Just how hard is it for a font designer to support a sequence like X+circumflex, compared to supporting a precomposed character?
A. With modern font technologies, such as OpenType and AAT, the difference is relatively small. For example, in OpenType, it is a matter of adding an entry for the sequence in a ligature table, such as is discussed in the VOLT and InDesign Tutorial. There is no fundamental need for a precomposed character to be encoded in the standard at all in order for the font to have and display the correct precomposed glyph for the combination you need. The hard work, in either case, is in the design for the precomposed glyph. Conceptually it seems simple enough to add a precomposed glyph to a font — after all, typically the base glyph will be in the font already. But professional font design requires considerable effort. Any time a new accented glyph is added, attention must be paid to design integrity compared to other accented glyphs, kerning issues with all other glyphs, and the possible need for yet other ligatures. Most of this work then has to be repeated for each face of the font: bold, it
