Chapter 4: Text About Fonts and Faces

Chapter 4: Text
CHAPTER 4: TEXT
About Fonts and Faces

1. Typeface is a family of graphic characters that usually includes many type sizes and
styles.
2. Font is collection of characters of a single size and style belonging to a particular
typeface family.
3. Typical font styles are boldface and italic and computer software may add other style
attributes, such as underlining and outlining of characters.
4. A font’s size does not exactly describe the height or width of its characters. This is
because the x-height (the height of the lowercase letter x) of two fonts may vary, while
the height of the capital letters of those fonts may be the same.
Figure 1: The measurement of type

5. Leading named for add space below the descender (and sometimes above) to provide
appropriate line spacing.
6. Kerning is the spacing between character pairs.
Figure 2: Kerning example
7. When it converts the letter A from a mathematical representation to a recognizable

symbol displayed on the screen or in printed output (a process called rasterizing), the
computer must know how to represent the letter using tiny square pixels (picture
elements), or dots.
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Chapter 4: Text
Serif vs Sans Serif

1. Serif versus sans serif is the simplest way to categorise a typeface; the type either has a
serif or it doesn’t (sans is French for “without”).
2. The serif is the little decoration at the end of a letter stroke. Times, New Century
Schoolbook, Bookman, and Palatino are examples of serif fonts.
3. Helvetica,Verdana, Arial, Optima, and Avant Garde are sans serif.
Figure 3: The difference between serif (on the left) and sans serif
4. On the printed page, serif fonts are traditionally used for body text because the serifs are
said to help guide the reader’s eye along the line of text. Sans serif fonts, on the other
hand, are used for headlines and bold statements.
5. The computer world of standard, 72 dpi monitor resolution is not the same as the print
world, and it can be argued that sans serif fonts are far more legible and attractive when
used in the small sizes of a text field on a screen.
Designing with Text

1. Computer screens provide a very small workspace for developing complex ideas.
2. If the messages are part of an interactive project or web site where developer know
the user is seeking information, here, is where developer must strike a balance.
3. Too little text on a screen requires annoying page turns and unnecessary mouse clicks
and waits; too much text can make the screen seem overcrowded and unpleasant.
4. If developer is creating presentation slides for public speaking support, the text will be
keyed to a live presentation where the text accents the main message.
5. Use bulleted points in large fonts and few words with lots of white space. Let the
audience focus on the speaker at the podium, rather than spend its time reading fine
points and subpoints projected on a screen.
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Chapter 4: Text
Choosing Text Fonts

 For small type, use the most legible font available. Decorative fonts that cannot be read
are useless, as shown at right.
 Use as few different faces as possible in the same work but vary the weight and size of
your typeface using italic and bold styles where they look good.
 In text blocks, adjust the leading for the most pleasing line spacing. Lines too tightly
packed are difficult to read.
 Vary the size of a font in proportion to the importance of the message you are delivering.
 In large-size headlines, adjust the spacing between letters (kerning) so that the spacing
feels right. Big gaps between large letters can turn your title into a toothless waif.
 To make your type stand out or be more legible, explore the effects of different colors and
of placing the text on various backgrounds. Use anti-aliased text where you want a gentle
and blended look for titles and headlines. This can give a more professional appearance.
Anti-aliasing blends the colors along the edges of the letters (called dithering) to create
a soft transition between the letter and its background.
 Try drop caps (like the T to the left) and initial caps to accent your words.
 Use center type in a text block, keep the number of lines and their width to a minimum.
 For attention-grabbing results with single words or short phrases, try graphically altering
and distorting your text and delivering the result as an image. Wrap word onto a sphere,
bend it into a wave, or splash it with rainbow colors.
 Experiment with drop shadows.
 Pick the fonts that seem right for getting message across.
 Text links on web pages can accent your message: they normally stand out by color and
underlining.
 Bold or emphasize text to highlight ideas or concepts, but do not make text look like a link
or a button when it is not.
 On a web page, put vital text elements and menus in the top pixels.
Animating Text
1. There are plenty of ways to retain a viewer’s attention when displaying text. For example,
can animate bulleted text and have its “fly” onto the screen.
2. Stack keywords and flash them past the viewer in a timed automated sequence.
3. Fly in some keywords, dissolve others, rotate or spin others.
4. Do not overdo the special effects, or they will become uninteresting.
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Chapter 4: Text
Symbols and Icons

1. Symbols are concentrated text in the form of stand-alone graphic constructs and convey
meaningful messages.
2. Symbols such as the familiar trash can, and hourglass are more properly called icons:
these are symbolic representations of objects and processes common to the graphical
user interfaces (GUI) of many computer operating systems.
3. Certainly, text is more efficient than imagery and pictures for delivering a precise
message to users.
4. On the other hand, pictures, icons, moving images, and sounds are more easily recalled
and remembered by viewers.
5. With multimedia, developer have the power to blend both text and icons (as well as
colors, sounds, images, and motion video) to enhance the overall impact and value of
message.
Figure 4: Examples of symbol
6. Japanese invented emoji (e for picture and moji for letter) have been incorporated into
Unicode and are used in phones and e-mail services as well being available in Macintosh
and Windows operating system.
7. Emoticons used in internet conversation to express mood, once were made up entirely
of text and punctuation characters.
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Chapter 4: Text
The ASCII Character Set
1. ASCII represent American Standard Code for Information Interchange is the 7-bit
character coding system most used by computer.
2. ASCII assigns a number or value to 128 characters, including both lower- and uppercase
letters, punctuation marks, Arabic numbers, and math symbols.
3. Also included in the 128 are 32 control characters used for device control messages,
such as carriage return, line feed, tab, and form feed.
Source : theascii.com
Figure 5: ASCII Table

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Chapter 4: Text

About Fonts and Faces

Figure 1: The measurement of type

Figure 2: Kerning example

7. When it converts the letter A from a mathematical representation to a recognizable

Serif vs Sans Serif

Designing with Text

Choosing Text Fonts

Symbols and Icons

Figure 4: Examples of symbol

The ASCII Character Set

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