Question

For some reason, when I display the word “Butterfly” (or anything else with an “fl”), the “f” and the “l” connect at the top (see image below). The font is Century Gothic Bold. This is the code I use to setup the UILabel. The string for the label is retrieved from a plist:

UILabel *label = [[UILabel alloc] init];
label.text = [self.flashcardDelegate.alphabetArr objectAtIndex:index];
label.textColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:.733 green:0 blue:.03137 alpha:1];
label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
label.frame = CGRectMake(ipad ? 210.0f : 65.0f, 
                         ipad ? 650.0f : 300.0f, 
                         ipad ? 340.0f : 185.0f, 
                         ipad ? 250.0f : 135.0f);
label.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"CenturyGothic-Bold" size:ipad ? 200 : 100];
label.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;

Any idea why this would happen? Thanks.

Answer 1

It’s called a ligature, and it’s intentional. You can change how the OS renders ligatures by using the kCTLigatureAttributeName attribute if you’re using Core Text, or you can use NSLigatureAttributeName if you’re using NSAttributedString.