Some specialized terms are associated with font characteristics:
-
The
capline is the highest point of a normal uppercase letter.
-
The
baseline is the line upon which the characters rest.
-
The
font maximum is the highest vertical coordinate.
-
The
font minimum is the lowest vertical coordinate.
Specialized terms are also associated with font types:
-
A
uniform font is a font
in which all of the characters occupy exactly the same amount of space.
Each character in a uniform font is placed in the center of its space,
and a fixed amount of space is added between characters.
-
A
proportional font is a
font in which each character occupies a space that is relative to
its width.
-
A
stroked font is drawn with
discrete line segments or circular arcs. This is a stroked font with
several characters from the Simplex font.
-
A
polygon font is drawn with
one or more line segments or circular arcs.
-
A
filled font is a polygon
font in which the areas between the lines are solid.
-
An
outline font is a polygon
font in which the areas between the lines are empty.
Here are examples of
a filled font and an outline font.
In the GFONT procedure, the term
line segment means a continuous line that can change direction. All font characters
are drawn with line segments. The letter C is drawn with one line
segment, while the letter A can be drawn with two.
Polygon characters can
be drawn with one or more line segments. In a polygon font the following
is true:
-
A character can be made up of a
single polygon. The letter C above is a single polygon with one line
segment
-
A character can be made up of multiple
polygons. The question mark consists of two polygons, each drawn with
a separate line segment
-
A character can include holes.
The letter A is a polygon with a hole in it. It is drawn with one
line segment that is broken to form the outer boundary of the figure
and the boundary of the hole.
