RE: [XP] Re: More comments on "Réflexions"

[Olivier RANDIER <orandier AT planete.net>]

>O. Randier disait:
>
>> In XPress, I usually set variable space to 25% in typographic
>> preferences to get correct thin space (I use to type variable space instead
>> of non-breaking thin space as suggested in the handbook, because
>> the last one seems to be bugged). But I don't know what that 25% refers to:
>> em-space, en-space, figure space? That's not clear (should be). I would be
>> very interested to know exactly how XPress does its calculation about that,
>> because it seems there are issues between electronic and lead type as to
>> what really means an em-space.
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>You mean, is it measured off the actual 'm' character, or equal to the point
>size?

No*

>Here's the rundown on all the QXP spaces:
>
>standard space (word space) = the width of the space character in the font,
>but is scaled by the 'optimum' setting in the H&Js diaog.
>
>en-space = if standard em space is checked in preferences/character, it is
>1/2 the point size, otherwise it is the width of the zero character.
>
>flex space = scaled by user from the en-space character.

So when I set flex space to 25%, what I get is a 1/8 em-space, isn't it?
I think this (combinated with the previous point: en-space based on half
em-space or figure space) has created a great confusion in the french
typographic communauty. We all have learned from french lead type tradition
that thin space is 1/4 em-space, so it seemed natural to set this value to
25%. But what we get thus is not a 1/4 em-space, but a 1/8 space.
* On the other hand, I noticed that in most fonts the word space is set to
1/4 em-space, so 1/4 em-space is too much for the thin space which is
supposed to be smaller than word space. So I deduced that em-space has a
different meaning in lead type and electronic type. I still don't
understand exactly how.

>punct space = the width of the point ('.') character.

This space is available in XPress? How? Only in 4.0 or also in 3.32?

Olivier RANDIER -- Experluette          
mailto:orandier AT planete.net
        http://technopole.le-village.com/Experluette/index.html
Experluette : typographie et technologie de composition. L'Hypercasse
(projet de base de données typographique), l'Outil (ouvroir de typographie
illustrative).