User Guide

Appendix C
General information
Type terminology
Ascent
The ascent line marks the top of the capital letters. An
ascent guideline is automatically drawn at the vertical
position specified when the font is created, and may be
changed by using the “Font Info” command from the
Element menu. Characters should not normally go above
the ascent line.
Baseline
The baseline is the imaginary line upon which capital
letters sit. When printing mixed fonts on a line, all baselines
line up with one another. The baseline position does not
need to be explicitly specified, since it is always at a
vertical location of zero.
Display type
Display type is generally used for headlines or
advertisements and is meant to attract attention. Display
type is bold and heavier than text type because it is used in
larger point sizes. More often, display type is highly stylized
to the point where it is unreadable in small point sizes.
Em square
Each character is described in terms of a rectangle called
an em square. The em-square is the outer square around
the letter. This square is so named because it is nominally
as wide as the letter “M” and the same height.
Face
A face (typeface) is a complete set of characters that
Fontographer User's Manual
C: General information Page #1