Jun 17, 2002
Fraser Ross, director of COPI's Custom Print Resources Group, is an internationally recognized expert in fonts for high volume
computer output. If you have a question for Fraser Ross in his "Ask the Expert" column, e-mail us and we'll publish your question
and Fraser's answer and expert advice in an upcoming issue of HVCO News.
E-mail fr@888999copi.com.
Question:
When discussing fonts and their sizes, what does it mean when the description says 12 pitch as opposed
to 12 point.
Answer:
This is a great question. The description of a font's attributes often cause confusion, and point size
and pitch are two of the more confusing items. We are all accustomed to choosing point size in our text processing applications.
Point size is often based on an age-old printer measurement of 72 points to an inch, e.g. a 24 point font size is 1/3 of an inch,
and so on. Pitch value is different and describes the number of characters that will fit in a one-inch space horizontally. This
applies to character sets in which all characters are the same width, or 'fixed pitch'. If a fixed font is described as 12 pitch,
you will be able to count 12 characters in each one inch space. There is a point size associated with a fixed pitch font, but
the important value is the pitch, and not point size. You can experiment with the values by choosing the 'Courier' font in a
Windows system. If you were to print a 10-point font, you will find that it prints 12 characters in one inch.
Fraser
To submit your questions, please email fr@888999copi.com and watch for an answer
in an upcoming issue.