Microsoft KB Archive/64015

Common Typographical Terms

PSS ID Number: Q64015 Article last modified on 03-07-1997

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========================================================= 1.00 3.00 3.01 3.02 4.00 5.00 MACINTOSH kbother SUMMARY ======= ———————————————————————- The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 1.0, 1.05, 3.0, 3.01 3.02, 4.0, 5.0 ———————————————————————-

The following are some common typographical terms that may be used when discussing the word-processing capabilities of Microsoft Word for the Macintosh:

Term Definition —- ———-

Ascender The part of a lowercase letter that rises above the main body of the letter, as in b, d, and h

Baseline The invisible line that runs along the bottom of a row of letters

Descender The part of a lowercase letter or number that extends below the baseline

Elite A 12-pitch monospaced font

Em A horizontal measurement equal to the point size of a font (for example, in a 12-point font, an em is 12 points wide)

En A horizontal measurement equal to one half of an em

Kern To adjust the horizontal spacing between letters

Leading The amount of vertical spacing between two adjacent lines of text, measured in points (pronounced “ledding”)

Line spacing The amount of vertical spacing between the baselines of two adjacent lines of text, measured in points

Mean line The invisible line that runs along the tops of lowercase letters without ascenders (for example, a, x, n, and so on)

Monospaced Refers to fonts in which each letter has the same width, for example, Courier or Monaco

Pica One sixth of an inch; also, a 10-pitch monospaced font

Pitch The number of characters of a monospaced font in one horizontal inch

Point 1/72 of an inch; the standard unit of measurement for type

Proportional Refers to fonts in which different letters have differing horizontal spacing on a line, for example, Times or New York.

Sans serif Used to describe a font that has no serifs (for example, Helvetica)

Serif The short cross stroke on the ends of letters in some fonts (for example, Times Roman)

X-height The height in a given font of the lowercase “x” (also the distance between the baseline and the mean line)

KBCategory: kbother KBSubcategory: Additional reference words: 1.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 1.00 3.00 3.01 3.02 4.00 macword5 5.00 macword ====================================================================== ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1997.