The Professional Look – Part V
The Professional Look, The Complete Guide to Desktop Publishing, is a book I co-authored with Scott Tilden in 1991. Each Thursday I post an excerpt from the chapter I wrote about typography. Many of you dye-subbers also design some of the graphics you print, which includes setting type. Hopefully these posts will give you new insights into typography. Click here for my previous post.
Coming to terms
The size of typefaces and the length of type lines are measured in points and picas, terms from typesetters’ jargon dating back to the mid-1700s.
In 1887, the United States Type Founder’s Association finally defined the printer’s point to be 0.013837 inch. Thus, 72 points equal one inch, give or take a few thousandths. (OK, engineers, the exact figure is 0.996264 inch.)
A pica equals 12 points; there are six picas to inch.
Even if you wish to use inches or centimeters as your measuring standard, most DTP programs will continue to measure typographic elements in points and picas. It’s a good idea to learn how to use them.
Points and picas correspond to every inch measurement you may need. For instance, 1¼ inches equals 7 picas, 6 points. And 3⅛ inches equals 18 picas, 1½ points.
Even though the inch measurement has a corresponding pica-point measurement, your design software, which may be limited by the screen resolution, may not be able to accurately display quarter- and half-points. Some software will allow you to change measuring units if one standard presents an obstacle. It won’t alter the size of the type or element you’re measuring.
Programs allow you to display your page on the computer screen at an enlarged size. That also expands the size of your on-screen rule, allowing it to display measurements in small increments.
Next week: Measuring type
Tags: picas, points, Professional Look, screen resolution
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