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A glossary of typographic terms
This section provides a small glossary of terms
frequently used in the type world.
alignment
The positioning of text within the page
margins. Alignment can be flush left, flush
right, justified, or centered. Flush left and
flush right are sometimes referred to as left
justified and right justified.
ascender
The part of lowercase letters (such as k, b,
and d) that ascends above the x-height of the
other lowercase letters in a face.
baseline
The imaginary line on which the majority of
the characters in a typeface rest.
body text
The paragraphs in a document that make up the
bulk of its content. The body text should be
set in an appropriate and easy-to-read face,
typically at 10- or 12-point size.
boldface
A typeface that has been enhanced by
rendering it in darker, thicker strokes so
that it will stand out on the page. Headlines
that need emphasis should be boldface.
Italics are preferable for emphasis in body
text.
bullet
A dot or other special character placed at
the left of items in a list to show that they
are individual, but related, points.
cap height
The height from the baseline to the top of
the uppercase letters in a font. This may or
may not be the same as the height of
ascenders. Cap height is used in some systems
to measure the type size.
centered
Text placed at an equal distance from the
left and right margins. Headlines are often
centered. It is generally not good to mix
centered text with flush left or flush right
text.
character, character code
The word character is used differently in
different contexts. In the context of modern
computer operating systems, it is often
defined as a code with a meaning attached to
it. For example, the decimal character code
97 represents the letter a. In most operating
systems today, character codes are
represented by an 8-bit unit of data known as
a byte.
Also see character encoding, glyph, keyboard
layout.
character mapping
See character encoding.
character encoding
Character encoding is a table in a font or a
computer operating system that maps character
codes to glyphs in a font. Most operating
systems today represent character codes with
an 8-bit unit of data known as a byte. Thus,
character encoding tables today are
restricted to at most 256 character codes.
Not all operating system manufacturers use
the same character encoding. For example, the
Macintosh platform uses the standard
Macintosh character set as defined by Apple
Computer, Inc., while the Windows operating
system uses another encoding entirely, as
defined by Microsoft. Fortunately, standard
Type 1 fonts contain all the glyphs needed
for both these encodings, so they work
correctly not only with these two systems,
but others as well.
Also see character, glyph, keyboard layout.
color
See typographic color.
condensed
A narrower version of a font, used to get a
maximum of characters into a given space.
contrast
A subjective feeling that graphic elements
(such as fonts) are different but work
together well. This gives a feeling of
variety without losing harmony. Within a
particular font, contrast also refers to the
variety of stroke thicknesses that make up
the characters. Helvetica has low contrast
and Bodoni has high contrast.
copyfitting
The process of adjusting the size and spacing
of type to make it fit within a defined area
of the page.
descender
The part of lowercase letters (such as y, p,
and q) that descends below the baseline of
the other lowercase letters in a font face.
In some typefaces, the uppercase J and Q also
descend below the baseline.
dingbats
Typefaces that consist of symbol characters
such as decorations, arrows and bullets.
dpi An abbreviation for dots per inch. Refers to
the resolution at which a device, such as a
monitor or printer, can display text and
graphics. Monitors are usually 100 dpi or
less, and laser printers are 300 dpi or
higher. An image printed on a laser printer
looks sharper than the same image on a
monitor.
drop cap
A design style in which the first capital
letter of a paragraph is set in a larger
point size and aligned with the top of the
first line. This method is used to indicate
the start of a new section of text, such as a
chapter.
ellipsis
A punctuation character consisting of three
dots, or periods, in a row. It indicates that
a word or phrase has been omitted.
em, em space, em quad
A common unit of measurement in typography.
Em is traditionally defined as the width of
the uppercase M in the current face and point
size. It is more properly defined as simply
the current point size. For example, in
12-point type, em is a distance of 12 points.
em dash
A dash the length of an em is used to
indicate a break in a sentence.
en, en space, en quad
A common unit of measurement in typography.
En is traditionally defined as the width of
the uppercase N in the current face and the
current point size. It is more properly
defined as half the width of an em.
en dash
A dash the length of an en is used to
indicate a range of values.
encoding
See character encoding.
face
One of the styles of a family of faces. For
example, the italic style of the Garamond
family is a face.
family
Also known as a font family. A collection of
faces that were designed and intended to be
used together. For example, the Garamond
family consists of roman and italic styles,
as well as regular, semi-bold, and bold
weights. Each of the style and weight
combinations is called a face.
flush left
Text that is aligned on the left margin is
said to be set flush left. If the same text
is not aligned on the right margin, it is
said to be set flush left, ragged right. The
term ragged right is sometimes used alone to
mean the same thing.
flush right
Text which is aligned on the right margin is
said to be set flush right. If the same text
is not aligned on the left margin, it is said
to be set flush right, ragged left. The term
ragged left is sometimes used alone to mean
the same thing.
font
One weight, width, and style of a typeface.
Before scalable type, there was little
distinction between the terms font, face, and
family. Font and face still tend to be used
interchangeably, although the term face is
usually more correct.
font family
Also known as family. The collection of faces
that were designed together and intended to
be used together. For example, the Garamond
font family consists of roman and italic
styles, as well as regular, semi-bold, and
bold weights. Each of the style and weight
combinations is called a face.
glyph
The word glyph is used differently in
different contexts. In the context of modern
computer operating systems, it is often
defined as a shape in a font that is used to
represent a character code on screen or
paper. The most common example of a glyph is
a letter, but the symbols and shapes in a
font like ITC Zapf Dingbats are also glyphs.
Also see character, character encoding,
keyboard layout.
hanging indent
A document style in which the first line of a
paragraph is aligned with the left margin,
and the remaining lines are all indented an
equal amount. This is sometimes referred to
as outdenting. This is an effective style for
displaying lists of information.
headline
The short lines of emphasized text that
introduce detail information in the body text
that follows. Also the category of faces that
are designed to work best in headline text.
headline font
A font that has been designed to look good at
large point sizes for use in headlines.
Headline fonts generally do not contain a
complete set of characters since they do not
require a full set of special symbols and
punctuation.
hints
The mathematical instructions added to
digital fonts to make them sharp at all sizes
and on display devices of different
resolutions.
italic
A slanting or script-like version of a face.
The upright faces are often referred to as
roman.
justified
A block of text that has been spaced so that
the text aligns on both the left and right
margins. Justified text has a more formal
appearance, but may be harder to read.
kerning
The adjustment of horizontal space between
individual characters in a line of text.
Adjustments in kerning are especially
important in large display and headline text
lines. Without kerning adjustments, many
letter combinations can look awkward. The
objective of kerning is to create visually
equal spaces between all letters so that the
eye can move smoothly along the text.
Kerning may be applied automatically by the
desktop publishing program based on tables of
values. Some programs also allow manual
kerning to make fine adjustments.
keyboard layout, keyboard mapping
Sometimes known as a character mapping, a
keyboard layout or mapping is a table used by
a computer operating system to govern which
character code is generated when a key or key
combination is pressed.
Also see character, character encoding,
glyph.
leading (pronounced: ledding)
The amount of space added between lines of
text to make the document legible. The term
originally referred to the thin lead spacers
that printers used to physically increase
space between lines of metal type. Most
applications automatically apply standard
leading based on the point size of the font.
Closer leading fits more text on the page,
but decreases legibility. Looser leading
spreads text out to fill a page and makes the
document easier to read. Leading can also be
negative, in which case the lines of text are
so close that they overlap or touch.
letterspacing
Adjusting the average distance between
letters in a block of text to fit more or
less text into the given space or to improve
legibility. Kerning allows adjustments
between individual letters; letterspacing is
applied to a block of text as a whole.
Letterspacing is sometimes referred to as
tracking or track kerning.
ligature
Two or more letters tied together into a
single letter. In some typefaces, character
combinations such as fi and fl overlap,
resulting in an unsightly shape. The fi and
fl ligatures were designed to improve the
appearance of these characters. Letter
combinations such as ff, ffl and ffi are
available in the Adobe Expert Collections.
margin
The white spaces around text blocks. Margins
typically need to be created on the edges of
a page, since most printers can't print to
the very edge. White space also makes a
document look better and easier to read.
oblique
A slanting version of a face. Oblique is
similar to italic, but without the script
quality of a true italic. The upright faces
are usually referred to as roman.
paragraph rules
Graphic lines associated with a paragraph
that separate blocks of text. Rules are
commonly used to separate columns and isolate
graphics on a page. Some desktop publishing
programs allow paragraph styles to be created
that include paragraph rules above and/or
below the paragraph.
pica
A unit of measure that is approximately 1/6th
of an inch. A pica is equal to 12 points. The
traditional British and American pica is
0.166 inches. In PostScript printers, a pica
is exactly 1/6th of an inch.
point
A unit of measure in typography. There are
approximately 72 points to the inch. A pica
is 12 points.
point size
The common method of measuring type. The
distance from the top of the highest ascender
to the bottom of the lowest descender in
points. In Europe, type is often measured by
the cap-height in millimeters.
raised cap
A design style in which the first capital
letter of a paragraph is set in a large point
size and aligned with the baseline of the
first line of text. Compare to a drop cap.
reverse
The technique of printing white or
light-colored text on a black or dark
background for emphasis. This technique
greatly reduces legibility, especially with
small type.
roman
Commonly refers to the upright version of a
face within a font family, as compared to the
italic version.
rule
A solid or dashed graphic line in documents
used to separate the elements of a page.
Rules and other graphic devices should be
used sparingly, and only for clarifying the
function of other elements on the page.
sans serif
A type face that does not have serifs.
Generally a low-contrast design. Sans serif
faces lend a clean, simple appearance to
documents.
serif
Small decorative strokes that are added to
the end of a letter's main strokes. Serifs
improve readability by leading the eye along
the line of type.
style
One of the variations in appearance, such as
italic and bold, that make up the faces in a
type family.
symbol
A category of type in which the characters
are special symbols rather than alphanumeric
characters.
tabular figures
Numerals that all have the same width. This
makes it easier to set tabular matter.
tracking
The average space between characters in a
block of text. Sometimes also referred to as
letterspacing.
TrueType
A scalable type technology built into Windows
3.1 and Apple's System 7.
Type 1
The international type standard for digital
type, available on almost every computer
platform. Originally invented by Adobe
Systems, Type 1 is now the most commonly
available digital type format and is used by
professional digital graphic designers. More
than 30,000 fonts are available in the Type 1
format.
typeface
The letters, numbers, and symbols that make
up a design of type. A typeface is often part
of a type family of coordinated designs. The
individual typefaces are named after the
family and are also specified with a
designation, such as italic, bold or
condensed.
typeface family
Also known as family. The collection of faces
that were designed together and intended to
be used together. For example, the Garamond
font family consists of roman and italic
styles, as well as regular, semibold, and
bold weights. Each of the style and weight
combinations is called a face.
typographic color
The apparent blackness of a block of text.
Color is a function of the relative thickness
of the strokes that make up the characters in
a font, as well as the width, point size, and
leading used for setting the text block.
unjustified
Depending on alignment, this term refers to
text which is set flush left, flush right, or
centered.
weight
The relative darkness of the characters in
the various typefaces within a type family.
Weight is indicated by relative terms such as
thin, light, bold, extra-bold, and black.
white space
The blank areas on a page where text and
illustrations are not printed. White space
should be considered an important graphic
element in page design.
width
One of the possible variations of a typeface
within a type family, such as condensed or
extended.
word spacing
Adjusting the average distance between words
to improve legibility or to fit a block of
text into a given amount of space.
WYSIWYG
An acronym for what you see is what you get.
The Macintosh provides a WYSIWYG screen
display. What you see on the screen is what
you will get on printed output, as accurately
as the screen can render it.
x-height
Traditionally, x-height is the height of the
lowercase letter x. It is also the height of
the body of lowercase letters in a font,
excluding the ascenders and descenders. Some
lower-case letters that do not have ascenders
or descenders still extend a little bit above
or below the x-height as part of their
design. The x-height can vary greatly from
typeface to typeface at the same point size.
