Terms

Kerning: the space between lines

Tracking: The overall spacing of a text

x-height: the distance between the baseline of a line of type and tops of the main body of lower case letters (i.e. excluding ascenders or descenders).

Alignment: arranging text into columns

Ascender: The part of lowercase letters (such as k, b, and d) that ascend above the x-heigh of the other lowercase letters in a face.

Baseline: The imaginary line on which the majority of the characters in a typeface rest.

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.

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 all Adobe OpenType Pro fonts and selected Adobe OpenType Standard fonts.

OpenType: The OpenType™ format is a superset of the earlier TrueType and Adobe® PostScript® Type 1 font formats. As jointly defined by Microsoft and Adobe Systems, it is technically an extension of Microsoft's TrueType Open format, which can contain either PostScript font outlines or TrueType font outlines in a single font file that can be used on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. It can also include an expanded character set based on the Unicode encoding standard plus advanced typographic intelligence for glyph positioning and glyph substitution that allow for the inclusion of numerous alternate glyphs in one font file.

Point: A unit of measure in typography. There are approximately 72 points to the inch. A pica is 12 points.

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.

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.

Tracking: The average space between characters in a block of text. Sometimes also referred to as letterspacing.

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.

Width: One of the possible variations of a typeface within a type family, such as condensed or extended.

Apex: A point at the top of a character where two strokes meet. Definition: The point at the top of a character such as the uppercase A where the left and right strokes meet is the apex. The apex may be a sharp point, blunt, or rounded and is an identifying feature for some typefaces.

Arm: A horizontal or upward, sloping stroke that does not connect to a stroke or stem on one or both ends. Definition: The arm of a letter is the horizontal stroke on some characters that does not connect to a stroke or stem at one or both ends.

Bowl: The fully closed, rounded part of a letter. Definition: In typography, the curved part of the character that encloses the circular or curved parts (counter) of some letters such as d, b, o, D, and B is the bowl.

Counter: he open space in a fully or partly closed area within a letter. Definition: In typography, the enclosed or partially enclosed circular or curved negative space (white space) of some letters such as d, o, and s is the counter.

Crossbar: The horizontal stroke in letters. Also known as a Bar. Definition: The (usually) horizontal stroke across the middle of uppercase A and H is a crossbar. The horizontal or sloping stroke enclosing the bottom of the eye of an e is also a crossbar.

Hairline: A thin stroke usually common to serif typefaces. Definition: In typeface anatomy, a hairline is the thinnest stroke found in a specific typeface that consists of strokes of varying widths. Hairline is often used to refer to a hairline rule, the thinnest graphic rule (line) printable on a specific output device.

Leg: Short, descending portion of a letter. Definition: The lower, down sloping stroke of the K and k is called a leg. The same stroke on R as well as the tail of a Q is sometimes also called a leg. Also Known As: tail A branch or part of an object or system.

Shoulder: The curved stroke aiming downward from a stem. The curve at the beginning of a leg of a character, such as in an “m.”

Font: The complete set of characters for one typeface at one particular type size, excluding attributes such as bold or italic.

Stem: Vertical, full-length stroke in upright characters. Definition: The stem is the main, usually vertical stroke of a letterform. Also Known As: stroke A main or heavy stroke of a letter.

Terminal: The end of a stroke that does not include a serif. Definition: In typography, the terminal is a type of curve.

Link: A stroke that connects the top and bottom bowls of lowercase double-story g’s. Definition: In typeface anatomy, the link is that small, usually curved stroke that connects the bowl and loop of a double-storey g. Also Known As: neck, terminal A connecting element or factor.

Spine: The main curved stroke of a lowercase or capital S. Definition: The spine is the main left to right curving stroke in S and s. The spine may be almost vertical or mostly horizontal, depending on the typeface. Beyond typography, a spine is specific type of a mathematical curve and the tool used for drawing...

Capital: A letter or group of letters of the size and form generally used to begin sentences and proper nouns. Also known as “capital letters”. Definition: The capital letters of the alphabet are uppercase glyphs. Uppercase letters are normally used at the beginning of sentences and as the first letter of proper names.

Out-Style Figures: Numbers with varying heights, some aligning to the baseline and some below. Definition: Style of Arabic Numerals where the characters appear at different positions and heights as opposed to the modern style of all numerals at the same size and position are called Old Style Figures.

Lowercase: The smaller form of letters in a typeface. Definition: The little letters or non-capital letters of the alphabet are lowercase glyphs. They make up the bulk of written text, with uppercase or capital letters used primarily only to start sentences or proper names.

Eye: Much like a counter, the eye refers specifically to the enclosed space in a lowercase ‘e’. Definition: Much like a counter, the eye refers specifically to the enclosed space in a lowercase e.

Stroke: A straight or curved diagonal line. Definition: The main diagonal portion of a letterform such as in N, M, or Y is the stroke. The stroke is secondary to the main stem(s).

Spur: A small projection off a main stroke.

Tail: A descending stroke, often decorative. Definition: In typography, the descending, often decorative stroke on the letter Q or the descending, often curved diagonal stroke on K or R is the tail. The descender on g, j, p, q, and y are also called tails. The back, last, lower, or inferior part of something.

Beardline: an imaginary line that runs along the bottom of descenders

Monospace: Like typewritten characters, these all have the same width and take up the same amount of space. Use of this type allows figures to be set in vertical rows without leaving a ragged appearance (as opposed to proportional type).

Typeface: A set of characters that share common characteristics such as stroke width and the presence or absence of serifs.

Stress: The diagonal, vertical, or horizontal thick-to-thin transition in the stroke of a letter is the stress.

Grid: A grid is the skeleton or framework that allows for arranging content within the space of the page. It is the building block of all digital images and marks and is not a rigid formula, but instead a flexible, resilient structure.

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.

Widow: A paragraph-ending line that falls at the beginning of the following page/column, thus separated from the rest of the text.

Orphan: A single word or very short line of type left at the end of a paragraph that has moved to the top of a new column or a new page of text.

PostScript: PostScript is an object-oriented language, meaning that it treats images, including fonts, as collections of geometrical objects rather than as bit maps. PostScript fonts are called outline fonts because the outline of each character is defined. They are also called scalable fonts because their size can be changed with PostScript commands.

Capline: The imaginary horizontal line that runs across the tops of the uppercase letters. (Compare baseline.) Cap height: The distance from the baseline to the capline, which is approximately the height of the capital letters in a typeface.

Type Family: Complete set of related typefaces having identical design characteristics, such as Arial, Helvetica, Times Roman out of tens of thousands of distinctive type families, each with its own name.

Ear: A small stroke extending from the upper-right side of the bowl of lowercase g; also appears in the angled or curved lowercase r.

Justification: Text flush with the margins on both sides is referred to as justified. Text is often aligned with only one margin, either the left or right and is then described as right- or left-justified, ragged left or -right, or flush-left or -right.

Line Figures: numbers are the same height as the capital letters and sit on the baseline

Slab Serif: A classification of typefaces which all have rather thick, heavy serifs. Typefaces with these heavy serifs can be either bracketed or unbracketed and still fit into this category.

Rivers: In a paragraph of text, a series of wordspaces that accidentally align vertically or diagonally, creating an awkward flow of white space within the column of text.

Posture: how the font is slanted on the paper. Posture is changed when the font is italicized.

Line-Length: is the dis­tance be­tween the left and right edges of a text block.