Typeface
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| In [[typography]], a '''typeface''' is a set of one or more [[font|fonts]] designed with stylistic unity, each comprising a coordinated set of [[glyph]]s. A typeface usually comprises an [[alphabet]] of letters, [[numeral]]s, and [[punctuation]] marks; it may also include [[ideogram]]s and [[symbol]]s, or consist entirely of them, for example, [[mathematical]] or [[map making|map-making]] symbols. The term ''typeface'' is frequently conflated with ''[[font]]''; the two terms had more clearly differentiated meanings before the advent of [[desktop publishing]]. The current distinction between font and typeface is that a font designates a specific member of a type family such as roman, [[boldface]], or [[italic type]], while typeface designates a consistent visual appearance or style which can be a "family" or related set of fonts. For example, a given typeface such as [[Arial]] may include roman, bold, and italic fonts. In the metal type era, a font also meant a specific point size, but with digital scalable outline fonts this distinction is no longer valid, as a single font may be scaled to any size. | In [[typography]], a '''typeface''' is a set of one or more [[font|fonts]] designed with stylistic unity, each comprising a coordinated set of [[glyph]]s. A typeface usually comprises an [[alphabet]] of letters, [[numeral]]s, and [[punctuation]] marks; it may also include [[ideogram]]s and [[symbol]]s, or consist entirely of them, for example, [[mathematical]] or [[map making|map-making]] symbols. The term ''typeface'' is frequently conflated with ''[[font]]''; the two terms had more clearly differentiated meanings before the advent of [[desktop publishing]]. The current distinction between font and typeface is that a font designates a specific member of a type family such as roman, [[boldface]], or [[italic type]], while typeface designates a consistent visual appearance or style which can be a "family" or related set of fonts. For example, a given typeface such as [[Arial]] may include roman, bold, and italic fonts. In the metal type era, a font also meant a specific point size, but with digital scalable outline fonts this distinction is no longer valid, as a single font may be scaled to any size. | ||
| - | The art and craft of designing typefaces is called ''[[type design]]''. Designers of typefaces are called ''[[type designer]]s'', and often ''[[typographer]]s''. In digital typography, type designers are also known as ''[[font developer]]s'' or ''font designers''. | ||
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| - | The size of typefaces and [[font]]s is traditionally measured in [[Point (typography)|points]]; ''point'' has been defined differently at different times, but now the most popular is the Desktop Publishing point of 1/72 in. When specified in typographic sizes (points, kyus), the height of an ‘em-square’, an invisible box which is typically a bit larger than the distance from the tallest ascender to the lowest descender, is scaled to equal the specified size. For example, when setting Helvetica at 12 point, the em square defined in the Helvetica font is scaled to 12 points or 1/6 of an inch. Yet no particular element of 12-point Helvetica need measure exactly 12 points. | ||
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| - | Frequently measurement in non-typographic units (feet, inches, meters) will be of the ‘Cap-height’, the height of the capital letters. Font size is also commonly measured in [[millimeter]]s (mm) and ''q''s (a quarter of a millimeter, ''kyu'' in romanized Japanese) and [[inch]]es. | ||
| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | * [[Calligraphy]] | ||
| + | * [[Character (symbol)]] | ||
| + | * [[Font]] | ||
| + | * [[Language]] | ||
| + | * [[Type design]] | ||
| + | * [[Typesetting]] | ||
| + | * [[Typography]] | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
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In typography, a typeface is a set of one or more fonts designed with stylistic unity, each comprising a coordinated set of glyphs. A typeface usually comprises an alphabet of letters, numerals, and punctuation marks; it may also include ideograms and symbols, or consist entirely of them, for example, mathematical or map-making symbols. The term typeface is frequently conflated with font; the two terms had more clearly differentiated meanings before the advent of desktop publishing. The current distinction between font and typeface is that a font designates a specific member of a type family such as roman, boldface, or italic type, while typeface designates a consistent visual appearance or style which can be a "family" or related set of fonts. For example, a given typeface such as Arial may include roman, bold, and italic fonts. In the metal type era, a font also meant a specific point size, but with digital scalable outline fonts this distinction is no longer valid, as a single font may be scaled to any size.
See also
