Laser Printer User Manual

Narrowcondensedfacesusedto be called“compnxsed”.Theycramabout
fivecharacteminthespacewherethreeusuallygo--ideal forspreadsheets.
An extendedface, particularlyon a dot-matrixprinter, goes by several
names:“expanded,
““enlarged”or’’double-width’’printing.Nomatterwhat
it’scalled,extendedprintis widerthanitishigh,andcanbefairlyeffective
in pageheadings.
Italiccharacters(sometimescalled“oblique”)areslanted.Ordinaryupright
charactemm oftencalled“reman”.YourStarLaserPrinter4 comeswitha
built-inuprightCouriertypeface.Moreover,from any of the Star Laser-
Printer4’s built-intypefacesyou can selecta subsetof uprightsymbols
calledRoman-8.
Afont isacompletesetofcharactersin aparticularsizeandtypeface.In the
worldoflaserprintm, thethreevariablesmentionedabove—weight,width
and style—are a few~ontattributes(sometimescalled“fontcharacteris-
tics”).Let’sconsiderthreemoreattributes:fontheight,spacingandpitch.
3.1.2 Fontheight
Thebizselineistheinvisiblelineuponwhichcharactemoftypesit.Sincethe
firstletterblocksweremadeofleadalloy,thedistancefromonebaselineto
thenextis calledZeuding(pronounced“ledding”).Typeitselfis measured
fromthetopofanuscender(thepartextendingupintheb ork, forexample)
to thebottomof a descender(thedown-strokeof they or q ).
Themeasurementsusedtodescribefontsarepoint,sandpicus(derivedfrom
themarksandlettersin medievalchurchalmanacs).Thereare 12pointsto
thepica,,and almostexactly6 picas(72points)to the inch.
Laserprintersforcomputemmeasure~ontheightinpoints.Onlaserprinte~
the“whitespace”aboveascendersandbelowdescendemdependson how
the line is defined,so the line eonespondsto leading.This type you’re
readinghas afontheightof 12points,andis spaceda littlelessthan5 lines
per inch.
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