Add superscript glyphs for commas, dashes, and parentheses

[apcamargo]

It would be helpful to include superscript versions of the comma, parentheses, and dash characters in Inter.

These glyphs are commonly used in scientific and technical writing, especially in citation styles where:

• Commas separate multiple references (e.g., 1,2)
• Dashes (usually en-dash) indicate reference ranges (e.g., 1–3)
• Parentheses are used to enclose citations (e.g., (1–3))

Currently, Inter provides superscript lowercase letters and numerals, but the absence of these other characters reduces the quality of superscripted citations and reference notations. It also causes some typesetting systems (such as Typst) to synthesize fake superscripts instead of using the proper superscript numerals already present in the font:

[kenmcd]

Inter already includes parentheses and a minus sign (which could be used as a dash).
These are from the Superscripts and Subscripts Unicode block.
These have Unicode code points.
The image below is all Unicode.

These sups are also available via the OpenType feature.

There are no Unicode points for superscript dashes, comma, or period.
So some fonts add them via OpenType.
SF Pro on the Mac adds just the comma.sups and period.sups via OpenType.

Source Sans 3 is the only font I know which includes the hyphenminus, endash, and emdash in the OpenType Superscript feature. There may be others (and probably are).
The image below is Source Sans 3 with the sups feature On.

Work-around for now - set your cross-reference style to Source Sans 3 with Superscript enabled.

[apcamargo]

Thank you for the answer, @kenmcd. For some reason, the parenthesis are not working in Affinity, even though they do work with other fonts I tried.

[kenmcd]

For some reason, the parenthesis are not working in Affinity, even though they do work with other fonts I tried.

Yeah. Affinity has a bunch of stupid OpenType and Typography bugs.
I have posted many in their forum, but almost all have never been fixed.
You can apply a particular Access All Alternates setting as a work-around (Alternate 2).

[apcamargo]

Thanks!

[apcamargo]

Just as an update, I updated to Affinity 3.0 and parenthesis seem to be working now. Commas and minus sign still have issues.

[kenmcd]

Just as an update, I updated to Affinity 3.0 and parenthesis seem to be working now. Commas and minus sign still have issues.

Keep in mind that you can also use the Affinity Position & Transform panel which will affect all characters.
You can get close to what the real sups look like (using weight and scaling).
But they will never be as good as real sups which have been optically corrected.

It is not likely that there will be any sups additions to Inter any time soon.
So that may be your best work-around.