On 3/18/15 11:15 PM, Nathan Andelin wrote:
Not sure what you mean by set-width.
Some typographic terms, that might actually be of interest to some of you:
Point size is the measurement of a font, from the highest ascender down
to the lowest descender. In foundry type, Monotype, and wood display
type, it is also the measurement of the type body, along that same axis.
Cap height is the measurement from the height of the capital letters
(and it's entirely possible for ascenders on lowercase letters to extend
beyond the hightest capital) to the baseline.
X-height is the height of the lowercase "x" (and of other lowercase
letters that have neither ascenders nor descenders), measured from the
baseline.
SET WIDTH is the width of a single character, or of a particular
combination of characters and spacing material.
An em-quad (or "molly" or "mutton") is the basic unit of spacing: the
set width is the same as the point-size, and in a font that is neither
extended nor condensed, it is the width of a lowercase "m" (hence the term).
An en-quad (or "nut") is half an em-quad, and likewise the natural width
of a lowercase "n." It's also the most natural word space for type that
is set in ALL CAPS.
A 3-em space is a third of an em-quad, and is the most natural word
space for type that is set in upper and lower case.
Foundry type spacing material is supplied in fixed increments (from a
3-em quad, a piece 3 ems wide, down to a 5-em space, only a fifth of an
em, and a hairspace, even thinner). Ludlow spacing material is in fixed
increments from 9 picas down to 1 point. Linotypes have em quads, en
quads, "thin" spaces, and spacebands, which are variable in width, and
used to justify lines.
A FONT is a collection of glyphs, in a single typeface. In all forms of
metal (and wood) type, and in bitmap fonts, it is a single face at a
single point size. In digital outline fonts, and certain photographic
systems, it is a single face, scalable to any point size within limits.
--
JHHL
midrange.com
