1. Typography:
* Font Family: This is the basic design of a typeface, like Times New Roman, Arial, or Helvetica. Each font family has its own unique characteristics, such as serifs (small lines at the end of strokes), stroke thickness, and letter shapes.
* Font Style: Within a font family, there are different styles, such as regular, bold, italic, or bold italic. These styles change the weight and slant of the letters.
* Font Size: This determines the overall size of the characters.
* Font Weight: This refers to the thickness of the strokes of the letters, ranging from light to bold.
2. Character Set:
* Glyph: Each individual character (letter, number, symbol) has its own specific shape called a glyph. The glyph set determines the appearance of each character within a font.
* Encoding: This is the system used to represent characters as digital code, like ASCII or Unicode.
3. Other factors:
* Kerning: This is the spacing between individual characters, adjusted to optimize visual balance and readability.
* Tracking: This is the uniform spacing applied to all characters in a block of text.
* Ligatures: These are special glyphs used to combine certain character pairs, like "fi" or "fl", for a more aesthetically pleasing appearance.
In summary: The text appearance is defined by the specific font chosen, its style, and its size. These factors, along with kerning, tracking, and ligatures, contribute to the overall shape and visual appeal of the text.