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Codes & LettersCiphers, scripts, symbols — every code humans write, taken apart.

Letterforms

Letters taken apart in openly licensed typefaces: the names of their parts, the optical corrections designers make for the eye, and the spacing between them.

4 entries

Definitions: the eye's thumb on the scale

  1. Anatomy of a Letter: Why the O Is Drawn Taller Than the H

    The parts of a letter, from baseline and x-height to stem, bowl, counter, serif and terminal, measured in two open fonts, and why the O is drawn taller than H.

    Deep explainer ·

    Illustration: hands at a bench vise holding a steel counterpunch upright on a clamped punch blank, a hammer raisedIllustration
    Picture creditIllustration: Codes & Letters. Generated schematic image — not a photograph or historical record. Reuse: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), to the extent any copyright exists in this image.

  2. X-Height: Same Font Size, Different Letter Sizes, Measured

    X-height measured from 13 open font files: at one font size, the lowercase x stands 40.5% of that size in EB Garamond and 55.0% in JetBrains Mono.

    Tool or puzzle page ·

    Green guide sign on wooden posts at a rural junction, 2013: Rohnerville 3 ahead, Alton 3 left, with a US 101 shield
    Picture credit"Hydesville CA Interchange" by Ellin Beltz — Public domain (released into the public domain by the photographer, Ellin Beltz, who also grants anyone the right to use it for any purpose where such a release is not legally possible; the sign shows only place names, distances, arrows and a route shield) — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hydesville_CA_Interchange.jpg

  3. Serif vs Sans Serif: Reading Tests Found No Clear Winner

    Serif vs sans serif: reading tests that change only the serifs find no clear winner. Studies side by side, the Trajan inscription, and measured Noto font data.

    Deep explainer ·

    Photo: plaster cast of the base of Trajan's Column, Bucharest; Latin inscription panel above a door, winged figures beside it
    Picture credit"Trajan's Column - NMR - base - 02" by Joe Mabel — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trajan%27s_Column_-_NMR_-_base_-_02.jpg — CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

  4. Kerning: Space Six Words by Eye, Then Check the Font

    Kerning is the spacing a font file stores for one pair of letters. Spectral pulls A and V 80 units closer, yet 84% of pairs in three English novels get none.

    Tool or puzzle page ·

    Metal type sorts heaped in a wooden type case, a composing stick of set, mirror-image type across them; photo, 2004
    Picture credit"Metal movable type" by Willi Heidelbach — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metal_movable_type.jpg — CC BY 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/); modifications: cropped at the left to remove a maker's stamp on the composing stick's clamp, scaled to 1600 px wide