Ordinals are the compact alphabetic characters positioned immediately adjacent to a number to indicate order or sequence, such as the letters following the digits in common English terms for sequence. Within English publishing, the choice to implement these specialized characters rests entirely on the stylistic preferences of individual editorial houses, whereas their application is far more standard and widespread in languages like Spanish and French.
Rather than being mechanically scaled-down versions of standard lowercase letters, authentic typographic ordinals are uniquely designed and spaced from scratch by typeface designers to maintain visual harmony with the surrounding text, and they are typically unlocked via advanced OpenType features. This meticulous design process essentially functions as a built-in scale optimisation, ensuring the letters retain proper weight and clarity.
Consequently, if a chosen font file lacks these native characters, desktop publishing software or browsers might generate simulated variants by shrinking the standard alphabet. Much like artificial bold weights or simulated small capitals, these automated approximations distort the typeface’s intended proportions and should be strictly avoided in professional layout.
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