokes are no longer of the same thickness (like in the M above). However, I think these objections are minor, and the final result is better than the standard fake small caps.
answered Nov 4, 2013 at 16:52
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5Purists will not like this solution, but I'm not a purist...+1 Commented Nov 4, 2013 at 17:32
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@StevenB.Segletes I think your modification makes the letters look a bit too narrow. With my values, I tried to make the vertical strokes of the letters to be approximately the same for the normal letters and the fake small caps. Commented Nov 4, 2013 at 22:44
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Understood. I will delete the prior comment forthwith. Commented Nov 4, 2013 at 22:45
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@StevenB.Segletes learning new words on tex.se, that's a thing for me, now.– thymaroCommented May 19, 2018 at 7:01
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1@thymaro Language is fun, as long as one does not become omphaloskeptic about it. Commented May 21, 2018 at 10:12