Named instance
A saved preset in a variable font, such as Regular or Semibold, that points to one exact combination of axis values.
See it
What it is
A named instance is a preset coordinate inside a variable font's design space. The font designer chooses axis values, gives that combination a familiar name such as Regular, Semibold, or Condensed, and records it in the font's fvar table. It is a bookmark, not another set of outlines packed into the file.
Named instances keep variable fonts usable in menus built around traditional styles. It is why macOS Font Book and Microsoft Word still list Regular, Semibold, and Bold for a file that actually contains a continuous range. They give designers approved starting points and let a family preserve the familiar Regular-to-Bold ladder while still allowing every value between those stops. A type specimen or font picker should expose both the named presets and the raw axis controls.
Gotcha: CSS cannot select an fvar instance by its display name. A web page must request the instance's coordinates through 'font-weight', 'font-stretch', 'font-style', or 'font-variation-settings'. Names are not standardized either, so never assume that Medium means 500 or Condensed means the same width percentage in every family.
Ask AI for it
Build a named-instance browser for the supplied variable TTF. Use fontTools 'ttLib.TTFont' to read 'font["fvar"].instances', resolve each 'subfamilyNameID' through the name table, and export the instance name plus its exact axis coordinates as JSON. Render one preview button per instance and apply those coordinates with 'font-weight', 'font-stretch', 'font-style', or 'font-variation-settings' as appropriate. Add a custom mode with raw sliders, but do not invent or normalize style names that are absent from the font.