Lexmark 45n Guida Utente

Appendix: Understanding Fonts

Appendix

The size of a font is specified as either a pitch or point size, 
depending on whether the font is fixed space or proportional.

In fixed space fonts, each character has the same width. Pitch is used 
to specify the size of fixed space fonts. It is a measure of the num-
ber of characters that will print in one horizontal inch of type. For 
example, all 10-pitch fonts print 10 characters per inch (cpi) and all 
12-pitch fonts print 12 cpi:

In proportional (or typographic) fonts, every character can have a dif-
ferent width. Since proportional fonts have characters with differ-
ent widths, the font size is specified in point size, not pitch. Point 
size refers to the height of the characters in the font. A point is 
defined as 1/72 inch. The characters in a font printed at 24 point 
will be twice as large as the characters in the same font printed at 
12 point. The following illustration shows samples of a font 
printed in different point sizes:

Courier

10 Pitch

1234567890

Courier

12 Pitch

123456789012

1 inch

48 point 

36 point

24 point

          

18 point

        12 point       

10 point