ABSTRACT
In 1737, Pierre Fournier le Jeune, a Parisian typefounder, proposed the first standard unit of measure known as the point. Em, or em quad in metal type, and en are space measurements. Character width describes the width of the bounding box of a letter, which includes the variable space to the left and right of each letter. When digital type is set, the sidebearings of two adjoining letters combine to form the letter space between them. Tracking is the overall increase or decrease of letter spacing over a range of text. Many people like to have the baselines of text in one column align with the baselines of the text in other columns on the page. One way to accomplish alignment is to design with a baseline grid. Both legibility and readability relate to the ease and clarity with which type can be read.
