Someone asked:
> ... what is ? 

There are two general classes of typefaces.  One uses proportional spaced
characters, the other uses fixed width (i.e. fixed pitch) characters.  In most
cases, email should be written and viewed using fixed space fonts.  This
maximizes compatibility since the writer cannot control what typeface the reader
would otherwise choose to use.

Most text found in newspapers, magazines, advertisements, textbooks, etc., is
given in proportional spaced fonts.  Most manual typewriters use fixed width
fonts.

Proportional fonts use varying widths for each character proportional to the
character's face width.  In proportional fonts the line width used for
characters like W or M is greater than the line width used for "i", ";", ".",
"1" or other narrower characters.  


Proportional fonts have advantages which include:

1. They waste less paper.  Since the widths of narrower characters are smaller,
more characters will fit on the line leaving less blank white space.

2. It is usually easier to read proportional fonts.  This is because the human
mind can recognize words and phrases without having to examine each character
and punctuation point.  Lines of words with less blank space are easier to
recognize than lines with more blank space.


But, fixed space fonts have advantages also.

1. Aligning text in columns is easier because every character, including blank
spaces, have the same width.

2. Text aligned with fixed width fonts does not require the writer and reader to
use a common typeface, word processor, or email reader.  They only need to both
use a fixed space font and the aligned text will be aligned for both.

3. One of the main advantages, which is not very relevant these days, is that it
was technically easier and cheaper to manufacture fixed font width typewriters
than proportional font typewriters.

Examples of proportional typefaces include Times Roman, Baskerville, etc. 
Examples of fixed width fonts include Courier, Letter Gothic, etc.

Type - Alphanumeric characters for printing.

Font - a set of type all of one size and style.  For example Courier Italic size
12 is a font, Times Bold size 10 is a font.

Typeface - All type of a single design.  For example Times Roman is a typeface
and includes Regular, Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic styles.

Pitch - The distance between any of various things.  In this case, it means the
width of the character space in a font.

Character Width - the pitch of the character as measured along the font
baseline.

Baseline - the line on which both Capitals and lower case letters stand.

Point - A unit of typographic measurement.  There are approximately 72 points to
an inch.  The point size of a font is measured vertically from baseline to
baseline when using normal line spacing (or from the top of the tallest
character to the bottom of the lowest character).

Hope that helps,

Steve Coker

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