Typography
From MobileRead
Typography is the art and techniques of arranging type, type design, and modifying type glyphs (see fonts). Type glyphs are created and modified using a variety of illustration techniques.
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[edit] Typography elements
The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces (fonts), point size, line length, leading (line spacing), letter-spacing (tracking), justification, and kerning.
[edit] Leading
Leading can have a surprisingly dramatic effect in the legibility of a page of text. Increased leading is often used to set off paragraphs. However too much leading can actually detract from the reading experience for some users. This is one area where user preference in a software package can have a positive effect.
[edit] Kerning
Kerning is the process of adjusting letter spacing in a proportional font. In a well-kerned font set, the two-dimensional blank spaces between each pair of letters all have similar area. While tracking specifies the distance between the rectangular box that constrains a font character, kerning can go inside the box of an adjacent character to overlap the two characters. This permits a typographer to control the visual area between two glyphs. For example the box outline approach in this wiki causes an AV combination to visually appear farther apart than HB.
[edit] Ligatures
Some letter combinations have been determined to look better is they are especially spaced. For example fl can be shown using a ligature fl or fi can be shown as fi. Ligatures can also be combination character such as OE shown as Œ. See special characters for more examples.
[edit] Justification
Justification refers to alignment of the edge of a block of text. Left justification (also known as ragged right) is used by most Latin based languages (left to right letter flow). Some middle-east languages need right justification due to their right to left letter flow. Often left justified is assumed and thus not specified. When a user says the text was justified they may mean that it is fully justified, meaning both left and right edges of the block of text line up.
Full justification is best implemented using a combination of tracking and word spacing. Some simple eBook software uses only word spacing with can result in a poor looking page of text with visual rivers running through the page. Even with tracking there can be a river effect. This can be minimized by adding the extra spacing from the left on one line and then from the right on the next line. Full justification can be disconcerting on short lines due to the fact that the line may have only a few words an spacing must be exaggerated to achieve full justification. Good support for hyphenation can help by adding an additional partial word to the line.
Non-justified text is often used in titles and poetry. For example a title may be centered on a page. Poetry may use centered lines or some form of specialized indenting.
Vertical justification is also important to the presentation of a page. When leading varies and paragraph spacing varies a full page of text may not exactly line up near the bottom margin. If this happens good typography would be accomplished by justifying the vertical space by adding a small bit of leading.
[edit] Hyphenation
Hyphenation of a word at the end of a line can improve or detract from typography. Done properly the use of hyphenation can help to balance the line length to avoid extreme differences in the length of adjacent lines. Over use of hyphenation on multiple successive lines can really detract from the looks of the page and the reading experience.
The advent of computers has been detrimental to the use of hyphenation when it is accomplished with an algorithm. Many times it results in a division at the wrong place in the word and even when done correctly a later reformatting change can result in the hyphenation continuing on a word in the middle of a line. Correct implementation will use the concept of a soft hyphen so that it will only appear when needed. Manually placed soft hyphens can also guide the software as to the correct hyphenation points for a word. The development of hyphenation dictionaries can help combat these problems.
[edit] Text Typography
In traditional typography, text is composed to create a readable, coherent, and visually satisfying whole that works invisibly, without the awareness of the reader. Even distribution with a minimum of distractions and anomalies are aimed at producing clarity and transparency. In subtle ways this attention to detail can enhance the reading experience.
Unfortunately most eBook software or eBook Readers pay very little attention to typography. Hopefully this will improve in the future. Some electronic formats such as PostScript and PDF do permit typography techniques to be employed. The idea of ligature is supported by many electronic font sets but publishers seldom take advantage of this capability.
[edit] Display Typography
Display typography is an important element in graphic design, where there is less concern for readability and more potential for using type in an artistic manner. Type is combined with negative space, graphic elements and pictures, forming relationships and dialog between words and images.
These techniques are often used in advertising, posters, book covers, some logos, etc.
[edit] For more information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/
CSS provides the ability to specify typographic elements.
