Typography Vocabulary List with Definitions

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Alignment – Precise arrangement of letterforms upon an imaginary horizontal or vertical line

Ampersand – Typographic characters representing the word

Base Alignment – A typesetter or printer specification that the baseline for all letters should be horizontal, even in a line of mixed sizes or styles; also called baseline alignment.

Baseline – An imaginary horizontal line upon which the base of each capital letter rests.

Bezier curves – A type of curve with nonuniform arcs, as opposed to curves with uniform curvature, which are called arcs. A Bezier curve is defined by specifying control points that set the shape of the curve, and are used to create letter shapes and other computer graphics.

Bitmap – A computerized image made up of dots. These are ‘mapped’ onto the screen directly from corresponding bits in memory. Also referred to as paint format.

C. and L.C. – Used in marking copy, to instruct the typesetter touse capitals and lowercase.

Cap height – Height of the capital letters, measured from the baseline to the cap line.

Caps – Letters larger than – and often differing from – the corresponding lowercase letters.

Caption – Title, explanation, or description accompanying an illustration or photograph.

Cascading Style Sheets – Web-site design software permitting the specification of type characteristics such as type size, letter-, and line-spacing.

Character – Symbol, sign, or mark in a language system.

Colophon – Inscription frequently placed at the end of a book that contains facts about its production.

Column guide – Nonprinting lines that define the location of columns of type.

Condensed – Letter forms whose horizontal width has been compressed.

Copyfitting – Calculating the area that will be occupied by a given manuscript when set in a specified size and style of type.

Counter – Space enclosed by the strokes of a letterform.

Cursor – Term for the pointer or insertion point on a computer screen.

Drop Initial – Display letterform set into the text.

Egyptian – Typefaces characterized by slab-like serifs similar in weight to the main strokes.

Ellipses – Three dots used to indicate an omission in quoted material.

Em – The square of the body size of any type, used as a unit of measure. In some expanded or condensed faces, the em is also expanded or condensed from the square proportion.

Em dash – A dash one em long. Also called a long dash.

Em Leader – Horizontal dots or dashes with one em between their centers.

En – One-half of an em.

En Dash – A dash one en long. Also called a short dash.

EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) – A computer format for encoding pictures. These can be stored, edited, transferred, and output in the form of structured PostScript code.

Expanded – Letterforms whose horizontal width has been extended.

Export – To send text, graphics, or layouts created in one program from the computer memory in a form suitable for use with other programs.

Face – The part of metal type that is inked for printing. Also another word for typeface.

Family (Type Family) – The complete range of variation of a typeface design, including roman, italic, hold, expanded, condensed, and other versions.

Fit – Refers to the spatial relationship between letters after they are set into words and lines.

Flush left (or right) – The vertical alignment of lines of type at the left (or right) edge of a column.

Folio – Page number.

Font – A complete set of characters in one design, size, and style. In traditional metal type, a font meant a particular size and style; in digital typography a font can output multiple sizes and even altered styles of a typeface design.

Footer – An identifying line, such as a page number and/or a chapter title, appearing in the bottom margin of a document. Footers repeated throughout a document are called running footers or running feet.

Format – The overall typographic and spatial schema established for a publication or any other application.

Grayscale – An arbitrary scale of monochrome intensity ranging from black and white, with a fixed number of intermediate shades of gray.

Grid – Underlying structure composed of a linear framework used by designers to organize typographic and pictorial elements. Also, a film configuration and used in phototype settings.

Gutter – Inner margin of a page in a publication.

Hairline – Thinnest stroke on a typeface having stokes of varying weight.

Hanging Indent – In composition, a column format in which the first line of type is set to a full measure while all additional lines are indented.

Hanging Punctuation – Punctuation set outside the column measure to achieve an optical alignment.

Header – An identifying line at the top margin of a document. A header can appear on every page and can include text, pictures, page numbers, the date, and the time. Headers repeated throughout a document are called running headers or running hears.

Heading – Copy that is given emphasis over the body of text, through changes in size, weight, or spatial interval.

Icon – A pictorial representation. The elemental pictures on a computer screen used to represent disk drives, files, applications, and tools, etc., are called icons.

Import – To transfer text, graphics, or layouts into a program in a form suitable for its use.

Indent – An interval of space at the beginning of a line to indicate a new paragraph.

Initial – A large letter used at the beginning of a column; for example, at the beginning of a chapter.

Interletter Space – The spatial interval between letters, also called letterspacing.

Italic – Letterforms having a pronounced diagonal slant to the right.

Justified Text – Copy in which all lines of a text – regardless of the words they contain – have been made exactly the same length, so that they align vertically at both the left and right margins.

Kerning – In typesetting, kerning refers to the process of subtracting space between specific pairs of characters so that the overall letterspacing appears to be even.

Ligature – A typographic character produced by combining two or more letters.

Line Breaks – The relationships of line endings in a ragged-right or ragged-left setting. Rhythmic line breaks are achieved by adjusting the length of individual lines of type.

Line Spacing – The vertical distance between two lines of type measured from baseline to baseline. For example, ’10.12’ indicates 10-point type with 12 points base-to-base (that is, with 2 points of leading).

Masthead – The visual identification of a magazine or newspaper, usually a logotype. Also a section placed near the front of a newspaper or periodical containing information such as names and titles of publishers and staff, along with addresses.

Menu – A list of choices in a computer application, from which the user selects a desired action. In a computer’s desktop interface, menus appear when you point to and click on menu.

Negative – The reversal of a positive photographic image.

Oblique – A slanted roman character. Unlike many italics, oblique characters do not have cursive design properties.

Old Style – Typeface styles derived from fifteenth- to eighteenth-century designs, and characterized by moderate thick-and-thin contrasts, bracketed serifs, and handwriting influence.

Orphan – A single word on a line, left over at the end of a paragraph, sometimes appearing at the top of a column of text.

Outline Font – A font designed, not as a bitmap, but as outlines of the letter shapes that can be scaled to any size. Laser printers and image setters used outline fonts.

Paragraph Mark – Typographic elements that signal the beginning of a paragraph. For example, ¶.

Pica – Typographic unit of measurement; 12 points equal 1 pica. 6 picas equal approximately one inch. Line lengths and column widths are measured in picas.

Pixel – Stands for picture element; the smallest dot that can be displayed on a screen.

Point – A measurement of size used principally in typesetting. One point is equal to 1/12 of a pica, or approximately 1/72 of an inch. It is most often used to indicate the size of type or amount of leading added between lines.

Ragged – Lines of type set with equal interword spacing, resulting in irregular lines lengths. Also called Unjustified type.

Roman – Upright letterforms, as distinguished from italics. More specifically, letters in an alphabet style based on the upright serifed letterforms of Roman inscriptions.

Run-around – Type that is set with a shortened line measure to fit around a photograph, drawing, or other visual elements inserted into the running text.

Running Head – Type at the head of sequential pages, providing a title or publication name.

Sans serif – Typefaces without serifs.

Serif – Small elements added to the ends of the main strokes of a letterform in serified type styles.