4 ms·
One problem with mm as a unit for type is that it's not immediately obvious what we're measuring the length of. The point specifically refers to the maximum hei
by xelxebar 9y ago
One problem with mm as a unit for type is that it's not immediately obvious what we're measuring the length of. The point specifically refers to the maximum height of the minuscule 'm' or something like that.
Then with things like antialasing and hinting, the intrinsic size of a font ends up both physically and psychologically a different size.
I'm not yet convinced the problem is as clean and obvious as it seems at first glance.
- couchand 9y agoWell generally typeface size is measured from the top of a capital letter (cap height) to the lowest point of the descenders, regardless of the units used for measurement. And you don't even have to get to antialiasing and hinting to see issues with perceptual typeface size... Look across faces and you'll see wild differences in cap height, ascenders, and descenders relative to the x-height.