Type Measures

Typographic measuring system

The typographic measuring system is constructed on the point named after the Parisian typefounder Firmin Didot. He improved the point system invented by Fournier in 1675. Firmin Didot gave its name to the Didot unit, but also to the Didone family of serif fonts, with Didot, the canonical typeface of the Didone family, and Bodoni, named after Giambattista from Parma.

It is a system based on the French foot (30cm to 798 typographic points). The actual type height (height-to-paper) of 62 2/3 pts was not fixed uniformly until 1898. In traditional typography, using type of cast lead measurements are made in points not in cm. In both Continental Europe and Anglo-American systems, the Point is the smallest measure.

Body size and Font size

The size of the type is measured in points. Certain type famillies also include 70 points glyphs. The depth of the type top-to-bottom is called the Point Size, or the Body. The width of letters is called the Set, or Width.

Each type design comprises 12 to 20 different sizes, called Bodies or Point Sizes. 8pt to 12pt is usually right for printed body text. In CSS, the font-size can be expressed in points, but it will not produce a consistent output size. px for absolute sizes, or em/rem/lh/rlh for sizes relative the type font size. Using font-size: 1em will re-use whichever size is preferred by the user. It is better to avoid pt/mm.

Point Sizes Samples

60 pt.

48 pt.

30 pt.

24 pt.

18 pt.

14 pt.

12 pt.

10 pt.

09 pt.

08 pt.

06 pt.

The Pica and the Cicero

Ciceros and Picas can be confused. Both represent almost the same length, both defined as a sixth of an inch and subdivided in 12 "Points". In English, called "French Points", or "Didot Points", to differentiate them from "Pica Points". American Points were standardized in 1886 and not exactly a sixth of an inch either. The modern "Point" in computer typography refers to the PostScript version, which is exactly a sixth of an inch.

Name	Definition	mm	in.
French Pica, (or Cicero)	12 Didot-pt	4.512[*]	0.1776
American Pica	0.16604 in	4.217	0.16604
PostScript Pica (or Pica)	1/6 in	4.233	0.16666

[*] a Cicero is exactly 4.51165812456 mm

The Point
Name	Year	Height	inches
Fournier	1737	0.345 mm	0.0135
American	1886	0.3515 mm	0.013837
Japanese	1962	0.3514 mm	0.013835
`pt`	1982	0.3514598 mm	(1/72.27)=0.013837
PS/DTP, `pt`	1984	0.3527 mm	(1/72) = 0.0138
Didot	1783	0.375972 mm	0.0148
Berthold	1878	0.376 mm	0.014801
DIN actual, `dd`	1964	0.376065 mm	0.014806
DIN nominal, `nd`	1984	0.375 mm	0.014764
Truchet	1694	0.188 mm	0.007401
IN nominal	1810	0.400 mm	0.015748
IN actual	1810	0.39877 mm	0.0157
DIN, Japanese, `q`	1999	0.250 mm	0.009842

Point Sizes Surnames
Pt.	French	German	English
06	Nonpareille	Nonpareille	Nonpareil
07	Mignonne	Kolonel	Minion
08	Petit Texte	Jungfer	Brevier
09	Bourgeois	Borgis	Bourgeois
10	Philosophie	Garmond	Long Primer
11	Cicéro	Rheinländer	Nine Pica
12	St. Augustin	Cicero	Pica
14	Gros Texte	Mittel	English
16	Gros Texte	Tertia	Columbian Ex.
18	Gros Romain	1.5 Cicero	Great Primer
20	Petit Paragon	Text	Paragon
24	Palestine	Doppelcicero	Two-Line Pica
28	Petit Canon	Doppelmittel	Double English
36	Trismégiste	Kanon	Double Great Primer
48	Gros Canon	Kleine Missal	Canon