What is a font?
A font is a collection of letters with a unique and common design consisting of capital and lowercase, in roman, italic, numerals, and special characters.
Parts of a letter:
|
This graphic shows the different parts of a letter and the name for each. The most common part of a letter that is known is the Serif (#3 in graphic). An example of a font with Serifs is Times which the word Times is set in. An example of a font with out Serifs (aka Sans Serif) is Verdana which the word Verdana is set in. The font this text is set in is also a Sans Serif font called Arial. |
|
Font style:
A font can have many different styles, Regular, Bold, Condensed, Italic, Black, Oblique, Underlined and others. These styles may also be combined to make other styles, for example you can have a Bold - Italic - Underlined font.
A side note on the use of font styles:
If you are going to use different font styles, it is recommended that you use a font that contains that style. Most word processing and page layout programs will allow you to make a font bold, italic etc., but they are just simulating the font. For best results use a font that contains the style you want. A simple example is Arial:
This text is in 14 point Arial that has been "bolded".
This text is in 14 point Arial Bold that is "normal".
This text is in 14 point Arial Bold that has been "bolded".
As you can see, the choice of font and style is very important.
Type sizes:
Type sizes are measured in points. A point is a small unit of measure, approximately 1/72nd of an inch. A good point size for the text of most books is 11 point or 12 point. A larger point size is sometimes used if the book is written primarily for children or the elderly. A larger point size can also be used to increase the amount of pages in a book. Point sizes may vary by font as shown in the following example
|
Point size |
Example |
|
8 |
Arial, Arial Bold, Comic Sans, Impact, Times, Verdana |
|
10 |
Arial, Arial Bold, Comic Sans, Impact, Times, Verdana |
|
12 |
Arial, Arial Bold, Comic Sans, Impact, Times, Verdana |
|
14 |
Arial, Arial Bold, Comic Sans, Impact, Times, Verdana |
|
18 |
Arial, Arial Bold, Comic Sans, Impact, Times, Verdana |
|
24 |
Arial, Arial Bold, Comic Sans, Impact, Times, Verdana |
|
36 |
Arial, Arial Bold, Comic Sans, Impact, Times, Verdana |
