Change tracking for sans serif font

Question

I want to change the tracking (space between the characters) for a sans serif font. I found that I can use the microtype package to change the tracking of the smallcaps font (\textsc{foo}), but I can't figure out how to make \textsc{} a sans serif font.

Answer 1

Do you mean, you want to 'set tracking' only for your sans serif font? (Because I hope you don't want to 'make' small caps be sans serif ... rather you should choose a sans serif that contains a small caps schape, as in the below example.)

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{libertine}

\usepackage[tracking=true]{microtype}
\DeclareMicrotypeSet*[tracking]{my}
  { encoding = *,
    font = */sf*/*/*/*,
}
\SetTracking[
%  spacing = {500*,166, }
]{
  encoding = *,
  family = sf*,
}{ 500 }
\SetTracking[]{encoding = *, family = rm* }{ 10 }
\SetTracking[]{encoding = *, shape = sc }{ 100 }

\def\test{I want to change the tracking (space between the characters)
  for a sans serif font. I found that I can use the microtype package
  to change the tracking of the smallcaps font
  ({\ttfamily\textbackslash textsc\{foo\}}), but I can't figure out
  how to make {\ttfamily\textbackslash textsc{}} a sans serif font.}

\begin{document}
\parskip 12pt
\parindent 0pt

RM:

\test

SF:

{\sffamily\test}

SC (RM):

{\scshape\test}

SF+SC:

{\sffamily\scshape\test}

TT:

{\ttfamily\test}

\end{document}