Typography Glossary

Saccade Motion of the eye between fixations.

Sans serif A typeface without serifs. See our Typeface Classification Guide.

Saturation The purity of colour, the degree to which light is pastel versus spectral.

Screen co-ordinates Specification of a location on a screen in terms of the discrete pixels, as two integers (x,y), as opposed to world or application coordinates, which relate to a simulated co-ordinate system that may be expressed in real numbers and may be completely independent of screen position.

Scribe A batch-mode document formatter developed by Brian Reid, much more intentional in its specifications that such formatters as Runoff.

Script A form of typeface based on writing, having generally continuous strokes that connect letters. See our Typeface Classification Guide.

Sector kerning One method of automatic kerning that calculates the interletter spacing based on stored information about the lateral extent of each letter, assessed in a number of horizontal bands.

Selection The user-interface action of identifying an object or a portion of text for later operations.

Serif A small stroke at the end of the main strokes of letterforms. Typefaces with serifs are called serif typefaces and those without, sans serif typefaces.See our Typeface Classification Guide.

Set The horizontal extent of a given letter. Also, the average width of the letters in a font, normally gauged by the width of a lowercase alphabet.

SGML Standard Generalised Markup Language, an ISO standard revisable document format.

Shoulder In letterpress type, the level of metal upon which the relief letter sits on a piece of type. The shoulder provides support in letterpress printing for kerns that project from adjacent pieces.

Sidebearings The spaces at the left and right of each letter in a font design that allow for the normal spacing of the letters.

Signature printing Books, magazines, pamphlets, and the like are often printed in signatures, large sheets of paper that are folded, bound, and trimmed to form the finished product. The pages must be printed out of order, half of them upside down, and on both sides, for the pages in the folded sheet to be in the right order and orientation.

Simultaneous contrast An illusion in vision in which equal light intensities appear different as a result of differing surrounding intensities.

Size of type The distance between adjacent lines of type with no extra space (leading) added between them. The type design determines how much of this overall space is actually occupied by letters when printed.

Smoothing An interpolation technique that attempts to remove jaggedness from bitmap images, which may be useful, for example, when screen bitmaps are printed at higher resolution.

Sort A piece of metal type.

Space The part of the printed page that is not occupied by print or other images. The ground or complement of the image.

Sparkle A typographic property associated with many classical, readable typefaces that is related to their typographic contrast.

Spatial dithering The method of creating halftones digitally using a bitonal output device.

Spatial frequencies The analysis of print or other images in terms of rate of variation of intensity over distance.

Spline A mathematical curve specified by a number of points and possibly tangents. Also, a drafting tool for drawing such curves.

Spot size The dimension of the region illuminated by the electron beam in a CRT. Since the spot has soft edges, the spot size is measured between the 50% luminance points.

Spread The broadening of letter features because of the spreading of ink in the printing process. For example, letters are broadened when printed through a cloth ribbon. stem. A main (vertical) stroke in a letterform.

Stroke display An image display device that produces images by directly creating lines, arcs, and so forth, as opposed to a bitmap display. Also called a calligraphic display.

Stroke font Letterforms defined by pen (or beam) paths rather than by outline or raster.

Subpixel addressing The positioning of glyphs on a grid effectively finer than the pixel resolution of the output device, using greyscale.

Subscript Letters or symbols positioned slightly below the baseline within a line of text and generally smaller in size.

Swash letters Fancy alternative decorative letters, usually available only in italic capitals.

Symbol Any graphic form such as a letter, number, punctuation mark, or mathematical sign.

Symmetry The property of similarity within a letterform or between letterforms of the same design. For example, the letter 'T' in some typeface designs has right-left mirror symmetry, but does not in other faces.

INDEX
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF TYPE
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PAGE LAYOUT GUIDE
LOGO TYPE GUIDE
MIXING TYPE
TYPOGRAPHY SOFTWARE
TYPE CHOICE

Sources:

Rubinststein, Richard. [1988] Digial Typography: An Introduction to Type and Composition for Computer System Design. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
Blue Dot's typoGRAPHIC.
The comp.fonts FAQ.

There have been .
© Kevin Woodward 1997.

	Saccade	Motion of the eye between fixations.
	Sans serif	A typeface without serifs. See our Typeface Classification Guide.
	Saturation	The purity of colour, the degree to which light is pastel versus spectral.
	Screen co-ordinates	Specification of a location on a screen in terms of the discrete pixels, as two integers (x,y), as opposed to world or application coordinates, which relate to a simulated co-ordinate system that may be expressed in real numbers and may be completely independent of screen position.
	Scribe	A batch-mode document formatter developed by Brian Reid, much more intentional in its specifications that such formatters as Runoff.
	Script	A form of typeface based on writing, having generally continuous strokes that connect letters. See our Typeface Classification Guide.
	Sector kerning	One method of automatic kerning that calculates the interletter spacing based on stored information about the lateral extent of each letter, assessed in a number of horizontal bands.
	Selection	The user-interface action of identifying an object or a portion of text for later operations.
	Serif	A small stroke at the end of the main strokes of letterforms. Typefaces with serifs are called serif typefaces and those without, sans serif typefaces.See our Typeface Classification Guide.
	Set	The horizontal extent of a given letter. Also, the average width of the letters in a font, normally gauged by the width of a lowercase alphabet.
	SGML	Standard Generalised Markup Language, an ISO standard revisable document format.
	Shoulder	In letterpress type, the level of metal upon which the relief letter sits on a piece of type. The shoulder provides support in letterpress printing for kerns that project from adjacent pieces.
	Sidebearings	The spaces at the left and right of each letter in a font design that allow for the normal spacing of the letters.
	Signature printing	Books, magazines, pamphlets, and the like are often printed in signatures, large sheets of paper that are folded, bound, and trimmed to form the finished product. The pages must be printed out of order, half of them upside down, and on both sides, for the pages in the folded sheet to be in the right order and orientation.
	Simultaneous contrast	An illusion in vision in which equal light intensities appear different as a result of differing surrounding intensities.
	Size of type	The distance between adjacent lines of type with no extra space (leading) added between them. The type design determines how much of this overall space is actually occupied by letters when printed.
	Smoothing	An interpolation technique that attempts to remove jaggedness from bitmap images, which may be useful, for example, when screen bitmaps are printed at higher resolution.
	Sort	A piece of metal type.
	Space	The part of the printed page that is not occupied by print or other images. The ground or complement of the image.
	Sparkle	A typographic property associated with many classical, readable typefaces that is related to their typographic contrast.
	Spatial dithering	The method of creating halftones digitally using a bitonal output device.
	Spatial frequencies	The analysis of print or other images in terms of rate of variation of intensity over distance.
	Spline	A mathematical curve specified by a number of points and possibly tangents. Also, a drafting tool for drawing such curves.
	Spot size	The dimension of the region illuminated by the electron beam in a CRT. Since the spot has soft edges, the spot size is measured between the 50% luminance points.
	Spread	The broadening of letter features because of the spreading of ink in the printing process. For example, letters are broadened when printed through a cloth ribbon. stem. A main (vertical) stroke in a letterform.
	Stroke display	An image display device that produces images by directly creating lines, arcs, and so forth, as opposed to a bitmap display. Also called a calligraphic display.
	Stroke font	Letterforms defined by pen (or beam) paths rather than by outline or raster.
	Subpixel addressing	The positioning of glyphs on a grid effectively finer than the pixel resolution of the output device, using greyscale.
	Subscript	Letters or symbols positioned slightly below the baseline within a line of text and generally smaller in size.
	Swash letters	Fancy alternative decorative letters, usually available only in italic capitals.
	Symbol	Any graphic form such as a letter, number, punctuation mark, or mathematical sign.
	Symmetry	The property of similarity within a letterform or between letterforms of the same design. For example, the letter 'T' in some typeface designs has right-left mirror symmetry, but does not in other faces.