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The o has been kerned
The font height (24 points) is measvcd
closer to the f.
from ascender to descender.
I
A font is a complete set of
4
-characters in a particular EII:zr
t
size and typeface.
uu
Proportionrl
Serif
spaoing
Leading is the
baseline to baseline
mcasurcment.
Baseline
Font spacing and pitch
You probably first heard the word pitch in connection with typewriters.
Typewriters normally use monospaced spacing: they give each character the
same amount of space on the line.
About halfthe fonts available for laser printers use monospaced spacing too.
Pitch is always expressed as so many characters per inch. Ten-pitch, for
example, means a font with ten characters in each inch of the line.
Typesetters for centuries have used two special sizes of type for most text.
Elite characters are 10 points high and print 12 characters per inch. And pica
chararacters am 12 points high and pitched at 10 characters to the inch
You’ll often run across these monospaced font sizes in the laser printing
world.
Ideally each character in a word should nestle against its neighbours so they
appear evenly spaced. But adjacent round characters are apt to look too far
apart, while flat-sided characters may appear too close.
Proportional spacing takes into account the differences in widths among
letters (compare ii with WW). Proportionally spaced printing is easier to read
than typewriter-style printing in which all characters, including punctua-
tion, have the same width.
Real typesetters equip certain characters with kerns, letter parts that extend
out to overlap adjoining letters. In this word Type the y is kerned closely
against the T. Kerning separates great type from good type.
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