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Home , Descender, Em (typography), Kerning, Legibility, Pica (typography), Small caps

Typographic Terms The characters of a given language, arranged in a traditional order; 26 characters in English. The part of a lowercase that rises above the main body of the letter (as in b, d, h). The part that extends above the x-height of a . bad break Refers to widows or orphans in text , or a break that does not make sense of the phrasing of a line of copy, causing awkward . The imaginary line upon which text rests. extend below the baseline. Also known as the "reading line." The line along which the bases of all capital letters (and most lowercase letters) are positioned. bleed An area of text or graphics that extends beyond the edge of the . Commercial printers usually trim the paper after to create bleeds. body The specific that is used in the main text break The place where type is divided; may be the end of a line or , or as it reads best in display type. bullet A typeset (a large dot or symbol) used to itemize lists or direct attention to the beginning of a line. (See .) The height of the uppercase letters within a font. (See also cap line.) caps and The option in which the lowercase letters are set as small capital letters; usually 75% the height of the size of the innercase. Typographic Terms character A symbol in writing. A letter, mark or figure. character count An estimation of the number of characters in a selection of type. character set A single font's characters, symbols, and numbers. a of paper or parchment leaves bound with boards; distinct from the ancient in scroll form. condensed Characters which are narrower to fit into a compact . A properly condensed character should fit into a smaller space without making it too thin or reducing the character's height. contrast An indication of the difference between the thicker and thinner parts of characters in a typeface. Bodoni with its thin serifs and horizontal strokes and thick verticals, is a high contrast face. (and most Egyptians) is a low contrast face. copy All typeset words and/or text incorporated into the publication (as in art and copy) The lowest portion of letters such as ',' 'j,' 'p.' ',' and 'y' that extends below the baseline, or reading line of type. (See descender line.) The portion of a lowercase letter that extends below the base line of the letter. drop cap An oversized capital letter used at the start of a paragraph. Drop caps occupy two or more lines of body copy, usually introduced for design . Typographic Terms A unit of measure, which is the square of a face's size. Traditionally, the width of a face's widest letter, the capital 'M.' For instance, if the 'M' is 10 points wide, an em is equal to 10 points. By Microsoft: A unit of measurement equal to the current type size. For example, an em in 12-point type is equal to 12 points. em One em wide, the em dash indicates missing material or a break in thought. Spaces may be added to both sides of the em dash. em space A non-breaking space equal to the width of a typeface's point size. Often used for paragraph indentions. Traditionally, the em space was created by non-printing blocks of metal used to add space between words. dash One en wide, the en dash indicates duration, "to" or "through" such as, "refer to 4-9." It may also be used in compound adjectives (as in post-World War 1~). A space can be added to both sides of the en dash. en space A nonbreaking space equal to the width of the letter N in the font being used (one-half the width of a em space). font The complete set of characters for one typeface at one particular type size, excluding attributes such as bold or italic. In modern usage, the term "font" is often confused with "typeface" and "family." Traditionally, the term "font" represents a complete set of characters (including all the letters of the alphabet, punctuation, and symbols), which share the same typeface, style, and size. For example, 12 point Goudy Oldstyle Bold is a font. can be as small as the basic alphabet or up to hundreds of characters. Some languages, like Japanese, can exceed these numbers, which make them more difficult to access from the standard keyboard. Derived from the word "found" as in . font family Group of with similar characteristics. For example, the sans typefaces Arial, Arial Bold, Arial Bold Italic, Arial Italic, Small Fonts, and MS Sans Serif are all part of the Swiss font family. Typographic Terms font size The size of type, measured in points between the bottom of the descender and the top of the ascender (the vertical point size of a font). Sometimes referred to as the Type or Point Size. font style Refers to the specific characteristics of the font. The four characteristics that can be defined for fonts are italic, bold, bold italic, and roman. gutter The space between two facing pages (inside margins). The term is sometimes used to refer to the space between two columns (see alley). indents A temporary inward offset from the setting. cap Large, capital letters (often ornamental) which are found at the beginning of or chapters. These date back to the early days of European manuscnpts where they were (and sb11 are) considered works of art Before printing presses replaced hand , a few talented scribes drew the characters into spaces left in the manuscripts for that purpose italics A type style with slightly slanted characters, used for emphasis. Best used to set off quotes, special phrases, and foreign words, italic letters have a redesigned structure that allows them to slant to the right. The first was designed by in AD 1501 and was based on the handwriting style of that time. Furthermore, lowercase letters were in italics while capital letters were Roman (or vertical stance). justified Text that is aligned at both the left and right margins. Typographic Terms The adjustment of spacing between letters. The process of improving appearance and by adjusting the white space between certain paired characters, such as 'Ty', 'To', or 'Ye', which are known as "kerning pairs." Manual kerning allows the desktop publisher to move letters either closer or farther apart ~o adjust and improve the space between them. Automatic kerning on the is done by using a kerning table (an AFM file) that contains pre defined font specific kerning pairs. Sometimes incorrectly referred to as "minus setting." See also letter spacing. kerning pairs Certain paired characters, such as 'Ty', 'To', or 'Ye', defined in a font and used for improving appearance and legibility. Kerning pairs are usually defined in well designed fonts. See also kerning. (Pronounced 'ledding') The amount of vertical space between lines of type. The distance from the baseline of one line of type and the baseline of another line of type immediately above or below it; also known as line spacing and usually measured in points. legibility the ease with which the reader can discern the type on the page, based on the tone of the type in relation to the background and the ' shape with respect to each other. left justified Type that is aligned with its left margin. Also called "flush left" letter spacing Extra space inserted between letters in a word. Also called Kerning. Separating all the letters in a word with spaces. Best used to modify headings, this should be applied with caution since too much letter spacing makes copy difficult to read. Some programs automatically add letter spacing when the text is justified. (See tracking) A special double character in a font representing two letters as one. For example, ae and oe. One character that is made up of two or more letters. line spacing The amount of vertical spacing, expressed in points, from the baseline of one line of text, to the baseline of the next line. Typographic Terms margins The area from the edge of the paper to the boundary of the layout area of the page. orphan line A single line of a paragraph at the top of a page or . A unit of measurement equal to one-sixth of an . There are 12 points to a pica. A typographic measurement that has survived the digital revolution. 12 points = 1 pica; 6 picas = 1 inch; 72 points = 1 inch. ragged The uneven alignment of text lines. Ragged is the opposite of flush. A text block may be formatted to be evenly aligned (flush) on one side and unevenly aligned (ragged) on the other. The overall appearance of how the type is spaced in the column. resolution The number of dots in an image's screen display or printed output. A monitor's resolution refers to the number of pixels per linear inch. Printed resolution refers to dots per linear inch. (See dpi.) reverse type White characters on a dark background. A good way to grab the reader's attention. right justified Type aligned with its right margin. Also known as "flush right." sans serif A typeface without serifs. For example, Helvetica or Modern. Sans serif type is more legible in headings than in a long passage of text. Helvetica is an example of a sans serif typeface. First designed by William IV in 1816, it was originally referred to as "English Egyptian." Also known as "Gothic" in the United States and "Grotesque" in Europe. Typographic Terms

Script Script letters are joined and should not be confused with , which are not connected. Since is difficult to read, its use should be limited to a few lines at a time. Early script typefaces were developed in the sixteenth century, and were based upon formal cursive handwriting. serif Small, finishing strokes on the arms, stems, and tails of characters. Serif typefaces are usually used for text since the serifs form a link between letters that leads the eye across a line of type. slant Refers to the angle of a font's characters, which can be italic or roman (no slant). small caps Capital letters that are the same (or nearly the same) height as the tvpeface's x-height. Some software programs automatically create their own small caps, but true small caps (with correct proportions and weight) are usually only found in expert typefaces. spacing The amount of unused space that exists between words, letters, and lines in text. Spacing provides a means to avoid overlapping shapes and letters in order to improve readability. Can be either fixed or proportional. In a fixed font, such as Courier, every character occupies the same amount of space. In a proportional font, such as Arial or (R), character width varies. spread Facing pages; made up of an even-numbered page on the left (verso) and an odd- numbered page on the right (recto). stretched text Widening text characters, not the spacing between the characters. style sheet The of all the styles used for one publication. capitals Uppercase letters that have flourishes added to them. Originally designed to go with Italic typefaces. Typographic Terms tracking The overall letterspacing in text. Tracking can also be used to tighten or loosen a block of type. Some programs have automatic tracking options which can add or remove small increments of space between the characters. (See letterspacing.) typeface A set of characters that share common characteristics such as stroke width and the presence or absence of serifs. Type of a uniform design, often named after a designer, a typeface or "face" (e.g., Goudy Oldstyle) is an interpretation of a character set that shares a similar appearance and design. The character set includes letters, numbers, punctuation, and symbols. On . "typeface" is used interchangeably with the term "font," though they are not synonymous typography Typography is the study and process of typefaces; how to select, size, arrange, and use them in general. In modern terms. typography includes computer display and output. Traditionally, typography was the use of metal types with raised letterforms that were inked and then pressed onto paper. typestyle Variations within a typeface. Plain, bold, italic, underline, outline, and shadow are styles found in the Style menu for almost all applications used for creating text or graphic . type size The measure of a type's height in points.; usually measured in points. uppercase The large, capital letters of a typeface. Once called "majuscules," these letters were stored in the upper section of the 's typecase, hence the term "uppercase." weight The measurement of a stroke's width. Common names for weights include demibold, light, and bold. Some typeface families have several weights, including ultra-bold and extra-light. Refers to the heaviness of the stroke for a specific font, such as Light, Regular, Book, Demi, Heavy, Black, and Extra Bold. widow line A single line of a paragraph at the bottom of a page or column. Typographic Terms word spacing In a line of text, this is the amount of space between each word. It can be varied to adjust line without affecting readability, unlike letterspacing. x-height The height of those lowercase letters such as "x", which do not have ascenders or descenders. The lowercase 'x' is used for measurement since it usually sits squarely on the baseline.