Which Fonts are you using?
To understand fonts we first need a couple of definitions.
The meaning of
Typeface - A set of fonts in the same style. Or, in other words, a font family.
Ex: Book Antiqua, Verdana, or Batang.
The meaning of
Font - A single kind of typeface. Ex: Arial in 9
point size is a font, and Verdana in 12 point size is also a font. Bookman Old Style in
Bold is also a font. (Basically designating a specific type inside of a
typeface is a font.)
The History of
Fonts
Where does the
word font come from?
The word font
itself seems to come from the French term "fonte" meaning "something that has
been melted." This is very appropriate since these typefaces were originally designed for printing by
casting molten metals.
When was the
first font made?
The first typeface
was made by Johan Gutenburg for use on his moveable type press. At that time
books were all hand-lettered. He used a blackletter Gothic style of type so
that his printed books would all appear to be hand-lettered.
As more printing
establishments opened up, printers began to seek out other lettering styles to
use as models for typefaces. This gave rise to the art of typographic design.
These typefaces were designed by using a variety of styles, colors, and weights
and included bold fonts, italic fonts, and others.
When were the
Roman and Italic Styles designed?
The first true
Roman typeface was designed by Nicholas Jenson around 1460, which was used for
book printing in Italy. In comparison to
the heavier blackletter type of German printing, the Roman type was upright and
lighter in design. Even today the upright typefaces are still referred to as
the Roman fonts.
The first Italic
typeface was developed in the early 1500's by Aldus Manutius and Francesco
Griffo. The reason they developed the Italic typeface was that the slanted
letters took up less space on the page. This resulted in books that were
smaller and cheaper in price. The original meaning of the word Italic
comes from the Latin word "Italicus," which
means "from Italia", or "from Italy" . However, the word italic today refers to a style of
printing type patterned on a Renaissance script with the letters slanting to
the right.
If you work with computers or design web pages you will need to
understand a little about fonts. Choosing the right kind of font can really
spice up a web site and make it stand out from the others.
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