Font

Font, traditionally, a set of characters of the same typeface (such as Courier), style (such as italic), stroke weight (such as bold), and size. A font is not to be confused with a typeface. Font refers to all the characters available in a particular size, style, and weight for a particular design; typeface refers to the design itself. Fonts are used by computers for on-screen displays and by printers for hard-copy output. In both cases, fonts are created either from bit maps (patterns of dots) or from outlines (as defined by a set of mathematical formulas). Programs that allow the use of different fonts are able to send information about typeface and size to a printer, even if they are not able to simulate different typefaces on the screen. The printer can then reproduce the font, provided either that the capability is built in or that a font description is available to the printer.