Type Rules!: The Designer's Guide to Professional Typography, Third Edition

GLOSSARY

alignment:

The positioning of lines of text: usually flush left, flush right, justi?ed, centered, or contoured.

alternate character:

A separate and distinct version of the character in the regular position.

ampersand:

Symbol for the word and (&).

arm:

The upper (horizontal or diagonal) stroke that is attached on one end and free on the other (K).

ascender:

The part of a lowercase character (b, d, f, h, k, l, t) that extends above the height of the lowercase x.

asterisk:

Starlike symbol indicating a footnote or other additional information (*).

bar:

The horizontal stroke in characters such as A, H, R, e, f.

baseline:

The invisible line on which most characters sit.

boldface:

A bold version of a lighter weight (not necessarily labeled bold).

bowl:

A curved stroke that creates an enclosed space within a character (which is then called a counter).

braces (also called curly brackets):

A more decorative form of bracket, traditionally used for certain mathematical expressions.

brackets:

Punctuation symbols, usually rectangular in design, used to enclose copy within a parenthetical phrase (or copy already enclosed within parentheses).

bullet:

A large dot placed to the left of each item in a list for emphasis.

cap height:

The height of capital letters measured from the baseline to the top of caps, most accurately measured on a character with a flat bottom (E, H, I, etc.).

capitals:

The uppercase letters of an alphabet, usually all the same height.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS):

A language that is used to define ...