Glossary
Letterforms
TYPE
DESIGN
Design
notes
Basics
Decisions
Modules
Bold
Scans
Spacing
Elbow
grease
Glossary
Anti-aliasing
The enlarged detail shows how grayscaling smooths the edges
of a bitmap.
Arm
A horizontal, free at one end.
Ascender
Part of a lower case letters that rises above the
x-height.
Ascii
American Standard Code of Information Interchange: a list of
128 numbered characters and print commands. Another 128 are
known as “upper-ascii” or
“extended-ascii.” Their arrangement is not a part
of the standard, and differs from one operating system to
the next.
Bar
A horizontal in such letters as A e t.
Baseline
An imaginary line that most characters seem to rest on.
Bézier
curve
Polynomial curve; an established standard in computer-aided
geometric design.
Bitmap
Letter image made of dots, especially in low-resolution,
where the dots can be seen.
Bowl
A curve that encloses a space in a character.
Cap
height
The height of capital letters.
Cap
line
An imaginary line at the top of capitals.
Character
set
A group of characters, numerals, symbols, and punctuation,
usually in the same style.
Counter
The white space inside a letter.
Descender
Part of a character that goes below the baseline.
Ear
Small stroke that sticks out of the to of the top of the
letter g.
Hairline
Thinnest part of a character, usually on a curve.
Kern
Part that goes outside the body of the character.
Kerning
Exceptions to character widths. In the example on the left,
the gap between the letters Y and e is too wide. In the
example on the right, the letter e has been shifted to the
left.
Midline
An imaginary line at the top of lower case letters without
ascenders.
Pixel
One dot on a computer screen, often equivalent to one
point.
Point
Typographic measure, about 1 / 72 of an inch.
Serif
A stroke at the beginning or the end of some
letterforms.
Shading
Thickening of a curve.
Sidebearings
The distance between either side of a character to the
boundaries of the character width.
Spine
The main curve of the letter s.
Stem
Main stroke, usually straight and upright.
Stress
Thickening of a curve.
x-height
1__The
distance from the baseline to the top of lower case letters
without ascenders.
2__The
proportion between the height of ascenders and lower case
letters without ascenders.
