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Font Characteristics
A font is described by its Symbol Set and font characteristics, such as, Typeface, Point Size, Pitch, Spacing, Stroke Weight and Style.
Symbol Set: A Symbol Set relates to the unique set of all available alphanumeric, punctuation, and special symbols in a font. More than one Symbol Set can be used by one font, e.g., the math symbol set, legal symbol set, and
Typefaces: Times Roman abcdefABCDEF&%!Helvetica abcdefABCDEF 12345&%!
Typeface relates to the design of all the characters and symbols that make up a font, including serif and sans serif design. Times Roman displays the serif design, Helvetica displays the san serif design.
Point Size: 8 Point abcdefABCDEF12345&%! 12 Point abcdefABCDEF 12345&%!
Point size relates to font height, and is measured in points at 72 points per inch. Point size is fixed in a bitmapped font, and variable in a scalable font.
Pitch: Courier 10 Point 12 Pitch Courier 12 Point 10 Pitch
Pitch relates to the number of characters per horizontal inch. Fonts have either fixed pitch or proportional spacing. Proportional spacing means the number of characters per inch is variable. A 12 pitch font, for example, prints 12 characters per horizontal inch.
Spacing: Fixed Spacing Courier 10 Proportional Spacing Times Roman 10
Spacing relates to the amount of space allotted to each character, as for [i] and [x]. In Fixed Spacing, each character occupies either the same amount of space and is fixed. In Proportional Spacing, each character space varies according to the width of the character and is proportional. Whether Fixed or Proportional, the specified amount of space allotted to characters is specified for the entire font.
Stroke Weight: Helvetica Narrow abcdefABCDEF12345&%! Helvetica Bold abcdefABCDEF12345&%! Stroke weight relates to print thickness of each character and is measured in terms of light (as in Helvetica Narrow), medium (as in Helvetica), and bold (as in Helvetica Bold).
Style: Helvetica Oblique abcdefABCDEF12345&%!
Style relates to posture (upright, italics), width (condensed, normal, expanded), and structure (outline, solid, shadow).
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