TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> I was not able to detect in the reference whether the definition of
> 14-point type was addressed. The layman's understanding of type size and
> the actual value used by printers can differ, and indeed, various
> typefaces set in 14-point can appear "larger" or "smaller" based on
> artistic considerations that I no longer remember.
Exactly my first thought, too. For a quick example of this kind of disparity, compare a sample of 14 point Verdana with a sample of 14 point Calibri. To the eye, all the characters in Calibri are about 20% smaller than Verdana, and that size difference goes into more whitespace between lines. You have to bump Calibri up to about 17 points to roughly match Verdana, and then the effective difference in leading becomes even more noticeable.
-Fred Ridder
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help. Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need.
Try Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
