Chapter 2

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The power of English
⮚ One billion people spoke English by the
beginning of the second millennium as a first,
second, or “foreign” language.
⮚ English is the official or joint official language of
more than 75 countries.
⮚ It is estimated that 80 percent of the world’s
information that is stored on computers is
written in English.
Origins
⮚ Written language has evolved from pictorial representations
(expressed in pictures) of objects and events into sophisticated
systems of symbols representing spoken sounds.
⮚ The process had three stages:
1. Pictograms and Ideograms:
Pictograms are drawings of fundamental objects and ideas such as
man, woman, tree, and shelter. A pictogram represented a mental
image of an object, not its name.
They are particularly useful when dealing with international
audiences, as they can be understood across language barriers.
Pictograms are distinct from written text, as they rely on visual
symbols rather than letters or characters to convey meaning.
Some common examples of pictograms include restroom signs with
images of a man and woman, traffic signs with symbols like a stop
sign or pedestrian crossing, and icons on digital interfaces, such as
those used for actions like "save," "print," or "delete."
Ideograms are simplified pictures selected by custom to become
fixed pictorial symbols of an object or concept. For example, a
number of "tree" symbols are unified to make a "forest," or the
symbol for man, woman, and child are consolidated into a single
"family" symbol
2. Phonograms
Phonograms are syllabic signs and symbols representing primary
oral sounds. As time passed, they diminished until they reached to
the letters in modern alphabets .
Letterforms
⮚ Although the basic letterforms of the modern Western alphabet
have changed little since the days of ancient Rome, the
appearance of written and printed letters evolved over time.
These variations in style are due largely to changes in the tools
used for writing and printing.
1. stone-carved letters of ancient Roman monuments
2. hand-drawn illuminated manuscripts of monks
3. hand-cut wooden type used in early printing
4. acid-etched metal type
6. typefaces designed for modern digital output

Typefaces

Manuscript
Woodblock
What is text?
⮚ Characters, words, sentences, paragraphs of a
certain language.
⮚ It is used for communication.
⮚ It is used in computer applications and considered
vital part of multimedia elements.
⮚ It is used to navigate system, and to build the
main components of any site, such as menus,
drop-down list, checklists and options. It is used
also to write the help, documentation and any
tips.
Text Technology
⮚ It is a technology that is based on creating the characters
of a language + the way they look (different shapes)
under different conditions.
⮚ Ex1. In English we have:
⮚ Letters: lowercase (a, b, … z) and uppercase (A, B, … Z).
⮚ Digits: 0, 1,2 ,3 …… 9.
⮚ Symbols: ;, :, “,!, …. @
⮚ Ex2. In Arabic we have:
⮚ Letters
⮚ Digits
⮚ Symbols
⮚ Way of connection
Typeface and Font
⮚ A typeface is a family unit of graphic characters
shared some design features that usually includes
many type sizes and styles (made up of several fonts).
It encompasses the overall visual appearance, style,
and characteristics of these characters
⮚ Ex. Helvetica, Times, and Courier.
⮚ A font is a collection of characters of a single size and
style belonging to a particular typeface family (family
member).
⮚ Ex. Times 12-point italic is a font, Helvetica has 51 fonts
each with specific weight, size, and effect.
Font’s Size and Styles
⮚ Point size
⮚ In the western world there are two traditional
systems in use for specification of typographical
measures. Both systems use the notation of a
graphical point as their smallest unit of absolute
length, but those two points are not equal in size.
⮚ On the European continent the Didot system is the
one most widely in use. The basic point unit in this
system is defined as 0.376 millimeters (1/68 inch).
⮚ In the United Kingdom and in America another
variant of a point based measurement system is
prevalent, the Anglo Saxon system. Today the basic
point of the Anglo Saxon system is defined as 0.0138
inch, or about 1/72 of an inch.
⮚ The font’s size is the distance from the top of the
capital letters to the bottom of the descenders in
letters such as g and y.
⮚ Typical font styles are boldface, italic, oblique, and
small caps.
Typographical Measures

⮚ The x-height: another relative length unit that is

derived from the height of a font's lower case letters
that do not have descenders (i.e. the height of the letter
"x").
⮚ Leading (Line spacing): the distance between the
baselines of two consecutive lines of text. It is
sometimes referred to as line height and is used to
define the amount of space between each line in a
paragraph or block of text. Leading has a big impact on
the legibility and readability of text.
⮚ Kerning: is the space between character pairs. The goal
of kerning is to ensure that two adjacent letters don’t
appear too far apart or too close together, which can
ruin the visual balance of a word or phrase. Most
typefaces are designed with a set kerning between
specific characters. While text Tracking in design is
Typographical Measures (cont.)

⮚ Cap height (capital height): is also known as cap line,

which refers to the height of the flat capital letters (like
H and I) measured from the baseline to the top of the
flat characters.
⮚ Set width: the body of the letter, plus the space that
acts as a buffer between one letterform and the next.
⮚ Shoulder: is the area below the baseline. The ‘u’ has a
shoulder. Also, shoulder is a bumped curve seen in
letters like m and n.
⮚ Counter: area of typeface anatomy that is entirely or
partially enclosed by a letter form or a symbol. Letters
containing closed counters include A, B, D, O, P, Q, R, a,
Typographical Measures (cont.)

⮚ Ascender: stands for an upward stem part of lowercase

letters extending beyond the mean line and x-height.
Letters of b, d, and h have the same upward stems.
⮚ Descender: the 'tail' or downward portion of a letter
that extends below the baseline. The descender's height
is calculated from the baseline to the end of the font
descender line. Generally only lower-case letters poses
descenders, like g, j, p, q, and y.
⮚ Mean line: imaginary horizontal line that marks the top
edges of the lower case letters.
⮚ Base line: imaginary line upon which the characters of
a font rest. The descenders of characters like g and p
extend below this line.
Categories of Fonts
⮚ Serif and Sans Serif:
⮚ Serif versus sans serif is the simplest way to
categorize a typeface; the type either has a serif
or it doesn’t (sans is French for “without”). The
serif is the little decoration at the end of a letter
stroke. Times, New Century Schoolbook,
Bookman, and Palatino are examples of serif
fonts. Helvetica, Verdana, Arial, Optima, and
Avant Garde are sans serif.
⮚ On the printed page, serif fonts are traditionally
used for body text because the serifs are said to
help guide the reader’s eye along the line of text.
Sans serif fonts, on the other hand, are used for
headlines and bold statements.
⮚ But the computer world of standard, 72 dpi
monitor resolution is not the same as the print
world, and it can be argued that sans serif fonts
are far more legible and attractive when used in
the small sizes of a text field on a screen. It is
Categories of Fonts (cont.)
Font Effects
⮚ Underline: Important words, attention for
readers
⮚ Strike through: for proofreading editing means
remove + replace by next word.
⮚ Double strike through: for proofreading editing
means delete (remove + don’t replace by next
word).
⮚ Condensed and Expanded: space between
characters.
⮚ Subscript and Superscript: for math equations
and scientific writing.
⮚ Highlights: shade of color over text for attention.
⮚ In modern text editors, there are correction effects
(spelling and grammar mistakes)