Font

In typography, the terms were set when all printing was done with metal type. Font or fount was all the letters or characters of a single size of a typeface. For example, all characters for 9-point Times New Roman is a font, and the 10 point size would be another font.

With the increase in the use of personal computers, the definition of font has changed. The term font is now often used as another name for a typeface. The size of the characters has no effect on fonts when using this definition.

Font Media

• Bauer Bodoni Mostra (cropped).svg

  The Bauer Bodoni typeface, with samples of the three of the fonts in the family: Roman (or regular), bold, and italic.

• Sorts on composing stick.jpg

  Metal type sorts arranged on a composing stick

• Coalbrookdale Company auction poster - 1910.jpg

  A 1910 letterpress poster, advertising an auction, using a variety of typefaces and fonts

• Helvetica Neue typeface weights.svg

  Weights of the typeface Neue Helvetica

• Regular and bold.png

  Bold and regular versions of three common fonts. Helvetica has a monoline design and all strokes increase in weight in bold. Less monoline fonts like Optima and Utopia increase the weight of the thicker strokes more. In all three designs, the curve on 'n' thins as it joins the left-hand vertical.

• Cyrillic italics and allowed variations

• Straight italic within italics.png

  'Upright italic' within normal italics

• Avenir Next regular and condensed widths.png

  The typeface Avenir Next in condensed and regular widths.

• Unterschiedliche Schriftformen pro Schriftgrösse.jpg

  A set of optical sizes developed at URW of the typeface Leipziger Antiqua. The fonts become thicker and more widely spaced as the point size for which they are designed decreases.

• Typography Line Terms.svg

  A diagram showing terms to do with letter height and positioning on the baseline. Alternative terms are italicised.Typefaces used: Adobe Garamond, Helvetica NeueCreated with: Adobe Illustrator CS2