Font Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X

Point, Pica, Didot:
A point is a unit of measure in typography. There are 3 sorts of points:
PostScript point or computer point (now the universal point in computers): 1 pt = 0.35277 mm = 0.01388889 in = 1/72 in.
Didot point (continental European point system): 1 dd = 0.375 mm = 0.014831 in, approx. 1/72 French royal inch (pouce).
American printer‘s point (Anglo-American point system): 1 pp = 0.3514598 mm = 0.013837 in, ca. 1/72 in.
Pixel:
Acronym for picture element. The smallest element in a raster image which can be turned on (printed) or off (not printed) to form an image (or bitmap) on a display screen or by any other form of digital output device.
Pitch:
Size designation of monospaced fonts – based on typewriter and line printer technology. Also refers to the measurement of the number of characters to an inch.
Pen Form:
An alphabet based on the lines made by a broad-nibbed pen, for example, ITC Zapf Chancery.
Parenthesis ():
As opposed to [] square brackets.
Point Size:
Type size designation. Type size is measured from the top of the ascender to the bottom of the descender, plus the white space between them when no additional space has been inserted (i.e. when ’set solid’).
PostScript:
A page layout language from the firm Adobe allowing almost every imaginable manipulation of every element of all forms and figures. Used primarily for texts and graphics on laser printers and photocomposition.
PostScript Font:
A PostScript font is composed of a printer font for the output on a printer or image developer and – under Mac OS – at least one screen font for the on-screen display of different point sizes.
Prelims:
The opening pages of a document before the text proper.
Pro (OpenType Pro):
Pro fonts conform with the Adobe OpenType “Pro” character set; see “OpenType Font Character Sets”.
Proportional Spaces Fonts:
Fonts in which each character has its own width, as opposed to monospaced fonts. For example, the “i” in a proportionally spaced font is usually much narrower than the “M.”
The Know How section offers detailed background knowledge to deal with all enquiries about the use of fonts.