Typographer’s Glossary

Typeface: FF Clifford

Here’s a glossary of common type terminology, which along with the FAQs may answer many font related questions. If the information you need isn’t here, call us.

FA (Family)

(appended to a font volume name) A discounted font volume.

Family

A collection of related typefaces which share common design traits and a common name. A type style means any given variant of this coordinated design and is the equivalent of a font or typeface.

Super families are very extensive with a very large number of weights and widths. Type systems are collections of related type families that cross type classifications.

See Styles, Weights, Widths - It's All in the (Type) Family on The FontFeed.

Feature-rich

The OpenType font format offers numerous advanced typographic features. However it is up to the type designer or foundry to decide how many and which ones to implement. Feature-rich or fully-featured OpenType fonts have a large number of those advanced functionalities built in.

Certain (older) operating systems and applications cannot access OpenType features. In those environments OpenType fonts behave like standard PostScript or TrueType fonts with a basic character set.

Fett

The common German name for the black weight in a type family; the bold weight is called "halbfett".

Font

(also, fount) A collection of letters, numbers, punctuation, and other symbols used to set text (or related) matter. Although font and typeface are often used interchangeably, font refers to the physical embodiment (whether it's a case of metal pieces or a computer file) while typeface refers to the design (the way it looks). A font is what you use, and a typeface is what you see.

See Font or Typeface? on The FontFeed.

Foundry

A company that designs and/or distributes typefaces; a type manufacturer. FontShop.com carries fonts from over 80 foundries.

FR (Frühneuhochdeutsch)

(appended to a font or volume name) Language support; includes all necessary accents for Middle High German.