THE NON-DESIGNER'S TYPE BOOK

Monospaced figures

Regular, or lining, figures are not proportionally spaced as letters are; they
are monospaced. That is, every regular number takes up the same amount
of space: the number one occupies as much space as the number seven.
This is necessary because we often need to make columns of numbers and
the numbers need to align in the columns.

Rats 473

Ravens 1,892
Robots 19.5

If the numbers were not monospaced,
we would have great difficulty
aligning them in columns.

But when you use regular, lining figures in body text, the monospacing
creates awkward letter spacing and usually requires kerning. Look carefully
at the letter spacing in the numbers below:

Call Rosalind at 1.916.987.7546.

Proportionally spaced figures

In most (not all) expert fonts, the oldstyle figures are proportionally spaced,
meaning they each take up only as much space as is appropriate for the
number—the number one takes up less space than a nine because it's skin¬
nier. This is particularly wonderful for text use because the numbers fit
together so well, but don't use proportionally spaced oldstyle figures in
columns to be summed or they won't line up! When you buy an expert set
and start using oldstyle figures, first make a quick check to see if yours are
proportionally spaced or monospaced: just type several rows in columns
and see if you can draw a clean line between each column.

1234567
4598021
9768635

12345І67
4598021

9768635

Because the numbers on the left
are monospaced, they align neatly
in columns. The numbers on the
right are proportionally spaced,
so they do not align in columns.

/

Jbiqatures

. 91

Ligatures are single typographic characters that are combinations of two
or more characters. For instance, there are common ligatures for the "fi"
and "fl" combination:

fickle flames fickle flames

Can you see the problems in the example on the left?
Can you see the solutions in the example on the right?

Ligatures are created either to solve a typographic problem, such as the
hook of an "f " bumping into the dot of an " i," or sometimes simply for an
elegant look. Almost every Macintosh font contains at least the fi and fl
ligature, but you will find quite a range of ligatures in expert sets. Fonts for
Windows machines do not contain even the fi and fl ligature—if you want
to use them, you will have to buy a special expert set.

How many ligatures can you find in the following paragraph?

{However, agood laugh is a mighty good These are the ligatures

r , ,./-. available in the font

thing and rather too scarce agood thing; z^f Renaissance

tfie more's tfie pity. So, if any one man, Italic Swash, which

in his own proper person, afford stuff » designed to be set

-^ -^ with the font Zapf

for agoodjokçto anybody, let him not Renaissance Italic,

be backward, but let him cheerfuûy allow (both of which are

himself to fend and to be ¿fient in eat way, shown to the left):

and the man that has anything bountifuify £§>j) fi uffth ih fl

laughable about him, be sure there is more uffl ffij
in that man than you perhaps think for.

X'¡Herman Melville, Moby Dick