CSS font-family glossary

Glossary of terms about the CSS font-family property, with selected examples.

majuscules - (Found June 24, 2008 )

An alternative term for capitals, upper case letters or "caps".
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/Glossary.shtml#majuscules

Transitional, transitional type, Baroque Old Style, Reale - (Found June 24, 2008 )

An historic classification of post-Renaissance period font styles characterised by a sloping top and horizontal bottom to serifs on minuscules, flat non-bracketed serifs on main strokes, little or no inclination to the axis and greater contrast than Garalde faces. Examples include Baskerville and Times.
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/Glossary.shtml#transitional

descender - (Found June 24, 2008 )

The lower part of a lowercase letter that extends beneath the base line of a font, as with g, j, p, q and y.
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/Glossary.shtml#descender

Egyptian, Egyptian Serif - (Found June 24, 2008 )

A heavy style of Slab Serif where the serifs are as thick as the main strokes.
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/Glossary.shtml#egyptian

em, em height, em length - (Found June 24, 2008 )

A unit of measure for fonts that is the length between the top and bottom of the upper case letter M. This measure is independent of the scale at which the font is reproduced and may be used to describe the vertical proportion of a font in relation to its ex height, strongly indicated on the lower case letters b, d, h and k.
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/Glossary.shtml#em

ex, ex height, ex length, x-height - (Found June 24, 2008 )

A unit of measure for fonts that is the length between the top and bottom of the lower case letter x. This measure is independent of the scale at which the font is reproduced and may be used to describe the vertical proportion of a font in relation to its em height, strongly indicated on the lower case letters b, d, h and k.
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/Glossary.shtml#ex

extended - (Found June 24, 2008 )

A font variant whose letters are wider and more broadly spaced than the standard font, cf. condensed.
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/Glossary.shtml#extended

fantasy - (Found June 24, 2008 )

In CSS terms, a generic font-family category that includes decorative or display fonts and should be used as a "fall back" after a series of named fonts:
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/Glossary.shtml#fantasy

lower case - (Found June 24, 2008 )

The small letters or minuscules of a font.
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/Glossary.shtml#lowercase

hair, hairlines, hair serif - (Found June 24, 2008 )

Hair serifs have a very fine, "hairline" stroke weight (see below).
http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/Glossary.shtml#hairserif