Point (typography)

A point is a unit of measure in typography (Abbreviated as "pt"). There are various sorts of points, used in particular locations and times:

Related Topics:
Unit - Typography

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• Fournier point: the first definition of the printer's point, by Pierre Fournier. It was 0.34882 millimetres, which was 1/12 of a cicero.
• Didot point: the French typesetting point defined by Ambroise Didot in the 18th century. It equals 0.37597 mm, which are 1/72 of a French royal inch (pouce).
• Berthold point: an attempt to create a point with a metric definition. 0.37593 mm or 1/2660 of a metre.
• German Didot point: defined in 1954 as 0.376065 mm. This is the standard Didot point now used in Europe (unless replaced by metric typographic units).
• American printer's point: defined as 0.013837in or 0.35145 mm by Nelson Hawks in 1879.
• PostScript point or computer point: defined as 1/72 of an English inch or 0.35277 mm by Warnock and Geschke, the inventors of Adobe PostScript.

Now the universal point in computers.

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The point is the standard unit for measuring font size and leading and other minute items on a printed page.

Related Topics:
Font - Leading

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Twelve points make up a pica, there are 72 points in an inch (The actual visible size of 1 Inch high text is around 96pt), or 6 picas in an inch, a point is 1/12 of a pica. A measurement in picas is usually represented by placing a small p after the number of picas. "10 picas" is thus abbreviated 10p. Likewise, points are represented by placing the number of points after a small p, such as 0p5 for "5 points," 6p2 for "6 picas and 2 points," or 1p1 for "13 points" which is converted to a mixed fraction of 1 pica and 1 point.

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