orientation

Refers to the direction in which characters are printed on a page. This direction is either portrait with the text printed across the width of the page, or landscape with the text printed across the length of the page.

outline font

A font defined by mathematical equations. Outline fonts allow certain attributes, such as size and orientation, to be changed. Also called scalable font.

parallel interface

See interface.

parity

A method of checking the reliability of serial data transmission between the computer and printer.

pitch

A measure of character width. Characters can be fixed pitch, where the width is the same for all characters, or proportionally spaced, with varying width. Pitch is a measure of the number of characters per inch (cpi) for fixed-pitch fonts.

point size

The height of a particular typeface as measured from the top of the tallest character to the bottom of the lowest. A point is a typographic unit of measure equivalent to l/72 of an inch.

portrait

Printing that is oriented upright on the page (as opposed to landscape, in which printing is oriented sideways on the page). This is the standard orientation for printing letters or documents.

printer driver

See driver.

GL-8 Glossary