Single-storey `a` is unable to be enabled in macOS TextEdit

[LoganDark]

Describe the bug Single-storey a seemingly cannot be activated in macOS TextEdit. The substitution can be performed manually on already-typed text, but this is undesirable for a number of reasons...

To Reproduce

1. In TextEdit, type something in Inter.
2. Go to the Typography window and try to find the option to use single-storey a.
3. All you can do is select the already typed text and then manually substitute the a glyph for the single-storey one... but this has to be always be done manually, and it actually does manual glyph substitution instead of activating font features, so there are a few annoying drawbacks.

Expected behavior I should be able to activate the single-storey a the exact same way I can activate some other stuff.

Screenshots Here is SF Pro which offers a stylistic set for activating single-storey a.

here is Inter which does not

Inter's options seem to exactly correspond to ss01 through ss08, so I'm pretty sure this is a stylistic sets thing.

Environment

• OS: macOS Sequoia 15.2 (24C98)
• App that renders the font: TextEdit
• Version of font: Inter Regular. Version 4.001;git-9221beed3

Additional context here is a video of the issue

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a62f1cf7-dd9f-4f38-8a2a-fe5b4fa621f7

[kenmcd]

In Inter v4.1.(2024-11-15).release... The single-storey a is Character Variant 11 (cv11). AFAIK TextEdit does not support Character Variants.

Character Variants (cvnn) is the appropriate OpenType feature for variants of one character. Stylistic Sets (ssnn) is the appropriate OpenType feature for variants of multiple characters (sets).

[LoganDark]

Yes, cv11 enables the single-storey a in Inter.

Character Variants (cvnn) is the appropriate OpenType feature for variants of one character. Stylistic Sets (ssnn) is the appropriate OpenType feature for variants of multiple characters (sets).

Clearly not quite, as demonstrated by SF Pro. They should be exposed as stylistic sets as well so that they can be selected by the user.

[kenmcd]

Clearly not quite, as demonstrated by SF Pro. They should be exposed as stylistic sets as well so that they can be selected by the user.

A choice made by the font designer. In this case probably to work-around the limitations of one of their own applications.

This issue with Character Variants has come up before and if IIRC the Inter font designer does not plan to make any changes in this regard. So you will need to wait to hear from him to see if that is still the case, or if there may be a change.

[LoganDark]

This issue with Character Variants has come up before

Did it come up on this repo / do you have a link? (Curious)

So you will need to wait to hear from him to see if that is still the case, or if there may be a change.

Alright