Terms in Type
A
| Anti-aliasing | Removing alias frequencies from the sampled signal. In letterfoms, jaggedness can be minimized during reconstruction by using various grey levels at the edges of stokes. |
| Ascender | That part of a lowercase letter that rises above the x-height, as in letters 'b', 'd', 'f', 'h', 'k', 't' and 'l'. |
| ASCII | The American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a standard character set defined by ANSI, the American National Standards Institure. |
| Aspect Ratio | The ratio of width to height. |
B
| Baseline | The line on which letterforms rest. (Round letters like "e" and "o" normally dent it, pointed letters like "v" and "w" normally pierce it, and letters with foot serifs like "h" and "l" usually rest precisely upon it.) |
| Bézier Splines | A class of third-degree interpolating splines useful for representing letterform shapes. |
| Bitmap | An array of intensity values, normally rectangular, used to create an image, as on a screen or on paper. The bits are mapped onto the screen or paper. |
| Bleed | An image that extends to the edge of the paper (after trimming). |
| Bold | A blacker, heavier variation of a typeface, relative to the roman variation. |
| Break | Deciding how much text shall appear on each line or page of a document. |
| Bullet | A mark used to set off items in a list, frequently a filled circle. |
| Cap Height | The distance from baseline to cap line of an alphabet, which is the approximate height of the uppercase letters. It is often less, but sometimes greater, than the height of the ascending lowercase letters. |
| Centered | Text set so as to distribute residual space on the line equally to the right and left. |
| Character | An abstract symbol, represend within a computer by a numerical code. Also, a symbol in a font or glyph. |
| Condensed | A type design variation with less than normal set; thus a tightly spaced font. |
| Cursive | Typefaces that resemble handwriting, frequently having joins or the suggestion of joins between letters. |
| Descender | That portion of a letter that falls below the baseline, as in 'j', 'g', 'q', 'p' and 'y'. |
| Desktop Publishing | Direct printing of typeset material using small, relatively inexpensive computers and printers under the direct control of the creator of the material. |
| Digital typography | The technology of using computers for the presentation of text, in which the letters themselves are created and positioned under digital control. |
| Digitise | To sample an analogue signal and represent the results in a numeric form. |
| Dingbat | A special symbol not a part of any particular typeface, including arrows, mathematical signs such as square root, and bullets. |
| Display | Large sizes of type, for use as headlines, titles, and so forth. |
| Dithering | Spatial dithering, the method of creating digital halftones. |
| Document | Any "printed" image stored in a computer or realised on a piece of paper. |
| Dots per inch (dpi) | Measure of the resolution of input and output devices. |
| Drop Cap | A large initial capital in a paragraph that extends through several lines. |
| Electronic publishing | Digital typography. |
| Elite | A typewriter (monospaced) typeface with a pitch of 12 char, acters per inch. |
| Em Space | A distance equal to the type size - 12 points in a 12 point typeface, 11 points in an 11 point typeface and so on. Also known as a "mutton". |
| Emdash | A dash the width of the letter "m" used in text to separate a parenthetical note as an alternate to parenthesis. |
| En space | Half an em. Also known as a "nut". |
| Expanded / Extended | A type design variation with more than normal set. Thus, a loosely spaced or wider than normal font. |
| Family | A related set of typefaces. |
| Fill | The graphical operation of reproducing a pattern or colour through, out a bounded area. |
| Flush left | Setting lines of text so that any extra space is on the right, and the text is against the left margin. Also called ragged right. |
| Flush right | Setting lines of text so that any extra space is on the left, and the text is against the right margin. |
| Folio | A page number, for example as part of a running head or foot. |
| Font | A set of characters. In the world of metal type, this means a given alphabet, with all its accessory characters, in a given size. In the world of digital type, it is the character set itself or the digital information encoding it. |
| Footnote | A floating note associated with a location and reference mark in a text and displayed at the bottom of the page on which the mark occurs. |
| Foreground | The image or figure, as opposed to the background. |
| Foundry | Originally, a factory in which metal type is made; now any maker of type. |
G
| Galley | In traditional typesetting, a proof of the running text, tables, or figures, before these parts are combined to form pages. |
| Glyph | (1) The actual shape (bit pattern, outline) of a character image. For example, an italic 'a' and a roman 'a' are two different glyphs representing the same underlying character. In this strict sense, any two images which differ in shape constitute different glyphs. In this usage, ``glyph'' is a synonym for ``character image'', or simply ``image''. (2) A kind of idealized surface form derived from some combination of underlying characters in some specific context, rather than an actual character image. In this broad usage, two images would constitute the same glyph whenever they have essentially the same topology (as in oblique 'a' and roman 'a'), but different glyphs when one is written with a hooked top and the other without (the way one prints an 'a' by hand). In this usage, ``glyph'' is a synonym for ``glyph type,'' where glyph is defined as in sense 1. |
| Hairline | The thinnest part of a letter other than the serif. The thinnest fine line or printed rule. |
| Half tone | A method of simulating continuous-tone images with a device that has a small number of output tones, colours, or intensities. The patterns used are called dithers |
| Heading | Text that introduces sections of text, set off from the text by differences in size, typeface, or position. |
| Hyphenation | The splitting of a word across lines, as an aid to uniform line breaking. |
| Image | Bitmap pictures, often representing real scenes as viewed by a camera, as opposed to text or line graphics. |
| Imposition | In printing, the arranging of pages on a larger sheet in the correct order and orientation so that when the sheet is folded the pages will appear in order. |
| Indentation | Insetting a line of text in from the margin, as at the beginning of a paragraph or within an outline, or to set off a quotation. |
| Italic | A type design that is both slanted and script like cursive. It was originally designed to replicate handwriting. |
| Jaggies | The stepped effect of bit-mapped type and graphics caused when square pixels represent diagonal or curved lines. |
| Justification | Generically, placing lines of text in a particular relationship to one or both margins. As distinct from flush left or flush right, justified text has both the left and right margins even. |
| Kern | To alter the fit of certain letter combinations so that the limb of one projects over or under the body or limb of another. |
| Landscape orientation | A layout wider than it is high, whether on screen or paper. |
| Leading | Originally a horizontal strip of soft metal used for vertical spacing between lines of type. Now meaning the vertical distance from the baseline of one line to the baseline of the next. |
| Left justify | Setting text against the left margin, that is, with unused space all placed at the right. Also called ragged right. |
| Legibility | The ease with which text is read in ordinary, continuous reading, usually gauged by reading speed and error rate. Also, Readability. |
| Letterform | A single glyph or letter, such as might be found on a page or screen. Also, the design of such a letter. |
| Letterpress | Traditional method of relief printing in which individual pieces of type, called sorts, are assembled from cases into lines and blocks of text and printed by inking and direct contact with paper. |
| Letterspacing | Adjustment of the interletter space within words so as to achieve equal optical space, or sometimes line justification. |
| Ligature | Two or more letters tied into a single character to perfectly design their spatial interaction. |
| Lines per inch (LPI) | The spatial resolution of a device, photographic emulsion, and so forth, expressed as the greatest number of parallel lines per inch that can be resolved. Related only indirectly to dots per inch, which specifies addressing resolution, but not the greatest number of lines that can be sensed or created, which will be at least two times smaller. |
| Logotype | A typographic trademark or symbol, frequently using distorted letterforms. See advice on Logotype design. |
| Lowercase | Small letters used in printing that evolved from the Caroline minuscules of approximately 800 A. D. So called because. they are found in the lower part of the printer's type case. |
M
| Margin | The blank space to the left, right, above, and below the text on a page. Margins may contain up to 50% of the area of a well-designed book page. |
| Monospaced printing | Printing in which each letter or symbol occupies the same horizontal space. |
O
| Oblique | A slanted type design, following the letter shapes of the roman variation, as opposed to italic, which is also cursive. |
| Offset printing | Printing method in which an image is developed on one surface and transferred (offset) onto another, and eventually onto the paper. |
| Oldstyle typeface | A group of typefaces typified by oblique, bracketed serifs. |
| Optical spacing | Positioning of letters so that they are perceived as having equal spaces between them. Exact geometric spacing does not have this property. |
| Orphan | A header or the first line of a paragraph that appear as the last line on a page. |
| Outline font description | Specification of the shapes of letters by defining their boundaries (to be filled with the ink colour). |
| Pagination | Laying out the parts of a document into pages. |
| Perception | Seeing and understanding objects by human beings. |
| Pica | A unit of typographic measure, equal to 12 points, or about 1/6 inch. Also, a typewriter (monospaced) typeface with a pitch of 10 characters to the inch and a vertical spacing of six lines per inch (hence the name). |
| Pixel | A picture element, which is also called a pel. The spot of graphical information displayed at a single location on a screen or other output device, or on paper. |
| Point | A unit of measure used by printers, equal to 1/72 inch. See also Didot point. |
| Point size | The height of a font, expressed in points. |
| Portrait orientation | A vertical-format page or screen, one higher than it is wide. |
| PostScript | A page-description language developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. |
| Prefix | The sequence of specifying instructions and data in which the operation precedes the data. For example, adding one and two would be done as + 1 2. Prefix is also referred to as Polish notation. In the case of a user interface, prefix order requires that the operation be identified, and then the operand or operands. |
| Proof | A working copy of typeset material printed for the purpose of checking content and format and of making corrections. |
| Proportional spacing | Printing in which each letter or symbol occupies an amount of horizontal space that depends upon its design. |
R
| Ragged right | Left-justified text that is flush with the left margin and ragged at the right margin. Unused space in each line is at its right. |
| Raster device | A device that produces an image by scanning it as a series of lines. |
| Readability | The speed at which continuous text can be read. Also Legibility. |
| Resolution | The fineness of position and detail produced by an output device or sampled by an input device. |
| Roman | The classical style of type that is upright, as opposed to oblique, is of normal weight as opposed to light or bold, and has graduated thick and thin strokes as opposed to being cursive. |
| Rule | A thin line, either vertical or horizontal, often used to separate parts of a table or columns of text. |
| Running head | Text such as the title, chapter, or section headings that is repeated on the tops of pages of a book. |
| Sans serif | A typeface without serifs. See our Typeface Classification Guide. |
| Script | A form of typeface based on writing, having generally continuous strokes that connect letters. See our Typeface Classification Guide. |
| Serif | A small stroke at the end of the main strokes of letterforms. Typefaces with serifs are called serif typefaces and those without, sans serif typefaces.See our Typeface Classification Guide. |
| Smoothing | An interpolation technique that attempts to remove jaggedness from bitmap images, which may be useful, for example, when screen bitmaps are printed at higher resolution. |
| Space | The part of the printed page that is not occupied by print or other images. The ground or complement of the image. |
| Spot size | The dimension of the region illuminated by the electron beam in a CRT. Since the spot has soft edges, the spot size is measured between the 50% luminance points. |
| Spread | The broadening of letter features because of the spreading of ink in the printing process. For example, letters are broadened when printed through a cloth ribbon. stem. A main (vertical) stroke in a letterform. |
| Subscript | Letters or symbols positioned slightly below the baseline within a line of text and generally smaller in size. |
| Swash letters | Fancy alternative decorative letters, usually available only in italic capitals. |
| Symbol | Any graphic form such as a letter, number, punctuation mark, or mathematical sign. |
| Tables | Rectangular arrangements of text, numbers, or other textual information. Tables generally float in documents, and may be positioned in a number of places relative to the text that refers to them. |
| Text | Any sequence of graphic symbols. |
| Type | Originally metal type, now a typeface design or some typeset text. |
| Typeface | A distinctive, visually consistent design for the symbols in an alphabet. |
| Typesetter | A machine for setting type. Professional digital typesetters that output on photographic paper have printing resolutions between about 700 and 5000 dpi. |
| Type size | The size of a typeface, measured from line to line, when no additional interline space is added. Digital typefaces may not have an inherent size, as did metal typefaces. |
| Typewriter fonts | Usually monospaced typefaces, in the style of traditional typewriter typefaces, now used to indicate computer printout or a typewritten style of document. |
| Typographer | A professional designer of type, books, magazines, and other printed matter. |
| Typography | The art and practice of designing type, books and other printed matter according to aesthetic and scientific principles. |
| Uppercase | A capital letter, so called because of the placement of capital letters in a printer's type case. |
| Uncial | Uncial (pronounced un:shel) is a term applied to a particular calligraphic style based on ancient lettering, and is often considered the most expressive calligraphy. Typically an uncial face features a combination of capital and lowercase letterforms without the separate capital set and lowercase set that we're accustomed to. |
| Visibility | The degree to which letters or words can be identified and discriminated, without regard to the speed of reading. |
| Weight | Heaviness or blackness of letters. Numerically, the ratio of the widths of vertical strokes to the x-height. |
| Widow | The last line of a paragraph that appears at the top of a page. |
| Word processing | Preparation of text in document form. The term is now dated, suggesting text-only documents and impact printing, as opposed to typeset compound documents. |
| WYSIWYG | Acronym for What You See Is What You Get, used to describe interactive editing or formatting in which a facsimile of the paper output is presented on the screen, coined by Doug Engelbart. |
| X-Height | The height of a lowercase letter 'x' in a particular font. |