Acute/grave accents: upper case versus low case

Question

The acute and grave accents on capital letters are more squat and flatter than on lower case letters. Compare \'A with \'a. What is the code for the squatter acute/grave on capitals if I want it insolation?

Rationale: I need capital letters with macron and acute/grave. If I put \'{} on top of \=A, then the letter is too tall for the interline spacing, partly because \'{} produces the 45-degree accent of \'a (and partly because the default height of the macron is too high).

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\begin{document}
If the difference between the accents of \'A, \'a isn't apparent, try superimposing
them: \makebox[0pt]{\'A}\makebox[0pt]{\raisebox{.6ex}{\'a}}\,\raisebox{.6ex}{\'a}.
See how the character on the left has a wedge (as opposed to the acute on the
right-hand \'a)?  The two accents don't exactly overlay, because the acute on
\'A is flatter.
\end{document}

Answer 1

You find the isolated acute accent used for capital letters in the encoding TS1, where it's called \capitalacute:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\begin{document}
\capitalacute{A}\'{A}\\
\capitalacute{}\'{}\\
{\fontencoding{TS1}\selectfont\char 1}\char1
\end{document}

Answer 2

You maybe able to do minor adjustments using the slant dimension.

Here is some code I had for a similar issue:

\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{graphicx} 


\begin{document}

\font \romanfont=cmr10
\font\specroman=cmr10
%% Next, the special registers
\newdimen\savedvalue
\savedvalue=\fontdimen5\romanfont
\newdimen\specialvalue
\specialvalue=4.75pt
%% Finally, definitions.

\def\specrm{%
  \aftergroup\restoredimen
  \fontdimen5\specroman=\specialvalue
  \specroman  }
\def\restoredimen{%
\fontdimen5\romanfont=\savedvalue }


 \scalebox{10}{\romanfont \'A}  {\scalebox{10}{\specrm \' A}}

\medskip
{\noindent\obeylines\specrm 
the value of fontdimen1 (slant)  is \the\fontdimen1\font
the value of fontdimen2 (interword space) is \the\fontdimen2\font  
the value of fontdimen3 (interword stretch) is \the\fontdimen3\font 
the value of fontdimen4 (interword shrink) is \the\fontdimen4\font 
the value of fontdimen5 (x-height) is \the\fontdimen5\font 
the value of fontdimen6 (quad width) is \the\fontdimen6\font 
the value of fontdimen7 (extra space)  is \the\fontdimen7\font 
}
\medskip

\font \romanfont=cmr10
\font\specroman=cmr10
%% Next, the special registers
\newdimen\savedvalue
\savedvalue=\fontdimen1\romanfont
\newdimen\specialvalue
\specialvalue=0.15pt
%% Finally, definitions.

\def\specrm{%
  \aftergroup\restoredimen
  \fontdimen1\specroman=\specialvalue
  \specroman  }
\def\restoredimen{%
\fontdimen1\romanfont=\savedvalue }


 \scalebox{10}{\romanfont \'A}  {\scalebox{10}{\specrm \' A}}

\medskip
{\noindent\obeylines\specrm 
the value of fontdimen1 (slant)  is \the\fontdimen1\font
the value of fontdimen2 (interword space) is \the\fontdimen2\font  
the value of fontdimen3 (interword stretch) is \the\fontdimen3\font 
the value of fontdimen4 (interword shrink) is \the\fontdimen4\font 
the value of fontdimen5 (x-height) is \the\fontdimen5\font 
the value of fontdimen6 (quad width) is \the\fontdimen6\font 
the value of fontdimen7 (extra space)  is \the\fontdimen7\font 
}
\end{document}

There is also a package you can have a look at https://github.com/zellyn/accentbx

Answer 3

Your MWE does not show the issue that you show in the image. I have adjusted it so that it does:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\begin{document}
If the difference between the accents of \'A, \'a isn't apparent, try superimposing
them: \makebox[0pt]{\'A}\makebox[0pt]{\raisebox{.6ex}{\'a}}\,\raisebox{.6ex}{\'a}.
See how the character on the left has a wedge (as opposed to the acute on the
right-hand \'a)?  The two accents don't exactly overlay, because the acute on
\'A is flatter.


\makebox[0pt]{\'A}\makebox[0pt]{\raisebox{.6ex}{\'a}}\,\raisebox{.6ex}{\'a}

\fontencoding{T1}\selectfont

\makebox[0pt]{\'A}\makebox[0pt]{\raisebox{.6ex}{\'a}}\,\raisebox{.6ex}{\'a}
\end{document}

As you will see in the image from the modified MWE, using the default OT1 encoding the accented characters are made by placing an accent character over the base, so the accents look the same. In the final line the T1 encoding is used this uses twice as many glyphs per font, including designed accented characters a slightly flatter accent design is used for capital letters in the EC font design.