Xref: utzoo comp.text:8337 comp.text.desktop:1611
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali.cs.montana.edu!milton!uw-beaver!june.cs.washington.edu!graham
From: graham@june.cs.washington.edu (Stephen Graham)
Newsgroups: comp.text,comp.text.desktop
Subject: Re: Proper usage of "font", "face", "family"
Message-ID: <1991May1.181455.24640@beaver.cs.washington.edu>
Date: 1 May 91 18:14:55 GMT
References: <1991May1.154018.3623@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <1991May1.172153.6437@csrd.uiuc.edu>
Sender: news@beaver.cs.washington.edu (USENET News System)
Distribution: na
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Lines: 33

In article <1991May1.172153.6437@csrd.uiuc.edu> eijkhout@s41.csrd.uiuc.edu (Victor Eijkhout) writes:
>drraymond@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Darrell Raymond) writes:
>
>>  Someone recently asked me what the difference between a font and a 
>>face was.  I gave the following definitions:
[original definitions deleted]
>
[Richard Southall's definitions]
>Short summary:
>typeface: set of lettershapes (e.g., Palatino Bold)
>family of typefaces: set of typefaces that belong together (Palatino)
>font: one typeface in one specific size, and (important!)
>      for some specific machine (Palatino Bold on a 300dpi Postscript engine).
>

The definition of font in this case is too restrictive. Perhaps it would
be better to say that a font is:

one typeface in a specific size and for some specific page description
program (e.g., Palatino Bold implemented in PostScript).

However, this runs into problems since PostScript (and other outline) fonts
do not specify a particular type size. In this case, the only time you
could refer to a type font is between the printer's raster device and
the page. At all other times, you simply have a typeface.

Therefore, the term font is correctly used for computer generated type
when applied to a typeface implemented using bitmaps.
-- 

Stephen Graham
graham@cs.washington.edu
(206) 543-8115