Article ID: 76388
Article Last Modified on 11/16/2006
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
- Microsoft Publisher 1.0a
- Microsoft Publisher 2.0 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Publisher 2.0a
- Microsoft Publisher 3.0 Standard Edition
This article was previously published under Q76388
SUMMARY
There are several methods typographers can use to measure character spacing (kerning) and line spacing (leading). Listed below are the definitions, and typical conversions you might need to employ.
POINT
"Point" is a unit of measurement used in typography that is equal to 1/72 inch. It is used primarily for representing the height of characters and the amount of space between lines, also known as leading.
Pitch Transferred to Points
120 / Pitch = Points
For example: 12 Pitch = 120 / 12 = 10 Points
PICA
"Pica" refers to a unit of measurement equal to 1/6 of an inch or 12 points. Pica and points can be used interchangeably and many typographers use pica as their standard unit of measurement.
Points Transferred to Pica
Points / 12 = Pica
For example: 24 Points = 24 Points / 12 = 2 Pica
PITCH
"Pitch" describes the width of a character. Pitch equals the number of characters that can fit side-by-side in 1 inch; for example, 10 pitch equals 10 characters-per-inch or 10 CPI. Pitch is a term generally used with non-proportional (fixed-width) fonts.
Point Transferred to Pitch
120 / Points = Pitch
For example: 10 point = 120 / 10 = 12 Pitch
TWIP
"Twip" is a unit of measurement equal to 1/20th of a printers point. There are 1440 twips to and inch, 567 twips to a centimeter
Points Transferred to Twips
20 * Points = Twips
For example: 10 Points = 20 * 10 Points = 200 Twips
MORE INFORMATION
The following is a conversion table for some of the common point sizes you'll encounter.
Inches Picas Points Pitch Twips
(1/6") (1/72") (CPI) (1/1440")
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.08 .5 6 20.0 120
.10 .6 7 17.1 140
.11 .7 8 15.0 160
.13 .8 9 13.3 180
.14 .8 10 12.0 200
.15 .9 11 10.9 220
.17 1.0 12 10.0 240
.18 1.1 13 9.2 260
.19 1.2 14 8.6 280
.21 1.3 15 8.0 300
.22 1.3 16 7.5 320
.24 1.4 17 7.1 340
.25 1.5 18 6.7 360
.26 1.6 19 6.3 380
.28 1.7 20 6.0 400
.29 1.8 21 5.7 420
.31 1.8 22 5.5 440
.32 1.9 23 5.2 460
.33 2.0 24 5.0 480
.35 2.1 25 4.8 500
.36 2.2 26 4.6 520
.38 2.3 27 4.4 540
.39 2.3 28 4.3 560
.40 2.4 29 4.1 580
.42 2.5 30 4.0 600
.43 2.6 31 3.9 620
.44 2.7 32 3.8 640
.46 2.8 33 3.6 660
.47 2.8 34 3.5 680
.49 2.9 35 3.4 700
.50 3.0 36 3.3 720
Additional query words: win31 win30 pub10 pub20 pub3 pub95 pub97
Keywords: kbgraphic kbinfo kbprint KB76388
