| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Ascender | he part of a lowercase letter, as b, d, f, h, that rises above x-height. |
| Barb | A type of half serif on the horizontal arms of E, F, L and T |
| Bitmap | A binary representation in which a bit or set of bits corresponds to some part of an object such as an image or font |
| Beak | A type of half serif found on the horizontal arms of E, F, L, and T |
| Bowl | The curved stroke that encloses a space within a character |
| Byline | Line that precedes the text of a story or article and names the writer of the piece |
| Character | Single Letter, number, or other symbol used to represent information |
| Cold Type | The term for photocomposed type, in which ne heat is required for typesetting |
| Column | Area of copy that runs vertically down the page of a newspaper or magazine |
| Column Rule | A line used between two columns of type |
| Concave | Curving Inward |
| Convex | Curving or bulging outward |
| Copy | All written or textural material in an advertisement |
| Copy Fit | The process of specifying type in a particular font intended to fit into a designed area in the final composition |
| Counter | A negative space within a character that may be fully or partially enclosed |
| Credit | The small text next to the photograph or illustration that indicates the artist or photographers name |
| Cross Bar | The horizontal or oblique stroke connected at both ends as in an A or H |
| Crotch | The pointed space where an arm or arc meets a stem |
| Descender | That part of a lowercase letter that extends below the main body of the letter |
| EM | Unit of measure of print type equal tot he square of a type letter |
| Extender | A term used to refer to both ascenders and descenders |
| Eye | The counter of enclosed area at the top of the lowercase e |
| Fillet | Also called bracketing, this refers to the curve of straighter connection between the stroke of a letterform and the serif |
| Finial | The non-serif ending added to a stroke which is classified as ball, swash, spur, or hook |
| Flag | decorative, curved strokes connected tot he stem of an uppercase gothic or black letter face |
| Fleuron | A decorative typesetting unit that may be assembled into borders and fanciful dividers, often floral in appearance |
| Flush Left | A typesetting term for the specification of line or paragraph alignment along a right-hand margin; the rag or rag-left edge is inferred if it is not specified |
| Folio | The page number |
| Furniture | In typesetting, this term refers to the wood or metal spacing material that is used to fill extra spaces int he chase around handset type to assist in locking it into place |
| Gravure | Also called intaglio, the printing process in which the plate is etched and the ink lies on the resulting grooves |
| Hairline Stroke | The secondary Stroke of the letterform, usually thinner |
| Hanging Cap | Also referred to as a hanging initial, a hanging cap is set larger than the body text and extends beyond the left margin of the body text and extends beyond the left margin of the rest of the para. |
| Hanging Indent | A typesetting instruction used to indicate that the first line of a paragraph is set flush left while following lines are indented |
| Hanging Punctuation | Punctuation set outside the margin so that the type aligns visually along the right or left side of the paragraph either flush left or flush right |
| Head Margin | The space above the type, appearing on every page |
| Header | The top portion of information that may be included in the head margin of a publication |
| IBC | Inside back cover |
| IFC | Inside Front cover |
| Inferior Character | Also called subscript, a small character or set of characters placed below the baseline of text |
| Inline | A typeface that incorporates a white line inside the letterform to simulate the illusion of a raised surface or chiseled three-dimensional quality |
| Intaglio | Also known as Gravure |
| Kerning | Typesetting technique that overlaps the edges of two type characters to provide the illusion of even spacing and to reduce the amount of white space between letters |
| Leading | Spacing between lines |
| Leg | Stroke that extends downward at less than 90 degrees is a leg, as seen on the letters k, K, R |
| Letterpress | the printing method in which the raised surface of the type or blocks, transfers the ink onto the paper with the application of pressure |
| Ligature | A combo of two or more characters that are joined into one form which are not commonly combined |
| Line Length | Refers to line measure |
| Line Spacing | Another term for leading |
| Lining Figures | Numerals that align against the baseline of the font and are the same height as the uppercase letterforms |
| Link | The stroke connecting the bowl and loop of the lowercase g |
| Linotype | hot metal typesetting system |
| Logogram | a single written symbol that represents an entire work or phrase without indicating it pronunciation |
| Loop | The lower portion of the lowercase g |
| Main stem | The thickest stroke of a character |
| Majuscule | The capital version of a Letterform |
| Masthead | Defines the name on page one of a newspaper or periodical |
| Mean Line | The imaginary line defining the height of lowercase letters excluding ascenders |
| Minus | Negative space setting between typeset characters |
| Minusing | Decreasing the space between typeset characters in text settings |
| Monospacing | Refers to fonts which each character occupies the same amount of space |
| Monotone | Also referred to as monoline, a typeface in which all of the strokes appear to be the same thinkness |
| Mutt Dash | An alternative term for an em dash |
| Orphan | The first line of a paragraph left at the bottom of a column of type, separated from the rest of the paragraph or last line of a paragraph set at the top of a new column |
| Pagination | Process of numbering pages |
| Pica | Type setting unit of measure |
| Pull Quote | A phrase from the body text that is set larger |
| Run In | A head incorporated into the first line of body copy or introductory phrase of body text commonly set larger, bolder, in italic, small caps, diff font |
| Set Solid | A typesetting term that refers to type with no additional leading between the lines |
| Shoulder | Curved portion of the stroke of a letterform that connects to a straight stroke |
| Side Head | A heading set tot he side of the page or column of text |
| Spine | Main curved stroke of the letter s |
| Splayed | Defines the stem of a character that is wider at the top and the bottom than it is toward the center |
| Spur | The nodule descending from the vertical stroke of an uppercase G connecting the straight stroke to the curved stroke |
| Stem Stroke | The main stroke of a character |
| Stroke | Any line reguired as part of the basic construction of a letterform, not including serifs or swashes |
| Swash | A fancy flourish that replaces the terminal or serif on scripts and alternate characters |
| Tail | A stroke or arc of a character starting from a mail stroke or structure of a letterfrom and extending downward with one end free as seen in R, K, Q |
| Terminal | The free end of a stroke |
| Tilde | Grapheme, that when used as a diacritic mark is placed above an n in some orthographies to indicate a palatalized sound |
| Tittle | Name of the dot above the i |
| Vertex | The outer downward juncture of two angled stems where the resulting point touches just below the baseline |
| Waist Line | The invisible or imaginary horizontal rule that indicates the top of the body height of the lowercase letters, also called the x-height |
| Widow | The line at the end of a typeset paragraph that is less than half the column width usually one or two words |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace
!