Typography

• Font type• Font size• Font style (e.g., bold, italic)• Color• Font effects

The first 3 of these can be set in the formatting toolbar, and all of them can be set in the Format => Font… dialog box:

Ways to categorize fonts

• One way:– Monospaced: all characters same width

Example: Courier New• Reminiscent of typewritten text.

• Useful for when text must be aligned vertically.

– Proportional: character width variesExample: Times New Roman or Arial

• Another way:– Serif: Characters have short lines (called

serifs) attached to the upper and lower ends of their strokesExample: Times New Roman

– Sans Serif: (meaning “without serifs”) Characters have no serifsExample: Arial

What criteria should you use in deciding which font to use?

• Readability--whether the reader will find it easy or hard to read.

• Aesthetics--whether it’s an attractive font.

• Appropriateness of the font to the particular purpose.

• Connotation of a particular font type.

Font size

• Font size can affect legibility.

• It can also be used to emphasize a word or string of words when used in a text of a smaller font size.

• Headings are usually in a larger font size than regular text.

• This is hard to read from far away.[14 pts]

• This is much [48 pts]easier to read.[32 pts]

How is font size measured?• Font size is measured in points.

• One point is 1/72 inch.

• The number of points measures the distance from the top of the tallest letter in a character set (e.g., an uppercase T) to the bottom of the lowest letter (e.g., a lowercase y).

• For example, for 12-point type this distance would be 12/72 = 1/6 inch.

Font styles

• Regular [Roman]

• Italic

• Bold

• Bold Italic

Use of font styles

• The use of font styles can be conventional. E.g. italicizing titles of books in an otherwise regular text:– O’Leary, John. 1998. How I Learned to Love

the Internet. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.

• They can also be used for emphasis:– “What did you mean by that?”

Font effects

• Font effects are mainly used for indicating emphasis or de-emphasis.

• In addition to underlining, those available in Word, and what they look like, are listed here:

StrikethroughDouble strikethroughWordSuperscript

WordSubscript

SShhaaddoowwOutlineEEEmmmbbbooossssss [Emboss]EEEnnngggrrraaavvveee [Engrave]SMALL CAPS

ALL CAPS

Underlining

• Underlining is usually used to emphasize text or make it stand out as different from the rest of the text.

• Here are some of the underlining styles in Word:

Underline [Single]Words only [i.e. not including the spacebetween words]DoubleDottedThickDashDot DashDot Dot DashWave

• One of them, single underline, is available in the formatting toolbar.

• The others require you to use the Format => Font… dialog box:

20 different underline styles

Color

• Color can be applied to:– text– drawing elements like lines and arrows– paragraphs [fill]– highlighting– and in Word Art

You can color words and

lines

You can backfill paragraphs, with orwithout borders

You can use a color to highlight.

• You can access color via the formatting toolbar as well as the drawing toolbar and

• via the Format menu.

Fill color

Line color Font color

Highlighting color

• For Format => Font...

Coloring borders

• Format => Borders and Shading… allows you to color– paragraph borders– page borders, and– shading [fill behind the text of the paragraph]

For coloring paragraph borders

For customizing colors

For coloring page borders

For coloring the backgrounds

Character spacing

• The spacing between characters can also be changed from the default for some fonts.

• This is also mainly used for emphasis.

• You can change the character spacing in the Format => Font… dialog box.

Normal spacingExpanded spacingCondensed spacing

Position normalPositionraised by 3 pointsPositionlowered by 3 points

Not kerned

Kerned for those 26 points andabove

Normal spacing, 100%Spacing w ithscale 200%

To get a drop cap

• Format => Drop Cap…

• Here is an example: