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

Tail:
A descending stroke of the capital Q, a tail can also be seen on the diagonal stroke of the K, k and R.
Terminal:
The end of a stroke which does not usually have a serif. See also ‘ball terminal’.
Text:
Often used to distinguish the main copy in a book or on a page from headings and other elements, running heads, folios, footnotes, etc. Sometimes ‘main text’.
Thick space:
A fixed space that measures one-third of an em in width.
Tracking:
Altering the spacing between characters of a word or words. Distinct from kerning, which usually alters the spacing between character pairs only.
True Italic:
This fonts contain a complete set of genuine italic glyphs (as opposed to slanted or obliqued glyphs) for the Latin characters in a Japanese font.
True Type Font:
Before OpenType was introduced, TrueType was the standard font format for the Mac OS and Windows operating systems. The TrueType format combined for the first time in one single file the information for printer and screen display. TrueType fonts may include special hinting for improved screen display (such as XSF).
Typeface:
The shape of a character in an alphabet with letters, number and symbols, which is identified by a family name e. g., “Helvetica™” or “Compatil™”.
Typeface Family:
Variants of different typefaces, which in stroke width (e. g., Helvetica Roman, Bold, Black), slope (e. g., Helvetica Italic), width (e. g., Helvetica Condensed, Extended) or embellishment (e. g., Helvetica Rounded) have a common design form and which are collectively combined under a joint family name.
Typeface System:
Several typeface families of various typeface styles with a similar design form. (e. g., Compatil™ Exquisit, Compatil Fact, Compatil Letter, Compatil Text, or Diverda™ Sans and Diverda Serif).
Type Size:
(sometimes Fontstyle)
see ‘point size’.
Type Styles:
One version of a typeface family, e.g. Helvetica Roman or Helvetica Bold is a type style.
Typography:
The arts and sciences related to type: type design, typesetting, printing, kerning, and otherwise communicating with type.