SYMBOL SETS
Let’ssummarizebriefly,to putthe subjectof symbolsetsin context.
The attributesof a fontdeterminewhatthatfontwilllooklike whenit is
printed.We coveredall but orientationat the start of this chapter, and
orientationin thelastchapter.A font’sattributesinclude:
.
.
.
.
.
.
●
✎
orientation (portraitor landscape)
symbol set (whichwe’lllookat next)
spacing (monospacedor proportional)
pitch (10or 16.66charactersper inch,forexample)
font height (measuredin points)
style (uprightor italics)
stroke
weight (light,mediumor bold)
typeface (LinePrinter,TmsRomn,Courierandso on)
Thoughthey are not font attributes,such printingfeaturesas subscripts,
superscriptsandunderliningare treatedalongwithfontsin the following
chapters.Eachemulationhas itsown wayof providingthesefeatures.
Incidentally,thebestwayto underlineis to usethe underlinecommandin
theemulationyouareusing,insteadof backspacingandoverprintingwith
theseparateunderlinecharacter(–).Ifyoudothelatterwith
proportionally
spacedtext,you’llusuallyfindtheunderliningis too longforthetext.
What are symbol sets?
Keyboardsdifferfromcountrytocountry.TheBritishneedtheirf symbol,
theFrenchneedtheirQand6,theSpanishneedtheir~andiletc.Scientists
needparticularmathematicalsignstoo.Thereeasilycouldbefourhundred
or morepossiblesymbolsfor anygivenfont.
However,thenumberof symbolsprintersstorefora fontislimitedto 256
slots,asinASCII.Sosomesymbols,ortheorderofsomesymbols,candiffer
in anyfont.Eachuniqueselectionandarrangementof symbolsis a symbol
set (sometimescalleda “graphicset”or “characterset”).
The symtmlat position91 forexampleis an openbracket,[ , in theusual
ASCIIsymbolset.ButthesamepositionholdsA(capitalAwithanumlaut)
in theGermansymbolset.
41
To Next Page
Loading...
