Typesetting Flashcards
character spacing
derives from width of a type character: width of actual character, including spaces before/after it (sidebearings: the white areas that are needed for setting or for fitting the words together in a text)
width values
set width is determined by the width of the character and the distance between the letters.
spacing
increasing the distance between words or letters. should be consistent in continuous text.
line spacing
the distance between the individual lines of type, measured from line of type to line of type. also leading (in hot metal printing when “leads” or “gutters” were placed between set lines as “blind material”, thus determining size of leading). TIP: white space between lines should be about 1.5x the x-height of the typeface used (a little less for headings)
solid setting
when the distance between the lines is identical with the type size (type size is 12pt, distance between lines is 12pt)
leaded setting
when the distance between the lines is greater than the type size
setting alignment
the horizontal positioning of a text within a restricted space (flush left, flush right, centered, justified (all lines are the same width, inevitably be different spacing between words))
ragged setting
the distances between words are the same for all lines. creates calm internal structure. lines differ in length.
grey value
created by optical inertia: only individual characters appear to be black. the white of the gaps mixes with black area of letter to make grey.
accentuation
emphasis of individual or several words, or whole passages of text (italics, small capitals, bold, larger type, different font, etc.)
oblique
a computer-generated, slanted version of the straight type cut without the typical character of handwriting (vs italics: genuine italics script)
small capitals
smaller uppercase letters, at the optical height of the x-heights.
initials
(initial letters, illuminated letters, decorated majuscules) letters that are decorated to enhance their character. beginning of chapter/paragraph, larger than basic text.
omission marks (ellipses)
if a word is not written out in full, missing part replaced by three points without space from rest of word. if whole words are left out, omission marks separated with spaces on each side
opening and closing inverted commas
quotation marks
guillemet
a pair of punctuation marks in the form of sideways double chevrons, « and », used as quotation marks in a number of languages. not conventionally used in the English language.
apostrophe
attached to the word without a space. the subsequent word spacing is shortened (avoid using inch sign as a mistake)
hyphen
used only for word divisions, for combining words, or when parts of a word omitted.
dash
used with full space before and after
mathematical signs
separated from numeral with small space
table numerals
of uniform width, used when columns/figures have to be arranged one below the other as in a table setting
footnote symbols
set with small gap between them and text
slash
centered between two small spaces
empty space (blank)
used for the gaps between words in a continuous text. available in 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 widths.
type area
the area occupied by continuous text on a double page (running head and footnotes included in fixing type area, but page numbers/marginalia are not)
margins/gutter
on a double page, the outer margins are usually wider than the inner edges (gutter), because the gutter is mirrored visually when double page is opened and thus doubled
folio head
the typographical term for the page number or chapter number (for a page number in isolation)
running head
page/chapter number with text added about author, keywords, etc
type area technical terms
outer margins, gutter, footer, header, column title, page number, marginalia
headings
stand out from rest of text. can be replaced by single word set differently at the beginning of paragraph (set with visible gap between it and following text)
pilcrow
in early printing, used to signal a paragraph (rather than indent)
“widows” / “orphans”
individual words or small groups of words separated from rest of paragraph by page break. widows first line , orphans end of paragraph. should be avoided.
