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The term font commonly refers to a type family such as Bodoni or Helvetica, which includes the entire alphabet in various weights (regular, bold, extra bold, etc.) and styles (roman, italics, or display type such as Bodoni poster). Type can be set in capitals (“caps”), lowercase, or small caps. The x-height of a font (the height of a lowercase letter that has no ascender or descender) will vary from typeface to typeface. The space between lines of type is referred to as “leading”—a term that dates back to a time when spacing was added with strips of lead. The specification of the example above is indicated as 10/11, or 10-point type with 11 points from baseline to baseline. Title page of an advertising brochure for Cooper Black typeface, featuring bold black text reading First Showing Cooper Black and information about Oswald Cooper and Barnhart Brothers and Spindler. Type sample sheet showing hand-drawn Cooper Black letters in various sizes and phrases, including pack my box with fv and comply HOME RRE, on an off-white background. Fraktur fonts

font: References & Edit History

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Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Modified link of Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - Font and Text Decoration - Engineering LibreTexts. Oct 05, 2026
Add new Web site: Computer Hope - What is a Font? Feb 22, 2025
Add new Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - Font and Text Decoration - Engineering LibreTexts. Dec 01, 2023
Add new Web site: Indiana University Pressbooks - Fonts. Sep 22, 2023
Media added. Oct 01, 2014
Add new Web site: Buzzle.com - How to Install Font. Jan 05, 2012
Add new Web site: How Stuff Works - Computer - What are TrueType fonts? Jan 05, 2012
New article added. Apr 22, 2009
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