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Q: Conversion of font sizes to inches ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: Conversion of font sizes to inches
Category: Reference, Education and News > General Reference
Asked by: juanitag-ga
List Price: $20.00
Posted: 14 Sep 2004 15:14 PDT
Expires: 14 Oct 2004 15:14 PDT
Question ID: 401203
I need to import some equipment schedules from Excel into AutoCadd. I
need to import it so that the text height is at 3/32"
Can you tell me what the conversion is from font size to inches?
Answer  
Subject: Re: Conversion of font sizes to inches
Answered By: leapinglizard-ga on 14 Sep 2004 18:53 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Dear juanitag,

Font sizes are expressed in "points", which are a unit of measure
dating to the age of the hot-lead printing press.

There is some variance in the implementation of points at the software
and hardware levels due to unavoidable technical difficulties, but
points are indeed intended as an absolute measure. The computer
industry strives to scale fonts in such a way that there are 72 points
to an inch. Thus, a 72-point font should be roughly an inch high.

About: Web Design: point
http://webdesign.about.com/cs/webdesignfonts/g/bldefpoint.htm

To read further on the subject of font sizing and the relationship
between points and pixels, consult the following sites.

Henri Sivonen: About Points and Pixels as Units
http://www.hut.fi/u/hsivonen/units.html

Microsoft: The relationship between FONT SIZE and physical type size 
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/web/designer/face3.htm

Bear in mind that the principle of 72 points per inch is only an
approximation, and that actual results vary with the resolution of the
output device. For example, viewing the same font at the same size on
monitors with different resolutions, i.e. different numbers of pixels
per inch, will necessarily result in a different visual size in each
case. When you print out this font, there is yet a further translation
to the resolution of the printer.

The PostScript printer language is a reliable guide to the size of
fonts, though, since this language is used to guide the production of
hard-copy output. So if according to PostScript, there are 72 points
per inch, you have it on good authority.

In your particular case, 3/32 of an inch is the same as 6.75/72 of an
inch, so you round up to obtain 7/72. As a rule of thumb, then, you
want to use 7-point fonts.

If you feel that my answer is incomplete or inaccurate in any way, please
post a clarification request so that I have a chance to meet your needs
before you assign a rating.

Regards,

leapinglizard


Search Queries:

font points inches
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&c2coff=1&q=font+points+inches

point size pixels
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&c2coff=1&q=point+size+pixels
juanitag-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $5.00
Thank you very much for the answer! It was much faster then I
expected. I thought it would have been much easier to find when I
tried, it was well worth the investment. The links were also
interesting.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Conversion of font sizes to inches
From: leapinglizard-ga on 15 Sep 2004 10:20 PDT
 
Thank you for the kind words and the tip. We're at your service any time.

leapinglizard

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