3 ms·

Fonts designed in this manner have been around for awhile, so it’s not really a new concept, except in its application to every glyph in a type family. The term

Fonts designed in this manner have been around for awhile, so it’s not really a new concept, except in its application to every glyph in a type family. The term I’ve used with type and other designers is actually “tabular,” which contrasts with “proportional.” Look up tabular vs proportional numerals for a topic that’s been around since printing presses ruled publishing.

a1369209993 6y ago
Tabular numerals are actually more like monospace than uniwidth[-as-defined-here]; it's a font where all characters have the same width... as long as those characters are numerals. Variations like "weight-tabular" or "numerically-tabular" might work, although it's less obvious which properties "tabular" is holding constant (namely width; technically also height but noone varies that anyway).
- sings 6y ago
  Tabular numerals, when done correctly, are both monospaced and duplexed (sharing the same advance width) across weights.
  - a1369209993 6y ago
    Agreed, though I maintain that it's in general unclear exactly which properties the advance width is constant with respect to. (For tabular numerals, is-digit-zero-versus-one clearly is, but what about digit-versus-question-mark when writing "27'3?? items" to indicate three significant figures? What about "+" and "-", which should have the same width as each other, despite not being numerals at all? Full monospacing solves this, but that's often a stronger constraint that you actually need.) Also, nominally monospace fonts often end up having character-dependant width anyway (ranging from blatant bugs like substiting fallback characters without forcing them to the correct size, to completely legitimate-ish variations like CJK ideographs with integer multiples of the normal character width). So, I'd still say tabular numerals are more like a weaker form of monospace than a stronger form of uniwidth - constant width across styles may or may not be relevant, but if it is, it's table stakes (no pun intended).
    - sings 6y ago
      Yep it's totally up to the type designer which extra glyphs are supported alongside tabular numerals. Usually period, comma, plus, minus, equals, dollar (and other currencies), space, but I've never thought to include a question mark in the set.

a1369209993 6y ago

Tabular numerals are actually more like monospace than uniwidth[-as-defined-here]; it's a font where all characters have the same width... as long as those characters are numerals. Variations like "weight-tabular" or "numerically-tabular" might work, although it's less obvious which properties "tabular" is holding constant (namely width; technically also height but noone varies that anyway).

sings 6y ago
Tabular numerals, when done correctly, are both monospaced and duplexed (sharing the same advance width) across weights.
- a1369209993 6y ago
  Agreed, though I maintain that it's in general unclear exactly which properties the advance width is constant with respect to. (For tabular numerals, is-digit-zero-versus-one clearly is, but what about digit-versus-question-mark when writing "27'3?? items" to indicate three significant figures? What about "+" and "-", which should have the same width as each other, despite not being numerals at all? Full monospacing solves this, but that's often a stronger constraint that you actually need.) Also, nominally monospace fonts often end up having character-dependant width anyway (ranging from blatant bugs like substiting fallback characters without forcing them to the correct size, to completely legitimate-ish variations like CJK ideographs with integer multiples of the normal character width). So, I'd still say tabular numerals are more like a weaker form of monospace than a stronger form of uniwidth - constant width across styles may or may not be relevant, but if it is, it's table stakes (no pun intended).
  - sings 6y ago
    Yep it's totally up to the type designer which extra glyphs are supported alongside tabular numerals. Usually period, comma, plus, minus, equals, dollar (and other currencies), space, but I've never thought to include a question mark in the set.