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{{Short description|Set of characters that share common design features}}
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{{Redirect|Font family|the CSS property|Font family (HTML)}}
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[[File:A Specimen by William Caslon.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''A Specimen'', a broadsheet with examples of typefaces and fonts available. Printed by [[William Caslon]], letter founder; from the 1728 ''[[Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences|Cyclopædia]]''.]]

A '''typeface''' (or '''font family''') is a design of [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]]s, [[Numerical digit|number]]s and other [[symbol]]s, to be used in printing or for electronic display.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=typeface |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/typeface |encyclopedia=Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary |access-date=22 December 2019}}</ref> Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, bold), slope (e.g., italic), width (e.g., condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a [[font]].

There are [[list of typefaces|thousands of different typefaces]] in existence, with new ones being developed constantly.

The art and craft of designing typefaces is called [[type design]]. Designers of typefaces are called [[type designer]]s and are often employed by [[type foundry|type foundries]]. In [[desktop publishing]], type designers are sometimes also called "font developers" or "font designers" (a [[typographer]] is someone who ''uses'' typefaces to design a page layout).

Every typeface is a collection of [[glyph]]s, each of which represents an individual letter, number, punctuation mark, or other symbol. The same glyph may be used for [[character (symbol)|character]]s from different [[writing systems]], e.g. Roman uppercase [[A]] looks the same as [[Cyrillic]] uppercase [[А]] and Greek uppercase [[alpha]] (Α). There are typefaces tailored for special applications, such as [[cartography]], [[astrology]] or [[mathematics]].

==Terminology==
[[Image:Metal type.svg|thumb|right|200px|'''Diagram of a cast metal sort'''. '''a''' face, '''b''' body or shank, '''c''' point size, '''1''' shoulder, '''2''' nick, '''3''' groove, '''4''' foot.]]
In professional [[typography]],{{efn|The art and craft of designing pages (and books) ''using'' typefaces and other devices.}} the term ''typeface'' is not interchangeable with the word ''[[font]],''{{efn|[[Archaism|archaically]] "fount" in British English, and pronounced "font"}} because the term font has historically been defined as a given alphabet and its associated characters in a single size. For example, 8-point Caslon Italic was one font, and 10-point Caslon Italic was another. Historically, a font came from a [[type foundry]] as a set of "[[sort (typesetting)|sort]]s", with number of copies of each character included.

As the range of typeface designs increased and requirements of publishers broadened over the centuries, fonts of specific [[font weight|weight]] (blackness or lightness) and [[font style|stylistic variants]] (most commonly ''regular'' or ''[[Roman type|roman]]'' as distinct from ''[[Italic type|italic]]'', as well as ''condensed'') have led to ''font families'', collections of closely related typeface designs that can include hundreds of styles. A '''typeface family''' is typically a group of related typefaces which vary only in weight, orientation, [[font width|width]], etc., but not design. For example, [[Times New Roman|Times]] is a typeface family, whereas Times Roman, Times Italic and Times Bold are individual typefaces making up the Times family. Typeface families typically include several typefaces, though some, such as [[Helvetica]], may consist of dozens of fonts. In traditional typography, a '''font family''' is a set of fonts within the same typeface: for example Times Roman 8, Times Roman 10, Times Roman 12 etc. In [[web typography]], the term 'font family' (as specified using the [[HTML]] code  {{code|1=span style="font-family:}} ) may equate to a 'typeface family' or even to a very broad category such as [[sans-serif]] that encompass many typeface families.

Another way to look at the distinction between a [[computer font]] and a typeface is that a computer font is the vessel (e.g. the software) that provides a set of characters with a given appearance, whereas a typeface is the actual design of such characters.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lettering is not type|url=http://type-tones.typenetwork.com/news/article/clear-definitions|access-date=2020-11-24|language=en-US|archive-date=2022-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202143248/http://type-tones.typenetwork.com/news/article/clear-definitions|url-status=dead}}</ref> Therefore, a given typeface, such as Times, may be rendered by different fonts, such as [[computer font]] files created by this or that vendor, a set of metal type characters etc. In the [[Type metal|metal type]] era, a font also meant a specific point size, but with digital scalable outline fonts this distinction is no longer valid, as a single font may be scaled to any size.

The first "extended" font families, which included a wide range of widths and weights in the same general style emerged in the early 1900s, starting with [[American Type Founders|ATF]]'s [[Cheltenham (typeface)|Cheltenham]] (1902–1913), with an initial design by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, and many additional faces designed by [[Morris Fuller Benton]].<ref>McGrew, Mac. ''American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century (second edition)''. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1993: 85–87. {{ISBN|0-938768-39-5}}.</ref> Later examples include [[Futura (typeface)|Futura]], [[Lucida]], [[ITC Officina]]. Some became superfamilies as a result of revival, such as [[Syntax (typeface)|Linotype Syntax]], [[Univers|Linotype Univers]]; while others have alternate styling designed as compatible replacements of each other, such as [[Compatil]], [[Generis (typeface)|Generis]].

[[File:PT superfamily.png|thumb|PT Serif (above) and PT Sans (below) from the [[PT Fonts|PT font superfamily]], showing the similarities in letter structure.]]

[[Font superfamily|Font ''superfamilies'']] began to emerge when foundries began to include typefaces with significant structural differences, but some design relationship, under the same general family name. Arguably the first superfamily was created when Morris Fuller Benton created Clearface Gothic for ATF in 1910, a sans serif companion to the existing (serifed) Clearface. From a typographer’s perspective, the ''superfamily'' designation does not include sets of unrelated typefaces marketed with the same or similar family names. For example, the foundries that market [[Caslon Antique]] and [[Futura (typeface)|Futura]] Black and Display named them in association with the Caslon and Futura families despite being structurally unrelated to those families. Consequently, typographers do not consider [[Caslon Antique]] and [[Futura (typeface)|Futura]] Black/Display to be valid members of any Caslon or Futura 'superfamily'.{{cn|date=July 2025}}

Additional or supplemental [[glyph]]s intended to match a main typeface have been in use for centuries. In some formats they have been marketed as separate fonts. In the early 1990s, the [[Adobe Type|Adobe Systems type group]] introduced the idea of ''expert set'' fonts, which had a standardized set of additional glyphs, including [[small caps]], [[old style figures]], and additional superior letters, [[Fraction (mathematics)|fractions]] and [[Typographical ligature|ligatures]] not found in the main fonts for the typeface. Supplemental fonts have also included alternate letters such as [[Swash (typography)|swashes]], [[dingbat]]s, and alternate character sets, complementing the regular fonts under the same family.<ref>{{cite web |title= Expert Font |url=http://typophile.com/node/40309 |website=Typophile.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103183444/http://www.typophile.com/node/40309 |archive-date=3 January 2018 |quote=Expert set fonts are becoming less common with advent of OpenType which allows for these extras to be included in the same font that contains the default glyphs, accessed more easily, and inserted into a layout without damaging the underlying text.}}</ref> However, with introduction of font formats such as [[OpenType]], those supplemental glyphs were merged into the main fonts, relying on specific software capabilities to access the alternate glyphs.

Since Apple's and Microsoft's operating systems supported different character sets in the platform related fonts, some foundries used expert fonts in a different way. These fonts included the characters which were missing on either Macintosh or Windows computers, e.g. fractions, ligatures or some accented glyphs. The goal was to deliver the whole character set to the customer regardless of which operating system was used.

===Sizing===
The size of typefaces and [[font]]s is traditionally measured in [[Point (typography)|points]];<ref>Graham, Lisa. ''Basics of Design: Layout & Typography for Beginners''. New York: Delmar, 2002: 184. {{ISBN|0-7668-1362-2}}.</ref> ''point'' has been defined differently at different times, but now the most popular is the Desktop Publishing point of {{frac|1|72}}&nbsp;in ({{convert|0.0139|in|mm|abbr=on|disp=or}}). When specified in typographic sizes (points, kyus), the height of an ''em-square'', an invisible box which is typically a bit larger than the distance from the tallest [[Ascender (typography)|ascender]] to the lowest [[descender]], is scaled to equal the specified size.<ref>Apple's [https://developer.apple.com/textfonts/TTRefMan/RM01/Chap1.html#master TrueType Reference Manual] Retrieved on 2009-06-21</ref> For example, when setting [[Helvetica]] at 12 point, the em square defined in the Helvetica font is scaled to 12 points or {{convert|1/6|in|mm|abbr=on|disp=or}}. Yet no particular element of 12-point Helvetica need measure exactly 12 points.

Frequently measurement in non-typographic units (feet, inches, meters) will be of the ''cap-height'', the height of the capital letters. Font size is also commonly measured in millimeters (mm) and ''q''s (a quarter of a millimeter, ''kyu'' in romanized Japanese) and inches.

==History==
{{Main|History of Western typography}}
[[File:Friedlaender.webmsd.webm|thumb|Israeli typographer [[Henri Friedlaender]] examines ''Hadassah Hebrew'' typeface sketches. The sequence was shot in his study in [[Motza Illit]] (near Jerusalem) in 1978.]]
Type foundries have cast fonts in [[lead]] alloys from the 1450s until the present, although wood served as the material for some large fonts called wood type during the 19th century, particularly in the [[United States]]. In the 1890s, the mechanization of typesetting allowed automated casting of fonts on the fly as lines of type in the size and length needed. This was known as continuous casting, and remained profitable and widespread until its demise in the 1970s. The first machine of this type was the [[Linotype machine]], invented by [[Ottmar Mergenthaler]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-06-30|title=Science history: the Linotype machine|url=https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/science-history-the-invention-of-the-linotype-machine/|access-date=2020-11-09|website=Cosmos Magazine|language=en-AU}}</ref>

During a brief transitional period ({{Circa|1950s}}–1990s), photographic technology, known as ''[[phototypesetting]]'', utilized tiny high-resolution images of individual glyphs on a film strip (in the form of a film negative, with the letters as clear areas on an opaque black background). A high-intensity light source behind the film strip projected the image of each glyph through an optical system, which focused the desired letter onto the light-sensitive phototypesetting paper at a specific size and position. This photographic typesetting process permitted optical [[scaling (geometry)|scaling]], allowing designers to produce multiple sizes from a single font, although physical constraints on the reproduction system used still required design changes at different sizes; for example, [[ink trap]]s and spikes to allow for spread of [[ink]] encountered in the printing stage. Manually operated photocomposition systems using fonts on filmstrips allowed fine [[kerning]] between letters without the physical effort of manual typesetting, and spawned an enlarged type design industry in the 1960s and 1970s.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

By the mid-1970s, all of the major typeface technologies and all their fonts were in use: letterpress; continuous casting machines; phototypositors; computer-controlled phototypesetters; and the earliest digital typesetters – bulky machines with primitive processors and CRT outputs. From the mid-1980s, as digital typography has grown, users have almost universally adopted the American spelling ''font'', which has come to primarily refer to a [[computer file]] containing scalable outline letterforms (''digital font''), in one of several common formats. Some typefaces, such as [[Verdana]], are designed primarily for use on [[computer screen]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dmxzone.com/go?6669 |title=Interview with Virginia Howlett, mother of Verdana |work=DMXzone |publisher=Dmxzone.com |date=2004-06-24 |access-date=2013-09-21}}</ref>

==Digital type==
{{Main|Computer font}}
[[File:Comparison of printed and digital versions of Perpetua.png|thumb|Comparison between printed (top) and digital (bottom) versions of [[Perpetua (typeface)|Perpetua]].]]
Digital type became the dominant form of type in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Digital fonts store the image of each character either as a [[bitmap]] in a ''[[bitmap font]]'', or by mathematical description of lines and curves in an ''outline font'', also called a ''[[vector font]]''. Bitmap fonts were more commonly used in the earlier stages of digital type, and are rarely used today. These bitmapped typefaces were first produced by [[Casady & Greene|Casady & Greene, Inc.]] and were also known as Fluent Fonts. Fluent Fonts became mostly obsolete with the creation of downloadable PostScript fonts, and these new fonts are called Fluent Laser Fonts (FLF).

When an outline font is used, a [[Raster graphics|rasterizing routine]] (in the application software, operating system or printer) renders the character outlines, interpreting the vector instructions to decide which pixels should be black and which ones white. Rasterization is straightforward at high resolutions such as those used by [[laser printer]]s and in high-end publishing systems. For [[computer display|computer screen]]s, where each individual pixel can mean the difference between legible and illegible characters, some digital fonts use [[Font hinting|hinting algorithms]] to make readable bitmaps at small sizes.

Digital fonts may also contain data representing the ''metrics'' used for composition, including [[kerning]] pairs, component creation data for accented characters, glyph substitution rules for Arabic typography and for connecting script faces, and for simple everyday [[Ligature (typography)|ligature]]s like "{{not a typo|ﬂ}}". Common font formats include [[TrueType]], [[OpenType]] and [[PostScript]] [[Type 1 font|Type 1]], while [[Metafont]] is still used by [[TeX]] and its variants. Applications using these font formats, including the rasterizers, appear in Microsoft and Apple Computer [[operating system]]s, [[Adobe Systems]] products and those of several other companies. Digital fonts are created with font editors such as [[FontForge]], RoboFont, Glyphs, [[Fontlab]]'s TypeTool, FontLab Studio, Fontographer, or AsiaFont Studio.

==Typeface anatomy==
{{main|Typeface anatomy}}
Typographers have developed a comprehensive vocabulary for describing the many aspects of typefaces and typography. Some vocabulary applies only to a subset of all [[writing system|scripts]]. ''Serifs'', for example, are a purely decorative characteristic of typefaces used for European scripts, whereas the glyphs used in Arabic or East Asian scripts have characteristics (such as stroke width) that may be similar in some respects but cannot reasonably be called serifs and may not be purely decorative.

===Serifs===
{|  style="float:right; margin:15px 0px 15px 15px;"
|-
| [[Image:Serif and sans-serif 01.svg|class=skin-invert]]
| Sans serif font
|-
| [[Image:Serif and sans-serif 02.svg|class=skin-invert]]
| Serif font
|-
| [[Image:Serif and sans-serif 03.svg|class=skin-invert]]
| Serif font with serifs<br />highlighted in red
|}

Typefaces can be divided into two main categories: '''[[serif]]''' and '''[[sans serif]]'''. [[Serif]]s comprise the small features at the end of strokes within letters. The printing industry refers to typeface without serifs as '''sans serif''' (from French ''sans'', meaning ''without''), or as ''grotesque'' (or, in [[German language|German]], ''grotesk'').

Great variety exists among both serif and sans serif typefaces. Both groups contain faces designed for setting large amounts of body text, and others intended primarily as decorative. The presence or absence of serifs represents only one of many factors to consider when choosing a typeface.

Typefaces with serifs are often considered easier to read in long passages than those without. Studies on the matter are ambiguous, suggesting that most of this effect is due to the greater familiarity of serif typefaces. As a general rule, printed works such as newspapers and books almost always use serif typefaces, at least for the text body. Websites do not have to specify a font and can simply respect the browser settings of the user. But of those web sites that do specify a font, most use modern sans serif fonts, because it is commonly believed that, in contrast to the case for printed material, sans serif fonts are easier than serif fonts to read on the low-resolution computer screen.

===Proportion<span class="anchor" id="Proportional font"></span><span class="anchor" id="proportional font"></span><span class="anchor" id="Proportional fonts"></span><span class="anchor" id="proportional fonts"></span><span class="anchor" id="tabular numeral"></span>===
[[Image:Proportional-vs-monospace-v5.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|right|Proportional v monospace]]

A '''proportional''' typeface, also called '''variable-width''' typeface, contains glyphs of varying widths, while a '''[[#Monospaced typefaces|monospaced]]''' ('''non-proportional''' or '''fixed-width''') typeface uses a single standard width for all glyphs in the font. '''[[Duospaced font]]s''' are similar to monospaced fonts, but characters can also be two character widths instead of a single character width.

Many people generally find proportional typefaces nicer-looking and easier to read, and thus they appear more commonly in professionally published printed material.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} For the same reason, [[GUI]] computer applications (such as [[word processor]]s and [[web browser]]s) typically use proportional fonts. However, many proportional fonts contain fixed-width ('''tabular''') numerals so that columns of numbers stay aligned.<ref>{{cite web |title=Understanding numerals |first=Elliot Jay |last=Stocks |url=https://fonts.google.com/knowledge/introducing_type/understanding_numerals |website=Google Fonts |series=Introducing type}}</ref>

Monospaced typefaces function better for some purposes because their glyphs line up in neat, regular columns. No glyph is given any more weight than another. Most manually operated [[typewriter]]s use monospaced fonts, and a typeface that looks like it was typewritten is sometimes referred to as a ''typescript''. So do [[text mode|text-only computer displays]] and third- and fourth-generation game console graphics processors, which treat the screen as a uniform grid of character cells. Most computer programs which have a text-based interface ([[terminal emulator]]s, for example) use only monospaced fonts (or add additional spacing to proportional fonts to fit them in monospaced cells) in their configuration. Monospaced fonts are commonly used by [[computer programmer]]s for displaying and editing [[source code]] so that certain characters (for example [[parentheses]] used to group arithmetic expressions) are easy to see.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://stackoverflow.com/questions/218623/why-use-monospace-fonts-in-your-ide |title=Why use monospace fonts in your IDE?|access-date=2009-02-22}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=not a [[wp:RS]], user generated content|date=February 2022}}

[[ASCII art]] usually requires a monospaced font for proper viewing, with the exception of [[Shift JIS art]] which takes advantage of the proportional characters in the [[MS Mincho|MS PGothic]] font. In a [[web page]], the <code>&lt;tt&gt; &lt;/tt&gt;</code>, <code>&lt;code&gt; &lt;/code&gt;</code> or <code>&lt;pre&gt; &lt;/pre&gt;</code> [[HTML]] tags most commonly specify monospaced fonts. In [[LaTeX]], the ''verbatim'' environment or the [[Teletype Corporation|Teletype]] font family (e.g., <code>\texttt{...}</code> or <code>{\ttfamily ...}</code>) uses monospaced fonts (in [[TeX]], use <code>{\tt ...}</code>).

Any two lines of text with the same number of characters in each line in a monospaced typeface should display as equal in width, while the same two lines in a proportional typeface may have radically different widths. This occurs because in a proportional font, glyph widths vary, such that wider glyphs (typically those for characters such as W, Q, Z, M, D, O, H, and U) use more space, and narrower glyphs (such as those for the characters i, t, l, and 1) use less space than the average.

In the publishing industry, it was once the case that editors read [[manuscript]]s in monospaced fonts (typically [[Courier (typeface)|Courier]]) for ease of editing and word count estimates, and it was considered discourteous to submit a manuscript in a proportional font.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} This has become less universal in recent years, such that authors need to check with editors as to their preference, though monospaced fonts are still the norm.

===Font metrics===
{{anchor|Metrics}}
[[Image:Typography Line Terms.svg|thumb|410px|The word ''Sphinx'', set in [[Garamond|Adobe Garamond Pro]] to illustrate the concepts of [[baseline (typography)|baseline]], [[x-height]], body size, descent and ascent.]]

{{See also|Font#Metrics|Typographic unit|Metric typographic units}}

Most [[script (styles of handwriting)|scripts]] share the notion of a [[baseline (typography)|baseline]]: an imaginary horizontal line on which characters rest. In some scripts, parts of glyphs lie below the baseline. The ''descent'' spans the distance between the baseline and the lowest descending glyph in a typeface, and the part of a glyph that descends below the baseline has the name ''[[descender]]''. Conversely, the ''ascent'' spans the distance between the baseline and the top of the glyph that reaches farthest from the baseline. The ascent and descent may or may not include distance added by accents or diacritical marks.

In the [[Latin script|Latin]], [[Greek script|Greek]] and [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] (sometimes collectively referred to as LGC) scripts, one can refer to the distance from the baseline to the top of regular lowercase glyphs ([[mean line]]) as the ''[[x-height]]'', and the part of a glyph rising above the x-height as the ''[[Ascender (typography)|ascender]]''. The distance from the baseline to the top of the ascent or a regular uppercase glyphs (cap line) is also known as the cap height.<ref>Cullen, Kristin. ''Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design,''  Jul 2005: 92</ref> The height of the ascender can have a dramatic effect on the readability and appearance of a font. The ratio between the x-height and the ascent or cap height often serves to characterize typefaces.

Typefaces that can be substituted for one another in a document without changing the document's text flow are said to be "metrically identical" (or "metrically compatible").<ref>{{cite book |page=375 |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann |title=The Computer Graphics Metafile |date=20 May 2014 |first1=L.R. |last1=Henderson |first2=A.M. |last2=Mumford |isbn=9781483144849 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O0KeBQAAQBAJ&q=%22metrically+identical%22&pg=PA375}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=102 |title=CGM in the Real World |first1=Anne M. |last1=Mumford |first2=Mark |last2=Skall |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |date=7 Mar 2013 |isbn=9783642736292 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iUCqCAAAQBAJ&q=%22metrically+identical%22&pg=PA102}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Beginning Ubuntu Linux: Natty Narwhal Edition |page=286 |publisher=Apress |first1=Emilio |last1=Raggi |first2=Keir |last2=Thomas |first3=Sander |last3=van Vugt |date=17 Dec 2011 |isbn=9781430236276 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5i-c2yms6tUC&q=%22metrically+identical%22&pg=PA286}}</ref> Several typefaces have been created to be metrically compatible with widely used proprietary typefaces to allow the editing of documents set in such typefaces in digital typesetting environments where these typefaces are not available. For instance, the free and open-source [[Liberation fonts]] and [[Croscore fonts]] have been designed as metrically compatible substitutes for widely used [[Microsoft]] fonts.<ref name="fc-30-metric-aliases">{{cite web|last2=TAGOH|first2=Akira|last3=Steffens|first3=Jan|last4=Crozat|first4=Frederic|last1=Esfahbod|first1=Behdad|title=30-metric-aliases.conf|url=https://github.com/behdad/fontconfig/blob/master/conf.d/30-metric-aliases.conf|website=GitHub|publisher=fontconfig|access-date=1 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Liberation fonts and the tricky task of internationalization |first=Nathan |last=Willis |date=19 June 2012 |access-date=26 June 2017 |publisher=[[LWN.net]] |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/502371/}}</ref>

===Optical sizing===
{{main|Font#Optical size}}
During the metal type era, all type was cut in metal and could only be printed at a specific size. It was a natural process to vary a design at different sizes, making it chunkier and clearer to read at smaller sizes.<ref name="How To Choose The Right Face For A Beautiful Body">{{cite web|last1=Reynolds|first1=Dan|title=How To Choose The Right Face For A Beautiful Body|url=http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/how-to-choose-the-right-face-for-a-beautiful-body/|website=Smashing|date=21 May 2012|access-date=13 September 2015}}</ref><ref name=MicroPlus>{{cite web|last1=Frere-Jones|first1=Tobias|title=MicroPlus|url=https://frerejones.com/blog/introducing-microplus|publisher=Frere-Jones Type|access-date=1 December 2015}}</ref> Many digital typefaces are offered with a range of fonts (or a variable font axis) for different sizes, especially designs sold for professional design use. The art of designing fonts for a specific size is known as [[Font#Optical size|optical sizing]]. Others will be offered in only one style, but optimised for a specific size. Optical sizes are particularly common for serif fonts, since the fine detail of serif fonts can need to be bulked up for smaller sizes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ahrens  |last2=Mugikura |title=Size-specific Adjustments to Type Designs |url=http://justanotherfoundry.com/size-specific-adjustments-to-type-designs |publisher=Just Another Foundry|access-date=21 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Coles|first1=Stephen|title=Book Review: Size-specific Adjustments to Type Designs|url=http://typographica.org/typography-books/size-specific-adjustments-to-type-designs/|website=Typographica|access-date=21 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Kupferschmid|first1=Indra|title=Multi-axes type families|url=http://kupferschrift.de/cms/2012/05/multi-axes-families/|website=kupferschrift|date=13 May 2012 |access-date=8 December 2014}}</ref>

Typefaces may also be designed differently considering the type of paper on which they will be printed. Designs to be printed on absorbent [[newsprint]] paper will be more slender as the ink will naturally spread out as it absorbs into the paper, and may feature [[ink trap]]s: areas left blank into which the ink will soak as it dries. These corrections will not be needed for printing on high-gloss cardboard or display on-screen. Fonts designed for low-resolution displays, meanwhile, may avoid pure circles, fine lines and details a screen cannot render.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Reynolds |last2= Koeberlin|title=Socialist TV Typeface Videtur Finally Freed|date=5 April 2013 |url=http://ilovetypography.com/2013/04/06/socialist-tv-typeface-videtur-finally-freed/ |publisher=FontFont |access-date=24 May 2015}}</ref>

=== Typesetting numbers ===
[[Image:Mediaevalziffern.svg|thumb|right|[[Hoefler Text]] uses non-lining or lower-case figures.]]
[[File:Proportional & tabular figures.png|thumb|Proportional (left-side) and tabular (right-side) numeric digits, drawn as lining figures.]]

Most typefaces, especially modern designs, include a complementary set of numeric digits.<ref name="HFJ Numbers">{{cite web |title = Numbers |url = http://www.typography.com/fonts/numbers/overview/ |publisher = Hoefler & Frere-Jones |access-date = 2015-10-06 }}</ref>

Numbers can be typeset in two main independent sets of ways: ''lining'' and ''[[non-lining figures]]'', and ''proportional'' and ''tabular'' styles.{{efn|There are a few other styles occasionally used, most notably small-cap figures set uniformly at the height of the small capitals, and 'short-ranging figures' slightly lower than cap height.}}

Most modern typefaces set numeric digits by default as lining figures, which are the height of upper-case letters. [[Non-lining figures]], styled to match lower-case letters, are often common in fonts intended for body text, as they are thought to be less disruptive to the style of running text. They are also called ''lower-case numbers'' or ''text figures'' for the same reason.

==== Tabular figures ====
{{main|Tabular figures}}
The horizontal spacing of digits can also be ''proportional'', with a character width tightly matching the width of the figure itself, or ''tabular'', where all digits have the same width. Proportional spacing places the digits closely together, reducing empty space in a document, and is thought to allow the numbers to blend into the text more effectively.<ref name="gotham">{{cite web |title = Gotham: Numerics |url = http://www.typography.com/fonts/gotham/features/gotham-numerics |publisher =[[Hoefler & Frere-Jones]] |access-date = 2014-08-04 }}</ref> As tabular spacing makes all numbers with the same number of digits the same width, it is used for typesetting documents such as price lists, stock listings and sums in mathematics textbooks, all of which require columns of numeric figures to line up on top of each other for easier comparison.<ref>{{cite web |last = Strizver |first = Elaine |title = Proportional vs. Tabular Figures |url = http://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-3/numbers/proportional-vs-tabular-figures |website = fonts.com |publisher = Monotype Imaging |access-date = 2014-08-04 }}</ref> Tabular spacing is also a common feature of simple printing devices such as [[cash register]]s and date-stamps.<ref>{{cite web |title = Revenue |url = http://www.typography.com/fonts/numbers/inside/revenue |publisher = Hoefler & Frere-Jones |access-date = 2014-08-04 }}</ref>

Characters of uniform width are a standard feature of so-called [[monospaced font]]s, used in programming and on typewriters. However, many fonts that are not monospaced use tabular figures. More complex font designs may include two or more combinations with one as the default and others as alternate characters.<ref>{{cite web |last=Butterick |first=Matthew |title = Alternate figures: consider the context |url = http://practicaltypography.com/alternate-figures.html |website = Butternick's Practical Typography }}</ref> Of the four possibilities, non-lining tabular figures are particularly rare since there is no common use for them.<ref>{{cite news |last=Saller |first=Carol |title = Old-Style Versus Lining Figures |url = http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/03/14/old-style-versus-lining-figures/ |newspaper=[[Chronicle of Higher Education]]|access-date = 2014-08-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Bergsland |first=David |title=Using numbers in the proper case |url=http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG/bergsland/numbering_typography.html |publisher=Design & Publishing Center |access-date=4 August 2014 |archive-date=19 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019050624/http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG/bergsland/numbering_typography.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Peters Figure Styles">{{cite web |last1=Peters |first1=Yves |title=OpenType at Work {{!}} Figure Styles |url=https://www.typenetwork.com/news/article/opentype-at-work-figure-styles-part-1 |website=Type Network |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref>

Fonts intended for professional use in documents such as business reports may also make the bold-style tabular figures take up the same width as the regular (non-bold) numbers, so a bold-style total would appear just as wide as the same sum in regular style.<ref name="Hoefler Fonts for Complex Data">{{cite web |last=Hoefler |first=Jonathan |author-link = Jonathan Hoefler |title = Fonts for Complex Data |url = https://www.typography.com/blog/fonts-for-complex-data |publisher = Hoefler & Co. |access-date = 2018-07-29 }}</ref><ref name="gotham"/><ref>{{cite web |first = Christian |last = Schwartz |author-link = Christian Schwartz |title = Neue Haas Grotesk: Features |url = http://www.fontbureau.com/nhg/features/ |publisher = The Font Bureau, Inc. |access-date = 2013-12-23 |archive-date = 2013-12-17 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131217072140/http://www.fontbureau.com/NHG/features/ |url-status = dead }}</ref>

==Style of typefaces ==
{{See also|List of typefaces|Vox-ATypI classification}}
[[Image:Font types.svg|thumb|right|Illustration of different font types and the names of specific specimens]]

Because an abundance of typefaces has been created over the centuries, they are commonly categorized according to their appearance. At the highest level (in the context of Latin-script fonts), one can differentiate Roman, Blackletter, and Gaelic types. [[Roman type]]s are in the most widespread use today, and are sub-classified as serif, sans serif, ornamental, and script types. Historically, the first European fonts were blackletter, followed by Roman serif, then sans serif and then the other types. The use of Gaelic faces was restricted to the Irish language, though these form a unique if minority class. Typefaces may be monospaced regardless of whether they are Roman, Blackletter, or Gaelic. Symbol typefaces are non-alphabetic. The Cyrillic script comes in two varieties, Roman-appearance type (called [[гражданский шрифт]] ''graždanskij šrift'') and traditional Slavonic type (called славянский шрифт ''slavjanskij šrift'').{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

===Roman typefaces===

====Serif typefaces====
{{Main|Serif}}
[[File:Three ages.png|thumb|The three traditional styles of serif typefaces used for body text: old-style, transitional and Didone, represented by [[Garamond]], [[Baskerville]] and [[Didot (typeface)|Didot]].]]Serif, or ''Roman'', typefaces are named for the features at the ends of their strokes. [[Times New Roman]] and [[Garamond]] are common examples of serif typefaces. Serif fonts are probably the most used class in printed materials, including most books, newspapers and magazines. Serif fonts are often classified into three subcategories: '''Old Style''', '''Transitional''', and '''[[Didone (typography)|Didone]]''' (or Modern), representative examples of which are [[Garamond]], [[Baskerville]], and [[Bodoni]] respectively.

Old Style typefaces are influenced by early Italian lettering design.<ref>Carter, Day, and Meggs. ''Typographic Design: Form and Communication''. Third Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2002: 34.</ref> Modern fonts often exhibit a bracketed serif and a substantial difference in weight within the strokes. Though some argument exists as to whether Transitional fonts exist as a discrete category among serif fonts, Transitional fonts lie somewhere between Old Style and Modern style typefaces. Transitional fonts exhibit a marked increase in the variation of stroke weight and a more horizontal serif compared to Old Style. Slab serif designs have particularly large serifs, and date to the early nineteenth century. The earliest known slab serif font was first shown around 1817 by the English typefounder [[Vincent Figgins]].<ref>Carter, Day, and Meggs. ''Typographic Design: Form and Communication''. Third Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2002: 35.</ref>

''Roman'', ''italic'', and ''oblique'' are also terms used to differentiate between upright and two possible slanted forms of a typeface. Italic and oblique fonts are similar (indeed, oblique fonts are often simply called italics) but there is strictly a difference: ''italic'' applies to fonts where the letter forms are redesigned, not just slanted. Almost all serif faces have italic forms; some sans-serif faces have oblique designs. (Most faces do not offer both as this is an artistic choice by the font designer about how the slanted form should look.)<ref>Williams, Robin. ''The Non-Designer's Type Book''. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 1998: 16.</ref>

====Sans-serif typefaces====
{{Main|Sans-serif}}
[[File:Helvetica.svg|thumb|The sans-serif [[Helvetica]] ({{lang|de|Neue Haas Grotesk}}) typeface]]
Sans serif (lit. without serif) designs appeared relatively recently in the history of type design. The first, similar to slab serif designs, was shown in 1816 by William Caslon IV. Many have minimal variation in stroke width, creating the impression of a minimal, simplified design. When first introduced, the faces were disparaged as "grotesque" (or {{notatypo|"grotesk"}}) and "gothic":<ref name="Phinney">{{cite magazine |magazine=Design, Technology and Grapics | title=Sans Serif: Gothic and Grotesque |date=October 17, 2020  |first=Thomas |last=Phinney |url=https://graphic-design.com/2020/10/17/sansserif_gothic_grotesque/ |publisher=Showker, Inc.}}</ref> but by the late nineteenth century were commonly used for san-serif without negative implication.<ref name="acumin">{{cite web |last1=Berry |first1=John |title=A Neo-Grotesque Heritage |url=http://acumin.typekit.com/history/ |publisher=Adobe Systems |access-date=15 October 2015}}</ref>

The major [[Sans-serif#Classification|sub-classes of Sans-serif]] are "[[Sans-serif#Grotesque|Grotesque]]", "[[Sans-serif#Neo-grotesque|Neo-grotesque]]", "[[Sans-serif#Geometric|Geometric]]" and "[[Sans-serif#Humanist|Humanist]]".

===Blackletter typefaces===
{{Main|Blackletter}}
"Blackletter" is the name of the class of typefaces used with the earliest [[printing press]]es in Europe, which imitated the [[calligraphy]] style of that time and place. Various forms exist including [[textualis]], [[rotunda (script)|rotunda]], [[schwabacher]] and [[Fraktur (typeface)|fraktur]]. (Some people refer to Blackletter as "[[gothic script (disambiguation)|gothic script]]" or "gothic font", though the term "Gothic" in typography refers to [[sans serif]] typefaces.<ref name="acumin" />)

===Gaelic typefaces===
{{Main|Gaelic type}}
Gaelic fonts were first used for the [[Irish language]] in 1571, and were used regularly for Irish until the early 1960s, though they continue to be used in display type and type for signage. Their use was effectively confined to Ireland, though Gaelic typefaces were designed and produced in France, Belgium, and Italy. Gaelic typefaces make use of [[insular script|insular]] letterforms, and early fonts made use of a variety of abbreviations deriving from the manuscript tradition.<ref>Lynam, E. W. 1969. ''The Irish character in print: 1571–1923''. New York: Barnes & Noble. First printed as [[Oxford University Press]] offprint 1924 in ''Transactions of the Bibliographical Society'', 4th Series, Vol. IV, No. 4, March 1924.</ref><ref>McGuinne, Dermot. ''Irish type design: A history of printing types in the Irish character''. Blackrock: Irish Academic Press. {{ISBN|0-7165-2463-5}}</ref> Various forms exist, including manuscript, traditional, and modern styles, chiefly distinguished as having angular or uncial features.<ref>{{cite web |author-link=Michael Everson |last=Everson |first=Michael |url=https://www.evertype.com/celtscript/fonthist.html |title=Gaelic Typefaces: History and Classification |date=2000-06-19}}</ref>

===Monospaced typefaces===
{{Main|Monospaced font}}
[[File:Courier simple sample.png|thumb|Courier, a monospaced slab serif typeface. All the letters occupy spaces the same width.]]

Monospaced fonts are typefaces in which every glyph is the same width (as opposed to variable-width fonts, where the ''w'' and ''m'' are wider than most letters, and the ''i'' is narrower). The first monospaced typefaces were designed for typewriters, which could only move the same distance forward with each letter typed. Their use continued with early computers, which could only display a single font. Although modern computers can display any desired typeface, monospaced fonts are still important for [[computer programming]], terminal emulation, and for laying out tabulated data in [[plain text]] documents; they may also be particularly legible at small sizes due to all characters being quite wide.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Spolsky|first1=Joel|title=User Interface Design For Programmers |url=http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/fog0000000249.html |website=Joel On Software |date=24 October 2001|access-date=15 July 2015}}</ref> [[List of typefaces#Monospaced|Examples of monospaced typefaces]] are [[Courier (typeface)|Courier]], [[Prestige Elite]], [[Fixedsys]], and [[Monaco (typeface)|Monaco]]. Most monospaced fonts are sans-serif or slab-serif as these designs are easiest to read printed small or display on low-resolution screens, though many exceptions exist.

===CJK typefaces===
{{Main|CJK characters}}
CJK, or Chinese, Japanese and Korean typefaces consist of large sets of glyphs. These typefaces originate in the glyphs found in brush calligraphy during the Tang dynasty. These later evolved into the Song style (宋体字) which used thick vertical strokes and thin horizontal strokes in wood block printing.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science & Civilisation in China'', Vol. 5 Part 1, Paper & Printing, pg 224–226.</ref>

The glyphs found in CJK fonts are designed to fit within a square. This allows for regular vertical, horizontal, right-to-left and left-to-right orientations. CJK fonts can also include an extended set of monospaced Latin characters. This commonly results in complex, sometimes contradictory rules and conventions for mixing languages in type.

====Mincho====
{{Main|Ming (typefaces)}}
With CJK typefaces, Mincho style tends to be something like Serifs for the end of stems, and in fact includes Serifed glyphs for Extended Latin and Cyrillic sets within a typeface.

====Gothic====
With CJK typefaces, Goth style tends to be something like Sans Serifs with squarish, cut off end-caps for the end of stems, and in fact includes Sans Serif glyphs for Extended Latin and Cyrillic sets within a typeface.

====Maru====
With CJK typefaces, Maru style tends to be something like Sans Serifs with rounded end-caps for the end of stems, and in fact includes Rounded Sans Serif glyphs for Extended Latin and Cyrillic sets within a typeface.

==Display type==
{{main|Display typeface}}
[[File:Theydon Bois.JPG|thumb|left|[[London Underground]]'s [[Johnston (typeface)|Johnston]] typeface, printed on a large sign]]

Display type refers to the use of type at large sizes, perhaps 30 points or larger. Some typefaces are considered useful solely at display sizes, and are known as display faces. Most effect typefaces are display types. Common features of display type include tighter default letter spacing, finer details and serifs, slightly more condensed letter shapes and larger differences between thick and thin strokes; many of these are most visible in serif designs. Many display typefaces in the past such as those intended for posters and newspaper headlines were also only cut in capitals, since it was assumed lower-case would not be needed, or at least with no italics. This was true of many early sans-serif fonts.

[[File:Perpetua Text and Titling.png|thumb|Comparison between the typeface [[Perpetua (typeface)|Perpetua]] and its display variant, Perpetua Titling (above). The display type has slimmer stroke width and taller letters.]]

In the days of metal type, when each size was cut individually, types intended for display use were often adjusted accordingly. These modifications continued to be made even after fonts started to be made by scaling using a pantograph, but began to fade away with the advent of phototypesetting and then digital fonts, which can both be printed at any size. Premium digital fonts used for magazines, books and newspapers do often include display variants, but they are often not included with typefaces bundled with operating systems and desktop publishing software.<ref>{{cite web |title=Optical size |publisher=[[Adobe Systems]] |url=https://www.adobe.com/type/topics/opticalsize.html |url-status=dead |date=2010-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100605130012/https://www.adobe.com/type/topics/opticalsize.html |archive-date=5 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Requiem: A font for all sizes |url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/requiem/features/ |publisher=[[Hoefler & Frere-Jones]] |access-date=3 October 2014}}</ref> Display typefaces in the letterpress period were often made as [[wood type]], being lighter than metal.

Decades into the desktop publishing revolution, few typographers with metal foundry type experience are still working, and few digital typefaces are optimized specifically for different sizes, so the misuse of the term display typeface as a synonym for ornamental type has become widespread; properly speaking, ornamental typefaces are a subcategory of display typefaces. At the same time, with new printing techniques, typefaces have largely replaced hand-lettering for very large signs and notices that would once have been painted or carved by hand.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Simonson|first1=Mark|author-link=Mark Simonson|title=Not a Font|url=http://www.marksimonson.com/notebook/view/not-a-font|website=Mark Simonson Studio blog|date=8 February 2009 |access-date=26 December 2014}}</ref>

===Script typefaces===
{{Main|Script typeface}}
[[Image:Coronet font.svg|thumbnail|right|Coronet, a script typeface]]

Script typefaces imitate handwriting or [[calligraphy]]. They do not lend themselves to quantities of [[body text]], as people find them harder to read than many serif and sans-serif typefaces; they are typically used for logos or invitations. Historically, most lettering on logos, displays, shop frontages did not use fonts but was rather custom-designed by signpainters and engravers, so many emulate the styles of hand-drawn signs from different historical periods. The genre has developed rapidly in recent years due to modern font formats allowing more complex simulations of handwriting.<ref name="Lettercentric: Type as Writing">{{cite web|last1=Shaw|first1=Paul|title=Lettercentric: Type as Writing|url=http://www.printmag.com/article/lettercentric-type-as-writing/|website=Print|date=7 April 2010|access-date=21 September 2015}}</ref> Examples include [[Coronet (typeface)|Coronet]] (a quite simple design from 1937) and [[Zapfino]] (a much more complicated digital design).

===Mimicry typefaces <span class="anchor" id="Ethnic typefaces"></span>===
{{See also|Foreign branding}}
[[Image:Faux Hebrew.png|thumbnail|right|Simulated Hebrew]]
Mimicry typefaces are decorative typefaces that have been designed to represent characters of one alphabet but at the same time evoke another [[writing system]].<ref name="Silverstein Forward">{{cite web |last1=Silverstein |first1=Andrew |title=In the rarified world of Jewish letters, a mind-boggling font of Jewish history |url=https://forward.com/culture/507668/faux-hebrew-font-jewish-antisemitic-soy-vey-origins-fake-yiddish-letters/ |website=[[The Forward]] |date=22 July 2022 |access-date=1 September 2022}}</ref> This group includes Roman typefaces designed to appear as [[Arabic]], [[Chinese character]]s ([[Wonton font]]s), [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] ([[Faux Cyrillic]]), [[Indic scripts]], [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] (an example being [[Lithos]]), [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] ([[Faux Hebrew]]), [[Kana]], or [[Thai alphabet|Thai]]. These are used largely for the purpose of novelty to make something appear foreign, or to make businesses offering foreign products, such as restaurants, clearly stand out.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Shaw|first1=Paul|author-link=Paul Shaw (design historian)|title=Stereo Types|url=http://www.printmag.com/article/stereo_types/|website=Print Magazine|date=17 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116212853/http://www.printmag.com/article/stereo_types/|access-date=1 October 2014|archive-date=2010-01-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Chachra|first1=Deb|title=Faux Devangari|url=http://hilobrow.com/2014/08/10/kern-your-enthusiasm-10/|website=HiLoBrow|access-date=1 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Giampetro |first1=Rob |title=New Black Face: Neuland and Lithos as Stereotypography |url=https://linedandunlined.com/archive/new-black-face/ |website=Lined & Unlined |access-date=12 October 2021}}</ref> This typographic mimicry is also known as a faux font (named faux x, where x is usually a language script), pseudoscript, ethnic typeface, simulation typeface or a "foreign look" font.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Paul|first=Sutherland|date=2015|title=Writing System Mimicry in the Linguistic Landscape|url=https://www.soas.ac.uk/linguistics/research/workingpapers/volume-17/file105419.pdf|journal=SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics|volume=17|pages=147–167|archive-date=2019-04-03|access-date=2019-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403010052/https://www.soas.ac.uk/linguistics/research/workingpapers/volume-17/file105419.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ltYtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166|title=Sacred Languages of the World: An Introduction|last=Bennett|first=Brian P.|date=2017-09-25|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781118970782|page=166|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=http://www.newbooks-services.de/MediaFiles/Texts/8/9783631617168_Intro_005.pdf|title=Linguistic landscapes, multilingualism and social change |last=Seargeant|first=Philip|year=2012|pages=187–200|chapter=Between script and language: The ambiguous ascription of 'English' in the linguistic landscape}}</ref>

===Reverse-contrast typefaces===
{{Main|Reverse-contrast typefaces}}
[[File:Reverse contrast.png|thumb|Reverse-contrast type compared to a [[fat face]] design. Both are very bold, but the fat face's thick lines are the verticals and the reverse-contrast's are the horizontals.]]

A reverse-contrast type is a typeface in which the stress is reversed from the norm: instead of the vertical lines being the same width or thicker than horizontals, which is normal in Latin-alphabet printing, the horizontal lines are the thickest.<ref name="Type Tuesday Eye">{{cite magazine |first1=Christian |last1=Schwartz |first2=Paul |last2=Barnes |title=Deep in the archives: Caslon's Italian, ca. 1821. Specimen & punches. |date=12 July 2011 |url=https://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/type-tuesday13 |magazine=Eye |access-date=10 August 2015}}</ref> Reverse-contrast types are rarely used for body text, and are particularly common in [[Typeface#Display type|display]] applications such as headings and posters, in which their unusual structure may be particularly eye-catching.<ref name="Anatomy of a typeface">{{cite book|last1=Lawson|first1=Alexander|title=Anatomy of a typeface|date=1990|publisher=Godine|location=Boston|isbn=9780879233334|pages=321–323|edition=1st}}</ref> First seen in London in 1821, they were particularly common in the mid- to late nineteenth century in American and British printing and have been revived occasionally since then. They effectively become [[slab serif]] designs because of the serifs becoming thick, and are often characterised as part of that genre. In recent times, the reverse-contrast effect has been extended to other kinds of typeface, such as [[sans-serif]] designs.<ref name="Fontlists: reverse contrast">{{cite web|last1=Peters|first1=Yves|title=Fontlists: reverse contrast|url=https://www.fontshop.com/people/yves-peters/fontlists/reverse-contrast|website=Fontshop|access-date=15 August 2015}}</ref>

===Effect typefaces===
[[File:Display typefaces.png|thumb|left|Three typefaces designed for headings, offering a clear contrast to body text]]

Some typefaces have a structure that suggests a three-dimensional letter, such as letters carved into stone. An example of this is the genre known as 'inline', 'block' 'outline' or 'shadowed' typefaces. This renders the interior of glyphs in the background color, with a thin line around the edges of the glyphs. In some cases, the outline shows the glyph filled in with the foreground color, surrounded a thin outline mirroring the edges separated by a small gap. (This latter style is often used with "college" typefaces.) Colorized block lettering is often seen in carefully rendered [[graffiti]].

A "shadow" effect can also be either designed into a typeface or added to an existing typeface. Designed-in shadows can be stylized or connected to the foreground. An after-market shadow effect can be created by making two copies of each glyph, slightly offset in a diagonal direction and possibly in different colors. [[Drop shadow]]s can also be dynamically created by rendering software. The shadow effect is often combined with the outline effect, where the top layer is shown in white with black outline and the bottom layer in black, for greater contrast. An example typeface with an 'inline' effect is [[Imprint (typeface)|Imprint Shadowed]], where the shadowed version is more widely distributed than the regular design.<ref name="Microsoft Typography Imprint">{{cite web|title=Imprint MT|url=https://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/family.aspx?FID=107|website=Microsoft Typography|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=12 July 2015}}</ref>

===Small print typefaces===
Some typefaces are specifically designed to be printed at small sizes, for example in telephone directories or on newsprint paper. [[Bell Gothic]] and [[Bell Centennial]], commissioned for telephone directories, are notable examples of this. Small-print designs often feature a large [[x-height]], and a chunky design. Some fonts used at such sizes may be members of a larger typeface family joining members for normal sizes. For example, the [[Times New Roman]] family contains some designs intended for small print use, as do many families with optical sizes such as [[Minion (typeface)|Minion]].

In the metal type era, typefaces intended to be printed small contained [[ink trap]]s, small indentations at the junctions of strokes that would be filled up with ink spreading out, maintaining the intended appearance of the type design. Without ink traps, the excess ink would blob and ruin the crisp edge. At larger sizes, these ink traps were not necessary, so display faces did not have them. They have also been removed from most digital fonts, as these will normally be viewed on screen or printed through inkjet printing, laser printing, offset lithography, electrophotographic printing or other processes that do not show the ink spread of letterpress. Ink traps have remained common on designs intended to be printed on low-quality, absorbent paper, especially [[newsprint]] and telephone directories.

==Typeface family==
A '''typeface family''' (or '''type family''') is a set of typefaces that share a common design concept.<ref name="Haley">{{cite web |title=About Typeface Families |website=fonts.com |first=Allan |last=Haley |date=10 August 2012 |publisher=Monotype Imaging Inc |url=https://cmscdn.fonts.com/documents/e57ab64289c95dda/Fontology_AboutTypefaceFamilies.pdf}}</ref> The simplest typeface family has just a 'regular' face and an 'oblique' face (or 'Roman' and 'Italic'); the next step up adds [[boldface]] versions of these types. A modern professional typeface family (such as Danish Standard no. 737) might have as many as 54 different styles:<ref>{{cite web |title=DS 737: Shortlist / Type Design & Lettering / Typeface Family / 2023 |website=D&AD  |url=https://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2023/237262/ds737/ }}</ref> [[Font#Width|condensed]], normal and [[Font#Width|expanded]] forms of each of 'thin', 'extralight', 'light', 'regular', 'medium', 'demibold', 'bold', 'extrabold' and 'heavy' types, in regular and italic.

==Texts used to demonstrate typefaces==
[[Image:Caslon english roman sample.png|thumb|right|A Latin text used in a sample of [[Caslon]]]]

A sentence that uses all of the alphabet (a [[pangram]]), such as "[[The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog]]", is often used as a design aesthetic tool to demonstrate the personality of a typeface's characters in a setting (because it displays all the letters of the alphabet). For extended settings of typefaces graphic designers often use nonsense text (commonly referred to as ''[[greeking]]''), such as ''[[lorem ipsum]]'' or [[Latin]] text such as the beginning of [[Cicero]]'s ''[[In Catilinam]]''. Greeking is used in typography to determine a typeface's ''[[Type color|colour]]'', or weight and style, and to demonstrate an overall typographic aesthetic prior to actual type setting. Another common demonstration word is "[[Hamburgevons]]".

==Non-character typefaces==
[[File:Specimens of printed borders 2.jpg|thumb|Specimens of printed floral borders from an 1897 type foundry specimen book.]]

The process of printing typefaces has historically been far simpler than commissioning and engraving custom illustrations, especially as many non-text features of printed works like symbols and borders were likely to be reused by a printer in future.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Henry Lewis|title=Decorative ornaments and alphabets of the Renaissance : 1,020 copyright-free motifs from printed sources|date=1991|publisher=Dover Publications|location=New York|isbn=9780486266053}}</ref><ref name="Hoefler Text: Arabesques">{{cite web|title=Hoefler Text: Arabesques|url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/hoefler-text/features/hoefler-text-arabesques-patterns|publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones|access-date=17 August 2015}}</ref><ref name="English printers' ornaments">{{cite book|last1=Plomer|first1=Henry R.|title=English printers' ornaments|date=1924|publisher=Martino Pub.|location=Mansfield Center, CT|isbn=9781578987153|url=https://archive.org/details/englishprinterso00plom|access-date=17 August 2015}}</ref> Non-character typefaces have therefore been created for elements of documents that are not letters but are likely to be reused regularly.<ref name="Historic Design in Printing">{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Henry Lewis|title=Historic Design in Printing|date=1923|publisher=Graphic Arts Company|location=Boston, MA|url=https://archive.org/details/historicdesignin00john|access-date=17 August 2015}}</ref> These include:

===Ornamental typefaces===
Ornamental (also known as ''novelty'' or sometimes ''display'') typefaces are used to decorate a page. Historically complex interlocking patterns known as [[Arabesque (European art)|arabesques]] were common in fine printing, as were floral borders known as [[Fleuron (typography)|fleurons]] evoking hand-drawn manuscripts.

In the metal type era, type-founding companies often would offer pre-formed illustrations as fonts showing objects and designs likely to be useful for printing and advertisements, the equivalent of modern [[clip art]] and stock photographs.<ref name="Lady Speaker Sorts">{{cite web|last1=Papaelias|first1=Amy|title=Lady Speaker Sorts|url=http://www.alphabettes.org/lady-speaker-sorts/|website=Alphabettes|date=9 November 2012 |access-date=20 March 2016}}</ref> As examples, the [[American Type Founders]] specimen of 1897 offered designs including baseball players, animals, Christmas wreaths, designs for [[cheque]]s, and emblems such as [[Seals of the U.S. states|state seals]] for government printing.<ref name="Specimens of type, borders, ornaments, brass rules and cuts, etc. : catalogue of printing machinery and materials, wood goods, etc">{{cite book|title=Specimens of type, borders, ornaments, brass rules and cuts, etc. : catalogue of printing machinery and materials, wood goods, etc|date=1897|publisher=[[American Type Founders]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/specimensoftypeb00amer/page/703 703]|url=https://archive.org/details/specimensoftypeb00amer|access-date=17 August 2015}}</ref> The practice has declined as printing custom illustrations and colour printing using processes such as [[lithography]] has become cheaper, although illustration typefaces are still sold by some companies. [[#Display type|See above]] for the historical definition of ''display typeface''.

===Symbol typefaces===
{{Main|Dingbat}}
[[File:Dingbat examples.png|thumb|Examples of dingbats, which could be used in documents such as tourist guides or TV listings.]]

Symbol, or dingbat, typefaces consist of symbols (such as decorative bullets, clock faces, railroad timetable symbols, CD-index, or TV-channel enclosed numbers) rather than normal text characters. Common, widely used symbol typeface releases include [[Zapf Dingbats]] and [[Wingdings]], though many may be created internally by a publication for its own use and some typefaces may have a symbol range included.<ref name="Mercury Text: symbols">{{cite web|title=Mercury Text: symbols|url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/mercury-text/features/mercury-symbols|publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones|access-date=17 August 2015}}</ref> [[Marlett]] is an example of a font used by [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] to draw elements of windows and icons.

===Emoji===
{{Main|Emoji}}

Emoji are pictograms that can be used and displayed inline with text.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Blagdon |first=Jeff |title=How emoji conquered the world |url=https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/3966140/how-emoji-conquered-the-world |work=The Verge |publisher=Vox Media |access-date=November 6, 2013 |date=March 4, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Smile, You're Speaking EMOJI: The fast evolution of a wordless tongue|date=November 16, 2014|url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/11/emojis-rapid-evolution.html|author=Adam Sternbergh|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]}}</ref> They are similar to previous symbol typefaces, but with a much larger range of characters, such as symbols for common objects, animals, food types, weather and emotions. Originally developed in Japan, they are now commonly installed on many computer and smartphone operating systems.<ref name="Why and how I created emoji">{{cite web |last1=Kurita |last2=akano |last3=Lee |title=Why and how I created emoji |url=http://ignition.co/105 |website=Ignition |access-date=August 16, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610220635/http://ignition.co/105|archive-date=June 10, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Meet Shigetaka Kurita, the Father of Emoji">{{cite news|last1=Negishi|first1=Mayumi|title=Meet Shigetaka Kurita, the Father of Emoji |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/03/26/meet-shigetaka-kurita-the-father-of-emoji|website=[[Wall Street Journal]]|date=26 March 2014|access-date=August 16, 2015}}</ref> Following standardisation and inclusion in the [[Unicode]] standard, allowing them to be used internationally, the number of Emoji characters has rapidly increased to meet the demands of an expanded range of cultures using them; unlike many previous symbol typefaces, they are interchangeable with the ability to display the pictures of the same meaning in a range of fonts on different operating systems.<ref name="Emoji Additions: Animals, Compatibility, and More Popular Requests; Emoji tranche 5">{{cite web|title=Emoji Additions: Animals, Compatibility, and More Popular Requests; Emoji tranche 5|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15054r4-emoji-tranche5.pdf|publisher=Unicode|access-date=August 18, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Unicode 8.0.0|url=http://unicode.org/versions/Unicode8.0.0/|publisher=Unicode Consortium|access-date=June 17, 2015}}</ref> The popularity of emoji has meant that characters have sometimes gained culture-specific meanings not inherent to the design.<ref name="How to (pretend to) be young and down with the internet">{{cite web|last1=Hern|first1=Alex|title=How to (pretend to) be young and down with the internet|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/12/how-to-be-young-internet-lol-facebook|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=12 August 2015|access-date=August 15, 2015}}</ref><ref name="The 31 Most Nail Care Emoji Moments Of 2014">{{cite web|last1=Jewell|first1=Hannah|title=The 31 Most Nail Care Emoji Moments Of 2014|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahjewell/the-most-nail-care-emoji-moments-of-2014#.frpzwyGmAE|website=Buzzfeed|date=13 December 2014 |access-date=August 15, 2015}}</ref><ref name="The Five Non-Negotiable Best Emojis in the Land">{{cite web|last1=Santos|last2=Jones|title=The Five Non-Negotiable Best Emojis in the Land|url=http://www.thewire.com/culture/2014/03/the-only-five-emojis-you-need/359646/|website=The Atlantic Wire|access-date=August 15, 2015|archive-date=August 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820011420/http://www.thewire.com/culture/2014/03/the-only-five-emojis-you-need/359646/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Both colour and monochrome emoji typefaces exist, as well as at least one animated design.<ref>{{cite web|last1=El Khoury|first1=Rita|title=Woohoo! Animated Emoji Easter Eggs Overload The Latest Hangouts With Their Cuteness, Hehehehe|url=http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/12/11/woohoo-animated-emoji-easter-eggs-make-overload-latest-hangouts-cuteness-hehehehe|website=Android Police|date=December 11, 2014|access-date=January 15, 2015}}</ref>

===Music typefaces===
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2019}}
Typefaces that include musical notes and other needed symbols have been developed to print [[sheet music]].

==Intellectual property==
{{Excerpt|Intellectual property protection of typefaces}}

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

* {{Annotated link |ATypI}}
* {{Annotated link |Calligraphy}}
* {{Annotated link |Character (symbol)}}
* {{Annotated link |Computer font}}
* {{Annotated link |Font}}
* {{Annotated link |Font family (HTML)}}
* {{Annotated link |Font management software}}
* {{Annotated link |FontLab}}
* {{Annotated link |Intellifont}}
* {{Annotated link |Kerning}}
* {{Annotated link |Language}}
* {{Annotated link |Letterform}}
* [[List of typefaces]] and [[:Category:Typeface samples]]
* {{Annotated link |List of type designers}}
* {{Annotated link |List of typographic features}}
* [[Sort (typesetting)]], cast metal type for printing
* {{Annotated link |Typeface anatomy}}
* {{Annotated link |Type design}}
* {{Annotated link |Type Directors Club}}
* {{Annotated link |Type foundry}}
* {{Annotated link |Typesetting}}
* {{Annotated link |Typographic unit}}
* {{Annotated link |Typography}}
* {{Annotated link |Unicode font}}
}}

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
*  {{Citation
  | last = Bringhurst
  | first = Robert
  | title = The Elements of Typographic Style
  | publisher = Hartley & Marks
  | year = 2012 }}
*  {{Citation
  | last = Butterick
  | first = Matthew
  | title = Butterick's Practical Typography
  | url = http://www.practicaltypography.com
  | year = 2014 }}
*  {{Citation
  | last = Garfield
  | first = Simon
  | title = Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
  | publisher = Profile
  | year = 2010 }}
*  Jaspert, W. P.; Berry, W. Turner; [[Alfred F. Johnson|Johnson, A. F.]] (1953, 1958, 1962, 1970, 1983, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993, 2001, 2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Typefaces''. London: Blandford Press.
*  {{Citation
  | last = Pohlen
  | first = Joep
  | title = Letter Fountain
  | url = http://www.letterfountain.com/index.html
  | publisher = Taschen
  | year = 2011 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Typefaces}}
{{Wiktionary|typeface}}
<!-- HELP KEEP THIS ARTICLE SHORT AND SIMPLE: DO NOT ADD LINKS TO FREE FONT SITES. Please review the Wikipedia's external link policy at [[WP:ELNO]]. This is not a place to link to every site with free fonts. Only put links that explain this topic in more detail than already covered in the article. Thanks!! -->
* {{Cite journal |last=Gaskell |first=Philip |date=Winter 1976 |title=A Nomenclature for the Letterforms of Roman Type |url=https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/visiblelanguage/pdf/10.1/nomenclature-of-the-letterforms-of-roman-type.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223041800/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/visiblelanguage/pdf/10.1/nomenclature-of-the-letterforms-of-roman-type.pdf |archive-date=23 December 2019 |url-status=live |journal=[[Visible Language]] |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=41–51 }}
* [https://archive.org/details/LanstonMonotypeBordersOrnaments1940s Monotype printed borders specimens]
* [https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Metric-compatible_fonts ArchLinux list of Metric-compatible fonts]
* {{cite news|url= https://www.flickr.com/groups/cross-script-letterforms/|website=Flickr|title=Cross-Script Letterforms group}}

{{Typography terms}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Typography]]
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