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I'm using the Typeface Rubik. It's semibold font face has problematic default kerning between the "f" and "i" characters(picture below.) Does anyone know a way to change the default font, so that there's more kerning between f and i whenever typed?
Thanks ahead for your help.
What you see is an fi ligature (U+FB01). This is a deliberate feature of the font.
There are some letters pairs which tend to get too close to each other or even overlap. Increasing kerning will make them look too far apart. Ligatures are two (or more) letters combined into one glyph. They are used to make the typesetting look nicer and more professional.
Wikipedia article on ligatures.
If you want to avoid ligatures there is no need to change the font! Instead simply change the settings in your layout application.
For example, in InDesign you can turn ligatures on and off under the Basic Character Formats in the Paragraph Style.
fi “[made] the typesetting look nicer and more professional.” It always looks awkward to me.
firather thanfi- That may not show properly in the SE font substitution, but copy/paste them both to see the difference. The first is a single char, the 2nd is 2 distinct chars.