TrueType Clipping Related to Complex Clipping Regions

• Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.1, 3.11

SUMMARY

With the introduction of TrueType fonts, many characters have negative "a" spacing. That is, these characters have an underhang such that a portion of these characters is under the body of the preceding character. An example of this is an italic "f". The bottom of the "f" is below the "i" in "if."

When the visible area of the window is not a complete rectangle (another application's windows might be covering a corner of the window), the bottom of the character that is supposed to be displayed to the left of the starting position is chopped off. This effect is called a "complex clipping region."

MORE INFORMATION

To view this, do the following:

1. Open Write and maximize it.

2. Open up Clock and choose "Always On Top."

3. Return to Write. The window will now have a complex clipping region because of Clock's window being on top of it.

4. Choose Times New Roman Italic, 36 point, and type in "f". Note that the bottom left of the "f" is clipped off. This doesn't happen if the clock isn't on top.