On 2010/06/21, at 07:48 , Pierre Abbat wrote:
The *type size* in centimeters? That's too big a unit for measuring
letters.
Pierre
Dear Pierre,
You're right, as a unit, centimetre is too big for type size – and so
is millimetre.
I think that the printing industry will eventually get over its
dedication to old mediaeval names for type. Ciceros, didos, ems, ens,
picas, and points (both the UK and USA versions) will eventually be
replaced by a sane and simple metric system. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typographic_unit
to get a taste of the mess the printing industry is in!
To measure letters this sanely and simply you could start with
measuring the height of each letter in micrometres.
As the text in books or newspapers tends to be about 500 micrometres
this would have the advantage that all letter height descriptions
would be in whole numbers and most of these (except for headlines or
headings) would be less than 1000 micrometres. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/WholeNumberRule.pdf
Lateral measures could also use the same idea with ems and ens
specified in micrometres as well. I know that many will balk at the
idea of a letter m as (say) 2600 micrometres wide because 'the number
is too big'. However consider that you have just won 2600 in a lottery
– is the number still too big?
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see
http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
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and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
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