Font

A type style ( font and style) is a variation of a font. Here, among other things, the strength, width and location of the font can be changed. Several related variations are referred to as font family.

Typefaces

A font family consists of at least one font. The word font dates from the lead sentence - then the steel templates for the lead letters had to be " cut " literally. At the latest with the transition to phototypesetting lost its actual meaning of the term. Nowadays, the type design is mainly done on the computer.

Usually vary typefaces from the following three award features a font:

• Font weight (eg lean, normal, bold )
• Font width (eg, narrow, normal, wide)
• Font location (eg normal, italic )

These features of a font can be used in any combination. For example, it may give meager writings, which are also still wide and italics.

Some font styles, the names of the sections are replaced or supplemented by numbers. Examples are the Frutiger and Univers fonts by Adrian Frutiger. It is a system of numbers (code), in which the digits of one - and tens of properties of this font are. The 5 thereby forming the center and is normal. The higher the tens place, the more fat is also the font weight (fats). The units digit is, however, the font width ( set width ) or writing position. Are usual typefaces 3-9, but not required to include any combination of numbers: for example, there is no Univers 77 ( Black Condensed ).

Based on nine font weight classes, nine classes and two character width font layers results in the enormous number of 162 possible different font styles. In fact, families are usually available in significantly fewer typefaces.

Many fonts for everyday use (bread fonts) are available in four standard variations: Normal, Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic - all with normal font width. Missing variants are especially simulated deficient of office software and browsers.

But there are still typefaces, vary the award other features than those mentioned above: Some fonts are also called outline drawings or shaded (see below ). Primitive award features such as underlining or locks need not have its own font style. Computer programs can now, as in former times the translator to perform such changes at any font.

For some fonts, there are extended character sets for other languages ​​(eg Polish, Icelandic, Turkish) or non-Latin alphabets (such as Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew ) or with decorative letters, decorative initials, small caps, old style figures, as fractions and ligatures. Such a comprehensive digital fonts had to about the turn of the millennium due to technical reasons several, numerous files are distributed in individual cases that are confusingly also called typefaces. At issue here but just not to font variants, which differ visually by the stylistic features mentioned above ( for example, line thickness, width ), but a technically conditional distribution of a large, stylistically homogeneous character set on multiple files. The OpenType format allows for the storage of such alternate character sets in a single file, so that nowadays no longer another font file is required for each of these options.

In the lead sentence and in electronic raster fonts also still required each font its own typeface. With vectorial font formats that is no longer necessary; Computer programs can scale the font size almost at will. However, fonts are high stroke contrast difficult to read in small font size, if not special font styles for small sizes are used. The same is true for indices or powers, which are also set smaller. Therefore, frequent special sections for the individual sizes are in high-quality journals now available again, one also speaks of "optical sizing".

Examples of typefaces

Variation of the font weight

The font weight, also known as line thickness, font thickness or fats, indicates how a font is black. Most fonts are available in at least two weights, normal and bold.

The table below are nine common font weight classes with their German and English names again. The terms of each class is the type foundry of course free. Some fonts are thinner or fatter than others act, so that the division is in the font weight classes also always a matter of taste. Often names are jumbled, named same font strengths differently, or the same term for quite different line thicknesses used. It is not uncommon that the 4th and the 5th not the base style.

Variation of the character width or Dickte

The width font or font character spacing, fachsprachlich called Dickte determines how wide are the letters.

The count can also occur from wide to narrow.

Variation of the font location

The writing attitude or pitch specifies whether a font is upright or inclined. One with the reading direction slanted font is called cursive. In addition to the skew to the right there is in European writings rarely even such to the left. The tilt also changes the shapes of lowercase letters.

• Cursive ( italic for true italics )
• Slant, slanted, inclined ( slanted, oblique or sloped roman for fake italics, correspond only to an inclined, upright script)

Special shapes

• Contour (outline)
• Shaded ( shaded )
• Distorted (distorted )

For special fonts ( small caps, numerals forms, ligatures, and other ), see above.

Mixed forms

All conceivable forms of writing can be combined in principle, which leads to a very large number of theoretically possible font styles. An example is the double award of a font by a bold italic font.

Real and artificially generated typefaces

In the professional print production only "real" font weights should be used. Each individual character is designed according to the characteristics of the font. Artificial, typefaces generated with computer programs suffice in most cases not the aesthetic demands and prepare, inter alia, upon exposure problems. Significantly different from, say, software slanted letters from a designer designed italics.