{S:X;X;0;1;Keywords:{ITT-X}Typography Fonts Kerning Serif Point Fitton}
{S:X;X;0;2;Introduction}
{S:X;X;0;3;This is the second of a series of articles about the use of typefaces in Fireworkz. In them I hope to show you how the use of different typefaces can improve the quality of your printed documents. I know that many of you will not have typefaces other than the minimum set of Trinity, Homerton and Corpus so, when I need to include examples of other fonts, I shall resort to the trick of converting the outlines of the characters to Drawfiles and I shall include such examples of \‘text\’ as graphics. Such Drawfiles take up more disc space than text files so I shall have to ration the extent to which I use this method of demonstrating other typefaces.}
{S:X;X;0;4;In the first article I explained the differences between the System font, the \‘old\’ bit mapped fonts which were included in the RISC OS 2 ROM chips, the newer \‘Outline fonts\’ of RISC OS 2 and I mentioned briefly the RISC OS 3 font manager. I recommended that you upgrade to RISC OS 3 if you had not already done so. The RISC OS 3 ROM chip set includes the three typefaces Trinity, Homerton and Corpus. For this series of articles I shall assume that you have these three typefaces in either the RISC OS 2 or 3 version.}
{S:X;X;0;5;Kerning}
{S:X;X;0;6;On my Teacher training course one of my more memorable lecturers advised us \“Always start with a digression!\” At the time I wondered why. Now I\’m beginning to get the idea!}
{S:X;X;0;7;One of the features of the RISC OS 3 typefaces is that kerning is supported. If you click the mouse menu (middle) button over the (installed on the icon bar) Wordz icon one of the options is Choices. Click the select (left) button to reveal your choices. Mine are shown in the screen shot below. If your Choices window doesn\’t include the Kerning radio button then the chances are that you haven\’t upgraded to Wordz version 1.03. Send both your program and your examples disc to Colton Software for a free upgrade.}
{S:X;X;0;10;If you have Wordz version 1.03 (or later) and you have RISC OS 3 then have a look at the line of 24 point Ws and As in the next paragraph. If the tails of the As creep under the heads of the Ws then you are seeing kerning in action. If it doesn\’t happen then the chances are that you are using the RISC OS 2 font manager because that\’s all that you have! If you know that you have RISC OS 3 and find that kerning doesn\’t happen then it is likely that your RISC OS 3 font manager is using your old (RISC OS 2) Trinity typeface from a disc file instead of the new RISC OS 3 kerned typefaces which are in the ROM chips. RISC OS 3 looks at disc files first and only resorts to the ROM chips if it can\’t find what it wants on the disc. This is so that you can upgrade the files in the chips with files from a disc! If you have RISC OS 3 but you\’re using Trinity from disc the the solution is to delete (or rename) your Trinity disc directory. I keep my RISC OS 2 Trinity on disc in a directory called Trinity2 so that I can check what happens without kerning alongside a kerned version. One more possible reason why kerning doesn\’t happen is that you\’ve turned it off (no blue star) in the kerning radio button accessed through Choices (click the mouse menu button on the Wordz icon after installing it on the icon bar and click on Choices . . .).}
{S:X;X;0;11;AWAWAWAWA is an example of kerning.{ITR-X} Now have a look at To, Vo, Wo, Yo, fj, Hj{ITR-X}and study the comma after V, W, Y, and P.}
{S:X;X;0;12;In each case the capital letters which have an \‘arm\’ (such as the T) or a \‘bar\’ (the V, W and Y) above the so called \‘x-height\’ are kerned with the lower case o. Commas and full stops are also kerned after letters which have an \‘overhang\’.}
{S:X;X;0;13;So why start with such a digression? Well, I\’ve laid out this page with kerning selected and you might not have kerning selected (or not have it at all). The line lengths of some of my examples might differ between the kerned and unkerned versions so, if you see something on screen which doesn\’t match the text of the article then it might be due to you not having kerning selected.}
{S:X;X;0;14;Serif and Sans Serif Typefaces{ITR-X}{ITR-X}In order to ensure that my screen examples demonstrate my points I shall use a larger size than usual for some of the following lines of text. Both of the following two paragraphs are in 24 point, left aligned and with 28.8 point line spacing (double the size of the ZLBase style).}
{S:X;X;0;15;Trinity (on some other computer platforms this is known as Times) is a typeface having serifs.}
{S:X;X;0;16;Homerton (on some other computer platforms this is known as Helvetica) is a typeface without serifs.}
{S:X;X;0;17;On nearly all computer systems there are 72 points to an inch (I\’ve been told that there are not exactly 72 points to the inch but that the difference is negligible). This implies that, with a line spacing of 28.8 points, ten lines of type occupy a vertical distance of 4". This line spacing is true for both typefaces. Measure the distance from base line to base line and you\’ll see that the distance is exactly the same for both Trinity and Homerton.}
{S:X;X;0;18;You will have noticed that there is something different about the two sizes of the typefaces even if they are both 4" per ten lines. I think that the next two lines show what it is.}
{S:X;X;0;19;H H T T W W X X Z Z{ITR-X}a a b b e e f f g g h h p p y y}
{S:X;X;0;20;The characters in Homerton typeface are taller than their Trinity equivalent. If you study the lower case letters carefully you will discover that the so called \‘body part\’ (the round bit of the b) is a larger proportion of the overall height in Homerton\\\; hence the \‘ascender\’ (the vertical line of the b above the body part) is a smaller proportion of the overall height. Now have a look at the \‘descenders\’ (the lower part of the vertical line in a p) and you will find that they descend to the same depth!}
{S:X;X;0;21;The overall height and the way in which it is proportioned between body part and ascender is not the only difference between the two typefaces as you will see from the next example. Some of the upper case letters, but by no means all, are narrower in Homerton than they are in Trinity. Now check the width of the lower case letters a, f and p in both type faces. }
{S:X;X;0;23;Should you use a Serif or Sans Serif font for body \‘text\’? As I said in the previous article, it depends to some extent on the psychological effect you wish to generate. However, psychological effect on one side, what about readability?}
{S:X;X;0;24;The style of ZLBase is 12 point Trinity with a 14.4 point line spacing, both left and right justified and it has a line length of 160 mm. This line length is about 450 points or, if you want to look at it another way, the line length is about 38 times the point size of the typeface or about 31 times the vertical line spacing.}
{S:X;X;0;25;It is generally accepted that, at a large enough point size (more about small point sizes later), serifs help to guide the eye along narrow spaced long lines. Opinions differ when it comes to choosing numbers to enter into such a statement and, in any case, I think it depends on the proficiency of the reader as to whether they find it difficult or easy to find the next line. For myself I find that if the line length is much above 30 times the line spacing my reading speed slows down whether I am using a serif or sans serif font of the same point size and line spacing. Other people find that a line length to line spacing of 35 is acceptable but not desirable\\\; 40 is about the limit for even those whose eyes work like a ruler sliding accurately down from line to line! My conclusion is that the ZLBase style is reasonably close to the upper limit.}
{S:X;X;0;26;To read the next paragraph I suggest that, if you are not in a suitable mode already, then you should zoom in on the text so that it fills the screen width.}
{S:X;X;0;27;To demonstrate the effect of a 50% increase in the ratio to a line length which is about 45 times the line spacing, this paragraph is in a style I have called ZLPoint8\\\; it is in 8 point Trinity and the line spacing is 9.6 point. You will find that, even if you zoom in on the text so that it fills the screen width, it becomes quite difficult to train your eye to jump from the end of one line to the beginning of the next.}
{S:X;X;0;28;This is the same paragraph in Homerton at the same point size. To demonstrate the effect of a 50% increase in the ratio to a line length which is about 45 times the line spacing, this paragraph is in a style I have called ZLPoint8\\\; it is in 8 point Homerton and the line spacing is 9.6 point. You will find that, even if you zoom in on the text so that it fills the screen width, it becomes quite difficult to train your eye to jump from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. Is it easier or harder with a serif or sans serif typeface? Personally I think it makes little difference but the conventional wisdom is that a serif font is easier to read.}
{S:X;X;0;29;Short Lines{ITR-X}{ITR-X}As lines get shorter, if you maintain full left and right justification, then the gaps between words become an increasing proportion of the length of an \‘average\’ word. Although this demonstration uses only 12 point Trinity text you should think in terms of line length to line spacing ratio. Using 12 point text, a rough value for this ratio is to double the length of the text in cm. This paragraph and the examples below use line lengths of 16 cm, 12 cm, 8 cm and 6 cm which correspond (approximately) to line length to line spacing ratios of 32, 24, 16 and 12. The first block of four are fully left and right justified. The second block are left justified only. If you are using a high resolution monitor in one of the higher numbered modes then you might find it helpful to zoom in the screen display so that the lines fill the screen width.}
{S:X;X;0;30;As lines get shorter, if you maintain full left and right justification, then the gaps between words become an increasing proportion of the length of an \‘average\’ word. Although this demonstration uses only 12 point Trinity text you should think in terms of line length to line spacing ratio. Using 12 point text, a rough value for this ratio is to double the length of the text in cm. This paragraph and the examples below use line lengths of 16 cm, 12 cm, 8 cm and 6 cm which correspond (approximately) to line length to line spacing ratios of 32, 24, 16 and 12. The first block of four are fully left and right justified. The second block are left justified only. If you are using a high resolution monitor in one of the higher numbered modes then you might find it helpful to zoom in the screen display so that the lines fill the screen width.}
{S:X;X;0;31;As lines get shorter, if you maintain full left and right justification, then the gaps between words become an increasing proportion of the length of an \‘average\’ word. Although this demonstration uses only 12 point Trinity text you should think in terms of line length to line spacing ratio. Using 12 point text, a rough value for this ratio is to double the length of the text in cm. This paragraph and the examples below use line lengths of 16 cm, 12 cm, 8 cm and 6 cm which correspond (approximately) to line length to line spacing ratios of 32, 24, 16 and 12. The first block of four are fully left and right justified. The second block are left justified only. If you are using a high resolution monitor in one of the higher numbered modes then you might find it helpful to zoom in the screen display so that the lines fill the screen width.}
{S:X;X;0;32;As lines get shorter, if you maintain full left and right justification, then the gaps between words become an increasing proportion of the length of an \‘average\’ word. Although this demonstration uses only 12 point Trinity text you should think in terms of line length to line spacing ratio. Using 12 point text, a rough value for this ratio is to double the length of the text in cm. This paragraph and the examples below use line lengths of 16 cm, 12 cm, 8 cm and 6 cm which correspond (approximately) to line length to line spacing ratios of 32, 24, 16 and 12. The first block of four are fully left and right justified. The second block are left justified only. If you are using a high resolution monitor in one of the higher numbered modes then you might find it helpful to zoom in the screen display so that the lines fill the screen width.}
{S:X;X;0;33;As lines get shorter, if you maintain full left and right justification, then the gaps between words become an increasing proportion of the length of an \‘average\’ word. Although this demonstration uses only 12 point Trinity text you should think in terms of line length to line spacing ratio. Using 12 point text, a rough value for this ratio is to double the length of the text in cm. This paragraph and the examples below use line lengths of 16 cm, 12 cm, 8 cm and 6 cm which correspond (approximately) to line length to line spacing ratios of 32, 24, 16 and 12. The first block of four are fully left and right justified. The second block are left justified only. If you are using a high resolution monitor in one of the higher numbered modes then you might find it helpful to zoom in the screen display so that the lines fill the screen width.}
{S:X;X;0;34;As lines get shorter, if you maintain full left and right justification, then the gaps between words become an increasing proportion of the length of an \‘average\’ word. Although this demonstration uses only 12 point Trinity text you should think in terms of line length to line spacing ratio. Using 12 point text, a rough value for this ratio is to double the length of the text in cm. This paragraph and the examples below use line lengths of 16 cm, 12 cm, 8 cm and 6 cm which correspond (approximately) to line length to line spacing ratios of 32, 24, 16 and 12. The first block of four are fully left and right justified. The second block are left justified only. If you are using a high resolution monitor in one of the higher numbered modes then you might find it helpful to zoom in the screen display so that the lines fill the screen width.}
{S:X;X;0;35;As lines get shorter, if you maintain full left and right justification, then the gaps between words become an increasing proportion of the length of an \‘average\’ word. Although this demonstration uses only 12 point Trinity text you should think in terms of line length to line spacing ratio. Using 12 point text, a rough value for this ratio is to double the length of the text in cm. This paragraph and the examples below use line lengths of 16 cm, 12 cm, 8 cm and 6 cm which correspond (approximately) to line length to line spacing ratios of 32, 24, 16 and 12. The first block of four are fully left and right justified. The second block are left justified only. If you are using a high resolution monitor in one of the higher numbered modes then you might find it helpful to zoom in the screen display so that the lines fill the screen width.}
{S:X;X;0;36;As lines get shorter, if you maintain full left and right justification, then the gaps between words become an increasing proportion of the length of an \‘average\’ word. Although this demonstration uses only 12 point Trinity text you should think in terms of line length to line spacing ratio. Using 12 point text, a rough value for this ratio is to double the length of the text in cm. This paragraph and the examples below use line lengths of 16 cm, 12 cm, 8 cm and 6 cm which correspond (approximately) to line length to line spacing ratios of 32, 24, 16 and 12. The first block of four are fully left and right justified. The second block are left justified only. If you are using a high resolution monitor in one of the higher numbered modes then you might find it helpful to zoom in the screen display so that the lines fill the screen width.}
{S:X;X;0;37;Now let me try to explain the effect which I\’ve been trying to demonstrate with the above examples. I\’ve already said that different readers will have a different opinion of the highest ratio of line length to line spacing and that, for me the figure is about 30 to 35. Higher than this and my reading speed slows down because my eye can\’t easily find the beginning of the next line. This ZLBase style has a line length to line spacing of about 31 and my intention was to chose a value which is about as large as it can be and still be readable with comfort. Reading is subjective so please let me know what you think.}
{S:X;X;0;38;There is also a minimum value for this ratio and I believe that its value depends on whether the text is fully justified or not. When the line length is about 12 times the line spacing and I find that, when fully justified, the gaps between the words varies too much for my eye to scan lines easily. I find that text which is left justified only is much easier to read because the gaps between words is consistent. For me, the effect of full justification slowing down my reading speed starts with a line length to line spacing ratio of about 20. I have also discovered that it depends on the nature of the text. If the text contains many long words then (with full justification) the space between words is less consistent than if the text contains mainly short words. The text I have used for my example contains words of a length which I would describe as \‘average\’ rather than \‘long\’ or \‘short\’.}
{S:X;X;0;39;For general use I try to restrict the line length of fully justified text to between 20 and 30 times the line spacing. Where space is at a premium, for example a long printed leaflet where the cost increases inversely with the point size, I chose a higher figure than for a document where the presentation is more important than the cost.}
{S:X;X;0;40;I would be interested to know what you find in your reading of the examples I have given above. In particular, would you prefer ZLine documents (on this and our other discs) to have a shorter line length? Would you prefer left justification to full judtification? I have chosen my factor of 31 (a line length of 160 mm) so that you can print out these documents if you wish without using up too much paper.}
{S:X;X;0;41;If you want to compare the examples above (and below) you may find it easier if you use the Horizontal split or New view facility of Wordz so that you can see both samples of text simultaneously. You access the Horizontal split or New view radio buttons by clicking on the View control icon on the button bar (it looks like a pair of spectacles and is the icon at the far left of the button bar).}
{S:X;X;0;42;Shorter Lines{ITR-X}{ITR-X}When the line length to line spacing ratio falls much below 10 then the criterion for readability is no longer the gap between words but the number of words per line.}
{S:X;X;0;43;Let\’s have a look at a few more examples using a line length of 4 cm, 3 cm and 2 cm. These correspond approximately to line length to line spacing ratios of 8, 6 and 4.}
{S:X;X;0;44;When the line length to line spacing ratio falls much below 10 then the criterion for readability is no longer the gap between words but the number of words per line.}
{S:X;X;0;45;When the line length to line spacing ratio falls much below 10 then the criterion for readability is no longer the gap between words but the number of words per line.}
{S:X;X;0;46;When the line length to line spacing ratio falls much below 10 then the criterion for readability is no longer the gap between words but the number of words per line.}
{S:X;X;0;47;I find these low ratios give lines of text which are suitable only for headlines (at large point sizes) ie single lines of text rather than the multi line body text of these examples. We shall deal with large point sizes in the next article.}
{S:X;X;0;48;There is nothing like practice. By this I don\’t mean that you should do a lot of typing or even that you should play with styles in Wordz or some other dtp package. What I mean is that you should have a look at a wide range of printed text ranging from newspapers (usually fully justified) through magazines, books and advertisements, to posters and even the large hoardings. Measure, calculate or even guess the ratio of either line length to line spacing or line length to point size.}
{S:X;X;0;49;If you feel in an experimental mood then time yourself reading text of different ratios. I would like to know what you find.}
{S:X;X;0;50;Small Point Sizes{ITR-X}{ITR-X}Generally all the preceding assumes that the text is at a large enough point size to be read easily and that the shapes of the characters are easily discernable. Again, the definition of \‘a size which is too small to read easily\’ is somewhat subjective. For what is called \‘body text\’ (the bulk of the article) I find that sizes between 10 point and 14 point quite readable. At sizes larger than 14 point, even though the line length to line spacing is reduced, I find my eye has to scan too much of the line for each word\\\; I find myself holding the document further away than is comfortable in order to reduce my eye movement. I think it slows me down because my ultimate reading speed is limited by the number of lines I can scan in a minute rather than by the number of words I can recognise. For lines of body text with a ratio of line length to line spacing of about 30 I think I look at each line in two places\\\; some people manage it in one, some require three snapshots.}
{S:X;X;0;51;I suggest to you is that the maximum point size for body text is around 14 point\—but what is the criterion for the minimum (apart from deficiencies in your eyesight)? I\’ll try to convince you that it depends on the resolution you can achieve with your printer.}
{S:X;X;0;52;The \‘standard\’ for home dtp at the moment is a 300 dpi printer. This figure means that the printer can place 300 dots along a linear inch. Since an inch is 72 points this implies about 4 printed dots per point. A printed 12 point character has a height of about 50 dots. However, it is not so much the height that matters. A more important calculation is to determine the number of dots across the thickness of, say, the letter l or i. I\’d like you to consider an m or H. As the character size is reduced the size of the printed dot becomes a significant proportion of the thickness of the legs. At 12 point the thickness of the legs of a capital H in Homerton Medium is about 5 printed dots. The character will look wrong if one of the legs is 5 dots and the other is 4 dots. Both the RISC OS 2 and 3 font managers make use of local \‘links\’ between the legs to keep them the same thickness. Similarly, a word will look uneven if adjacent letters (eg a double tt or the upper rounded part of a b and an o in the word boot) are not matched in the same way by global \‘links\’ from letter to letter. In the Acorn world this \‘linking\’ from parts of a letter to other parts of the same letter and between letters on the same line is called \‘Scaffolding\’.}
{S:X;X;0;53;Very thin letters in Light or Book weight (thickness) must have at least one printed (or screen rendered) dot everywhere or parts of letters will be lost. Acorn\’s method is to introduce skeleton lines within each letter which, however thin, are always printed. In the Acorn world the name given to the inclusion of a skeleton for each character is called \‘Hinting\’ Acorn have designed their new font manager to look for and make use of these skeleton lines, the local and the global links.}
{S:X;X;0;54;Some typefaces from dubious sources do not have these skeleton lines nor do they have the local and global links. Such typefaces do not print well at small sizes\\\; some give problems at 12 point and most fail miserably at 10 point. This does not make them useless because they can be used at large point sizes, say over 18 or 24 point, for instance in headlines or posters.}
{S:X;X;0;60;In the graphic above\—it is the file [Screen2]\—all three typefaces are at the same point size and weight. The Homerton and Trinity typefaces are included as text but the other one, French has been converted from textual characters handled by the font manager to drawn objects. You will see that the \‘definition\’ of drawn objects is not as good as that generated by the font manager\—they look rather \‘dotty\’ but the drawing will suffice for to illustrate my main point.}
{S:X;X;0;61;The delicate serifs of Trinity are hard to discern when printed on a 300 dpi printer at 10 point and they are lost below that size. If you consider that the vertical line of the Trinity T at 10 point is only about 4 dots wide then you will appreciate that the shape of the serifs on the horizontal bar must be distorted. Of course the eye will smooth out the irregularity to some extent but the \‘ragged\’ edge will still register subconsciously as poor quality print.}
{S:X;X;0;62;At 10 point I prefer Homerton to Trinity. The reason Homerton looks and prints better at 10 point than Trinity is mainly because all the lines are designed to be of the same thickness. Have a look at the graphic and convince yourself of this. This property of the Homerton typeface makes it easy for Acorn\’s font manager to retain the outline, the line thickness (about four dots) and \‘symmetry\’.}
{S:X;X;0;63;The practical problem of reproducing French, Lubalin Graph, as drawn outlines prevents me from demonstrating how good it is at small point sizes. However, even from the graphic you will see that the lines are all of the same thickness (like Homerton), an advantage at small point sizes. French has a second advantage\\\; the round body parts (such as an o or the round part of a b or d) are more circular than the corresponding characters in Homerton so that characters in French are wider than in Homerton. French has yet another advantage\\\; it has slab serifs so that the eye can run along a line more easily than in Homerton. I recommend it to you as a highly readable font at small sizes and it\’s not bad at larger point sizes too.}
{S:X;X;0;64;In order to demonstrate this typeface I have printed the order form which accompanies this disc in French.Medium at the small size of 8.4 point. Those of you who have received earlier order forms (and still have them) will see that the typeface is mainly Trinity.Medium at a size of about 10.5 point. On the enclosed order form (8.4 point French) I\’m sure that you will see that it would have been possible to reduce the line spacing below that which I have used.}
{S:X;X;0;65;French is available in five weights: light, book, medium, demi bold and bold.}
{S:X;X;0;66;It is available in upright and oblique from the Electronic Font Foundry.}
{S:X;X;0;67;Large Point Sizes{ITR-X}{ITR-X}Whilst hinting and scaffolding links are important at small point sizes, at large point sizes it is the smooth and balanced curvature of the characters that is more important for decorative typefaces and for those typefaces used for notices and headlines. The A6 slip which is included with this disc uses the EFF typeface called Chance at about 16 point.}
{S:X;X;0;68;We shall investigate decorative typefaces in more detail, with examples, the next article.}
