RE: What's an em

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Lemon [mailto:typenerd@slip.net]
...
> At 9:47 PM +0100 2/1/00, Karlsson Kent - keka wrote:
> > (Opentype?) focuses on a measure
> > (descender to ascender height) that is *NOT* of major interest
> > to the font USER.
> 
> The nominal type body height is definitely of interest if the 
> user is going to set more than one line.


Unless you have a different concept of "ascender" than I think
it usually means, then the descender to ascender height is of
no particular interest.  It is the (nominal) descender to 'top
of first level accents on top of capital letters' (the Åp height)
that should be used as the recommended (minimal) baseline spacing.
Unless the ascenders are unusually high (which they are sometimes,
but only rarely) the descender to ascender height does not give
sufficient baseline separation to avoid (for 'everyday fonts')
for a 'p' on one line not to collide with an 'Å', or an 'É' on
the next line.  For many languages one level of accents on top
of capital letters is common. (Accents on top of high ascenders
is uncommon, and are usually not displayed on top, but a bit to
the side. Multiple accents on top of capitals is uncommon, except
perhaps for Vietnamese.)


		Kind regards
		/kent k

Received on Wednesday, 2 February 2000 12:22:31 UTC