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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, punc-
tuation, and special symbols in a font. More than one Symbol Set can be used by one
font, e.g., a math symbol set, legal symbol set, or Roman-8 symbol set.
Typefaces: Times Roman abcdefABCDEF&%!Helvetica abcdefABCDEF 12345&%!
Typeface relates to the design of all the characters and symbols that make up a font, e.g.,
serif or sans serif design.
12 Point abcdefABCDEF 12345&%!
Point Size:
8 Point abcdefABCDEF12345&%!
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.
Courier 12 Point 10
Pitch: Courier 10 Point 12 Pitch
Pitch
Pitch relates to the number of characters per horizontal inch. Fonts have either
fixed pitch or proportional spacing, i.e., 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]. Each
character occupies either the same amount of space and is fixed, or each character space
varies according to the width of the character, and is proportional. The 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, medium, and bold.
Style: Helvetica Oblique abcdefABCDEF12345&%!
Style relates to posture (upright, italics), width (condensed, normal, expanded), and
structure (outline, solid, shadow).
2-70 Printer Drivers
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