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For other uses, see Serif (disambiguation).
Image:Serif and sans-serif 01.svg Sans-serif font
Image:Serif and sans-serif 02.svg Serif font
Image:Serif and sans-serif 03.svg Serif font
(red serifs)

In typography, serifs are non-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. Typography is the art and techniques of arranging type, Type design, and modifying type Glyphs Type glyphs are created and modified using a variety A font that has serifs is called a serif font (or seriffed font). In typography a font (also fount) is traditionally defined as a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular Typeface. A font without serifs is called sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning "without". History Ancient usages Sans-serif letter forms can be found in Latin Etruscan, and Greek inscriptions for as early as 5th century BC French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Some typography sources refer to sans serif typefaces as "grotesque" (in German "grotesk") or "Gothic," and serif types as "Roman. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. " These terms are no longer commonly used however, except in specific font names.

Contents

Origins & etymology

Roman brushed capitals.
Roman brushed capitals.

Serifs are thought to have originated in the Roman alphabet with inscriptional lettering—words carved into stone in Roman antiquity. Roman square capitals, also called inscriptional capitals, elegant capitals and quadrata, are an ancient Roman form of writing and Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural History centered on the Mediterranean The explanation proposed by Father Edward Catich in his 1968 book The Origin of the Serif is now broadly but not universally accepted: the Roman letter outlines were first brushed onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. The origin of the word "serif" is obscure, but apparently almost as recent as the type style. In The British Standard of the Capital Letters contained in the Roman Alphabet, forming a compleat code of systematic rules for a mathematical construction and accurate formation of the same (1813) by William Hollins, it defined surripses, usually pronounced surriphs, as 'projections which appear at the tops and bottoms of some letters, the O and Q excepted, at the beginning or end, and sometimes at each, of all. ' The standard also proposed that 'surripses' may be derived from the Greek words συν (together) and ριψισ (projection). In 1827, a Greek scholar Julian Hibbert printed his own experimental uncial Greek types. He explained that unlike the types of Bodoni's Callimachus, which were 'ornamented (or rather disfigured) by additions of what I believe type-founders call syrifs or cerefs. '

The oldest citations in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) are 1841 for "sans serif", given as sanserif, and 1830 for "serif". The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English The OED speculates that "serif" was a back-formation from "sanserif. In Etymology, back-formation refers to the process of creating a new Lexeme (less precisely a new "word" by removing actual or supposed Affixes " Webster's Third New International Dictionary traces "serif" to the Dutch noun schreef, meaning line, stroke of the pen, related to the verb schrappen: to delete, strike through. Webster's Dictionary is the name given to a common type of English language dictionary in the United States. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Schreef now also means "serif" in Dutch.


The OED's earliest citation for "grotesque" in this sense is 1875, giving stone-letter as a synonym. Year 1875 ( MDCCCLXXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common This article deals with the general meaning of the term "synonym" It would seem to mean "out of the ordinary" in this usage, as in art grotesque usually means "elaborately decorated. " Other synonyms include "Doric" and "Gothic," commonly used for Japanese Gothic typefaces. Gothic typefaces ( Japanese: ja ゴシック体 Goshikku-tai; Korean: ko 고딕체 Godik-che) are a type style characterised by strokes of even

East Asian Equivalents

Serif (top) and sans-serif (bottom) equivalents exist for Chinese characters as well.
Serif (top) and sans-serif (bottom) equivalents exist for Chinese characters as well. A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese (

In the Chinese and Japanese writing systems, there are common type styles based on the regular script for Chinese characters akin to serif and sans serif fonts in the West. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities The regular script or standard script, or in Chinese kaishu ( and Japanese kaisho, also commonly known as standard regular A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese ( In China the most popular category of serifed-like typefaces for body text is called Song (宋体, Songti), in Japan the most popular serif style is called Minchō (明朝), and in Taiwan and Hong Kong it is called Ming (明體, Mingti). Ming typefaces, known as Song typefaces in Mainland China, are a category of Typefaces used to display Chinese characters which are used in the The names of these lettering styles come from the Song and Ming dynasties, when block printing flourished in China. The Song Dynasty ( Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao was a ruling dynasty in China between 960&ndash1279 CE it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms The Ming Dynasty ( or Empire of the Great Ming ( was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol -led For the use of the technique in art see Woodcut on the technique and Old master print for the history in Europe and Woodblock printing in Japan. Because the wood grain on printing blocks ran horizontally, it was fairly easy to carve horizontal lines with the grain. Wood grain describes the alignment texture and appearance of the Wood fibres However, carving vertical or slanted patterns was difficult because those patterns intersect with the grain and break easily. This resulted in a typeface that has thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes. To prevent wear and tear, the ending of horizontal strokes are also thickened. These design forces resulted in the current Song typeface characterized by thick vertical strokes contrasted with thin horizontal strokes; triangular ornaments at the end of single horizontal strokes; and overall geometrical regularity.

In Japanese typography, the equivalent of serifs on kanji and kana characters are called uroko—"fish scales. are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana Kana is a general term for the syllabic Japanese scripts Hiragana (ひらがな and Katakana (カタカナ as well as the old system " In Chinese, the serifs are called either youjiaoti (有脚体, lit. "forms with legs") or youchenxianti (有衬线体, lit. "forms with ornamental lines").

The other common East Asian style of type is called black (黑体/體, Heiti) in Chinese and Gothic (ゴシック体 Goshikku-tai?) in Japanese. Gothic typefaces ( Japanese: ja ゴシック体 Goshikku-tai; Korean: ko 고딕체 Godik-che) are a type style characterised by strokes of even This group is characterized by lines of even thickness for each stroke, the equivalent of "sans serif. " This style, first introduced on newspaper headlines, is commonly used on headings, websites, signs and billboards.

Usage

Serifed text in a dictionary of French slang.
Serifed text in a dictionary of French slang.

In traditional printing serifed fonts are used for body text because they are easier to read than sans-serif fonts for this purpose. In Computing, an HTML element indicates structure in an HTML document and a way of hierarchically arranging content [1] Sans-serif fonts are used for shorter pieces of text and subject matter requiring a more casual feel than the formal look of serifed types. Sans serif types have recently begun to supplant seriffed types for headings with a 'cleaner' look.

Serifed fonts are the overwhelming typeface choice for lengthy text printed in books, newspapers and magazines. [2] For such purposes sans serif fonts are more acceptable in Europe than in North America, but still less common than serifed typefaces.

While in print serifed fonts are considered more readable, sans-serif is considered more legible on computer screens. For this reason the majority of web pages employ sans-serif type. [3] Hinting information, anti-aliased and sub-pixel rendering technologies have partially mitigated the legibility problem of serif fonts. Font hinting is the use of mathematical instructions to adjust the display of an Outline font so that it lines up with a rasterized grid This article applies to signal processing including computer graphics Subpixel rendering is a way to increase the apparent resolution of a computer's Liquid crystal display (LCD by rendering pixels to take account the screen type's physical properties But the basic constraint of screen resolution — typically 100 pixels per inch or less — and small font sizes continues to limit their readability on screen.

As serifs originated in inscription, they are generally not utilized in handwriting. A common exception is the printed capital I, where the addition of serifs distinguish the character from lowercase L. In America block letters are simple letters children are taught to write in first grade Capital letters or majuscules pronunciation /məˈdʒʌskyuls ˈmædʒəˌskyuls/ in the Roman alphabet A, B, C, D, I is the ninth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its English name is i (aɪ Lower case (also lower-case or lowercase) minuscule, or small letters are the smaller form of letters as opposed to upper L is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is el or occasionally ell (ɛl Printed capital Js, and the numerals 1 and 7 are also often handwritten with serifs. J is the tenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet; it was the last of the 26 letters to be added Mathematics For any number x: x ·1 = 1· x = x (1 is the multiplicative identity In mathematics Seven is the fourth Prime number. It is not only a Mersenne prime (since 23 &minus 1 = 7 but also a

Classification

Serif fonts can be broadly classified into one of four subgroups: old style, transitional, slab serif, or modern.

The Garamond typeface, an example of an old-style serif
The Garamond typeface, an example of an old-style serif

Old Style

Old style typefaces date back to 1465, and are characterized by a diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom), subtle differences between thick and thin lines (low line contrast), and excellent readability. Old style typefaces are reminiscent of the humanist calligraphy from which their forms were derived. History Ancient usages Sans-serif letter forms can be found in Latin Etruscan, and Greek inscriptions for as early as 5th century BC

It has been said that the angled stressing of old style faces generates diagonal lock, which, when combined with their bracket serifs creates detailed, positive word-pictures (see bouma) for ease of reading. Calligraphy (from Greek kallos "beauty" + graphẽ "writing" is the art of writing (Mediavilla 1996 17 For the geological usage see Bouma sequence. For the football (soccer player see Wilfred Bouma. However, this theory is mostly contradicted by the parallel letterwise recognition model, which is widely accepted by cognitive psychologists who study reading.

Old style faces are sub-divided into Venetian and Aldine or Garalde. Examples of old style typefaces include Adobe Jenson (Venetian), Janson, Garamond, Bembo, Goudy Old Style, and Palatino (all Aldine or Garalde). Adobe Jenson is an old style serif Typeface drawn for Adobe Systems by type designer Robert Slimbach. Janson is the name given to an old style serif Typeface named for Dutch punch-cutter and printer Anton Janson. Garamond is the name given to a group of old style serif Typefaces named for the punch-cutter Claude Garamond (c Bembo is the name given to an Old style serif Typeface based upon a face cut by Francesco Griffo, first printed in February 1496 (1495 more veneto Goudy Old Style (also known as just Goudy) is an old-style Serif Typeface originally created by Frederic W Palatino is the name of a large typeface family that began as an old style Serif Typeface designed by Hermann Zapf initially released in 1948

The Times New Roman typeface, an example of a transitional serif
The Times New Roman typeface, an example of a transitional serif

Transitional

Transitional (or "baroque") serif typefaces first appeared in the mid-18th century. They are among the most common, including such widespread typefaces as Times Roman (1932) and Baskerville (1757). Times New Roman is a Serif Typeface commissioned by the British newspaper The Times, in 1931, designed by Stanley Baskerville is a transitional Serif Typeface designed in 1757 by John Baskerville (1706-1775 in Birmingham, England. They are in between modern and old style, thus the name "transitional. " Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but they are still less dramatic than they are in modern serif fonts.

Slab Serif

The Rockwell typeface, an example of a slab serif
The Rockwell typeface, an example of a slab serif
Main article: Slab serif

Slab serif (a. In Typography, a slab serif (also called mechanistic, square serif or Egyptian) Typeface is a type of Serif typeface k. a. "Egyptian") typefaces usually have little if any contrast between thick and thin lines. Serifs tend to be as thick as the vertical lines themselves and usually have no bracket. Slab serif fonts have a bold, rectangular appearance and sometimes have fixed widths, meaning that all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal space (as in a typewriter). A monospaced font, also called a fixed-width or Non-proportional font, is a Font whose letters each occupy the same amount of space A typewriter is a mechanical or Electromechanical device with a set of "keys" that when pressed cause characters to be printed on a medium They are sometimes described as sans-serif fonts with serifs because the underlying character shapes are often similar to sans serif typefaces, with less variation between thin and thick shapes on the character. (A subcategory of slab serif is the Clarendon typefaces, which do have small but significant brackets, and structures more similar to seriffed typefaces. ) Slab serif typefaces date to around 1800. Examples of slab serif typefaces include Clarendon, Rockwell and Courier. Rockwell is a Serif Typeface belonging to the classification Slab serif, or Egyptian where the serifs are unbracketed and similar in weight Courier is a monospaced Slab serif typeface designed to resemble the output from a strike-on typewriter

The Bodoni typeface, an example of a modern serif
The Bodoni typeface, an example of a modern serif

Modern

Modern serif typefaces, which first emerged in the late 18th century, are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines. Modern typefaces have a vertical stress, long and fine serifs, with minimal brackets. Serifs tend to be very thin and vertical lines are very heavy. Most modern fonts are less readable than transitional or old style serif typefaces. Common examples include Bodoni, Century Schoolbook and Computer Modern. Bodoni is the name given to a series of serif typefaces first designed by Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813 in 1798 Century Schoolbook is a modern or Didone classification Serif Typeface designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1919 for the American Type Founders Computer Modern is the family of Typefaces used by default by the typesetting program TeX.

Hebrew

Hebrew serif
וַתָּב̇א אֵלָיו הַיּוֹנָה לְעֵת עֶרֶב, וְהִנֵּה עֲלֵה־זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ; וַיֵּדַע נ̇חַ, כִּי־קַלּוּ הַמַּיִם מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ.
Hebrew sans-serif
וַתָּב̇א אֵלָיו הַיּוֹנָה לְעֵת עֶרֶב, וְהִנֵּה עֲלֵה־זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ; וַיֵּדַע נ̇חַ, כִּי־קַלּוּ הַמַּיִם מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ.
Examples of Hebrew serif and sans serif typefaces

See also

References

Dictionary

serif

-noun

  1. (typography) A short horizontal line added to the tops and bottoms of traditional typefaces, such as Times Roman.
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