WD: WD: Typography Terminology for Fonts

• Microsoft Word for Windows versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.1a, 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

The following is a glossary of some common typographic terms you may encounter when working with fonts in Windows:

   Term         Definition
   ----         ----------

   Ascender     An ascender is the portion of a lowercase character
                that extends above its main body, as in the vertical
                stem of the character "d."

   Baseline     The baseline is an imaginary line upon which the
                characters in a line of type rest. Leading
                (pronounced "ledding") is measured from baseline to
                baseline.

   Descender    A descender is the portion of a lowercase character
                that extends below the baseline, as in "y" or "g."

   Em space     A space that is as wide as the height of the font.

   En space     A space that is half as wide as the height of the
                font.

   Font         A font is the implementation, for a specific device,
                of one typeface.

   Kerning      Kerning is the process of decreasing space between two
                characters for improved readability, such as tucking a
                lowercase o under an uppercase T. A variation of
                kerning, called tracking, involves decreasing the
                amount of space between all characters by a specified
                percentage.

   Leading      Leading is the amount of vertical space between lines
                of text.

   Point        The smallest unit of measure in typography, a point
                equals about 1/72 of an inch.

   Pica         A pica is a unit of measurement equal to 12 points.
                There are about 6 picas in one inch.

   Sans serif   Sans serif means without serifs and refers to a
                character (or typeface) that lacks serifs (such as
                Helvetica).

   Serif        A serif is an ornamental aspect of a character. A
                serif typeface is one whose characters contain serifs
                (such as Times Roman).

   Typeface     A typeface is a unique design of upper- and lower-
                case characters, numerals, and special symbols.

   x-height     x-height is the height of a lowercase character in a
                given font.

   http://www.microsoft.com/truetype/content.htm