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A width between Regular and Condensed?
Posted by dan_reynolds in
27 Jul 2006 — 1:24pm
27 Jul 2006 — 1:24pm
Is there a type width between Regular and Condensed?
If there would be such a width, would it be too much of a splitting hairs sort of thing for users to understand?
I've got a typeface in the works whose regular width is just too extended for my tastes. But for certain reasons, it has to be labeled the "regular" width. I have condensed weights too, which aren't really all that condensed, but are narrower than the regular.
Short of renaming my axis points (which isn't a possibility here), is there a proper name for a width that would lie between these two points?
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27 Jul 2006 — 1:37pm
How about semi/demi condensed, compressed, squished or narrow?
27 Jul 2006 — 2:41pm
Condegular.
27 Jul 2006 — 2:47pm
Evaporated.
27 Jul 2006 — 3:40pm
Maybe a system could be based on opera performers - waif through to fat lady?
27 Jul 2006 — 4:58pm
I'd call it narrow.
There is such a range of "condensed" fonts from those that barely look condensed at all to the ultra skinny.
27 Jul 2006 — 8:36pm
In several families, Adobe has called it "semicondensed."
T
27 Jul 2006 — 10:02pm
Si: compressed, squished or narrow?
A lot of bigger font families already use compressed and narrow variants, which are all less wide than the condensed, if I remember correctly. So calling the intermediary weight one of these would only add to the increasingly confusing landscape of font naming.
Thomas: In several families, Adobe has called it “semicondensed.”
Thank you! I should have remembered that some Adobe fonts had this. I'm glad that there is a specific naming precendent.
28 Jul 2006 — 3:25am
In the specs for the OS/2-table, usWidthClass mentions this:
1 Ultra-condensed (50% of normal)
2 Extra-condensed (62.5% of normal)
3 Condensed (75% of normal)
4 Semi-condensed (87.5% of normal)
5 Medium (normal) (100%)
6 Semi-expanded (112.5% of normal)
7 Expanded (125% of normal)
8 Extra-expanded (150% of normal)
9 Ultra-expanded (200% of normal)
The addition of % sounds a bit like over-regulation ... (CSS2 font specs mention the same table without the %-values.)
Even when choosing different names, I find it helpful to see that it employs the same scheme as for weights, with 'ultra', 'extra', 'semi'.
28 Jul 2006 — 9:50am
I would use this system:
Regular
Plus-Size model
Supermodel