Typography Terms and Definitions

Justified

When the text lines up with BOTH margins

Baseline

the line upon which most letters "sit" and below which descenders extend. In the example below, the letter 'p' has a descender

Midline

half the distance from the baseline to the cap height. This may or may not be the x-height, depending on the design of the lower case letters.

Center

The text is aligned in the middle of the page

Topline

This line shows where the top of letters such as k and h touch. Strangely, in a lot of cases, this line is slightly higher than the capital line.

Left

When the text is justified to the left

Right

When the text is justified to the right

Sans

one that does not have the small projecting features called "serifs" at the end of strokes

Leading

the distance between the baselines of successive lines of type.

Beardline

The part of a lowercase letter (as p) that descends below the main body of the letter; also : a letter that has such a part.

Display

Type fonts such as Avant Garde, Caesar, Garmond, that are usually larger than text fonts and give distinctive personality to a printed or displayed publication.

Slab

a type of serif typeface characterized by thick, block-like serifs. Serif terminals may be either blunt and angular, or rounded.

Script

are based upon the varied and often fluid stroke created by handwriting. They are organized into highly regular formal types similar to cursive writing and looser, more casual scripts.

Sans Serif

similar to sans, is one that has the small projecting features called "serifs" at the end of strokes

Typography

The style and appearance of printed matter

Tracking

a consistent degree of increase (or sometimes decrease) of space between letters to affect density in a line or block of text.

Blackletter

a heavy angular condensed typeface used especially by the earliest European printers and based on handwriting used chiefly in the 13th to 15th centuries

Capline

the line marking the height of uppercase letters within a font.

Kerning

the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in a proportional font, usually to achieve a visually pleasing result.