996 lines
33 KiB
HTML
996 lines
33 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
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<!--
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This file is part of groff, the GNU roff type-setting system.
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Copyright (C) 2004-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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Written by Peter Schaffter (peter@schaffter.ca).
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Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
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under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
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any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
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Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
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Texts.
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A copy of the Free Documentation License is included as a file called
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FDL in the main directory of the groff source package.
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-->
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8"/>
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<title>Mom -- Definitions and Terms</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" />
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</head>
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<body style="background-color: #f5faff;">
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<!-- ==================================================================== -->
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<div id="top" class="page">
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<!-- Navigation links -->
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<table style="width: 100%;">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="toc.html">Back to Table of Contents</a></td>
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<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="using.html#top">Next: Using mom</a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<h1 id="terms" class="docs">Definitions of terms used in this manual</h1>
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<p>
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I use a number of typesetting-specific and groff-specific terms
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throughout this documentation, as well as a few terms that apply
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to mom herself. To make life easier, I’ll explain
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them here. Refer back to this section should you encounter a word
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or concept you’re not familiar with.
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</p>
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<div class="rule-short" style="margin-top: 18px; margin-bottom: 28px;"><hr/></div>
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<div class="col-1-definitions">
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<table class="definitions">
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<tr><th class="definitions">Typesetting terms</th></tr>
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<tr>
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<td>
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<a href="#ascender">Ascender</a><br/>
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<a href="#baseline">Baseline</a><br/>
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<a href="#ballotbox">Ballot box</a><br/>
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<a href="#bullet">Bullet</a><br/>
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<a href="#capheight">Cap-height</a><br/>
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<a href="#descender">Descender</a><br/>
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<a href="#discretionaryhyphen">Discretionary hyphen</a><br/>
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<a href="#dropcap">Drop cap</a><br/>
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<a href="#em">Em/en</a><br/>
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<a href="#family">Family</a><br/>
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<a href="#figurespace">Figure space/Digit space</a><br/>
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<a href="#fixedwidthfont">Fixed width font</a><br/>
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<a href="#fixedwidthspace">Fixed width space</a><br/>
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<a href="#font">Font</a><br/>
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<a href="#force">Force justify</a><br/>
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<a href="#just">Justify/justification</a><br/>
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<a href="#gutter">Gutter</a><br/>
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<a href="#kern">Kerning</a><br/>
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<a href="#kernunit">Kern Units</a><br/>
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<a href="#leading">Lead/leading</a><br/>
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<a href="#leader">Leaders</a><br/>
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<a href="#ligatures">Ligature</a><br/>
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<a href="#picaspoints">Picas/Points</a><br/>
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<a href="#ps">Point Size</a><br/>
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<a href="#quad">Quad</a><br/>
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<a href="#rag">Rag</a><br/>
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<a href="#shape">Shape</a><br/>
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<a href="#solid">Solid/set solid</a><br/>
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<a href="#trackkerning">Track kerning/Line kerning</a><br/>
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<a href="#unbreakablespace">Unbreakable space</a><br/>
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<a href="#weight">Weight</a><br/>
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<a href="#wordspace">Word space</a><br/>
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<a href="#xheight">x-height</a><br/>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</div>
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<div class="col-2-definitions">
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<table class="definitions">
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<tr><th class="definitions">Groff terms</th></tr>
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<tr>
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<td>
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<a href="#alias">Alias</a><br/>
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<a href="#arguments">Arguments</a><br/>
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<a href="#commentlines">Comment lines</a><br/>
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<a href="#controllines">Control Lines</a><br/>
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<a href="#filled">Filled lines</a><br/>
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<a href="#inlines">Inline escapes</a><br/>
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<a href="#inputline">Input line</a><br/>
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<a href="#macros">Macros</a><br/>
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<a href="#units">Machine units</a><br/>
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<a href="#numericargument">Numeric argument</a><br/>
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<a href="#outputline">Output line</a><br/>
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<a href="#primitives">Primitives</a><br/>
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<a href="#preprocessor">Pre-processor</a><br/>
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<a href="#stringargument">String Argument</a><br/>
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<a href="#unitofmeasure">Unit of measure</a><br/>
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<a href="#zerowidthcharacter">Zero-width character</a><br/>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</div>
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<div class="col-3-definitions">
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<table class="definitions">
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<tr><th class="definitions">Mom terms</th></tr>
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<tr>
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<td>
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<a href="#baseline-grid">Baseline grid</a><br/>
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<a href="#blockquote">Blockquote</a><br/>
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<a href="#controlmacro">Control macro</a><br/>
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<a href="#docheader">Docheader</a><br/>
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<a href="#epigraph">Epigraph</a><br/>
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<a href="#float">Float</a><br/>
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<a href="#footer">Footer</a><br/>
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<a href="#head">Head</a><br/>
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<a href="#header">Header</a><br/>
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<a href="#linebreak">Linebreak</a><br/>
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<a href="#parahead">Paragraph head</a><br/>
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<a href="#pdflink">PDF link</a><br/>
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<a href="#pdfoutline">PDF outline</a><br/>
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<a href="#quote">Quote</a><br/>
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<a href="#running">Running text</a><br/>
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<a href="#toggle">Toggle</a><br/>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</div>
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<h3 id="typesetting-terms" class="docs">Typesetting terms</h3>
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<dl>
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<dt id="ascender">Ascender</dt>
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<dd>
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The portion of a letter that extends above the bowl. For
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example, the letters a, c, and e have no ascenders. The letters
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b, d, and h do.
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</dd>
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<dt id="baseline">Baseline</dt>
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<dd>
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The imaginary line on which the bottoms of capital letters and
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the bowls of lower case letters rest.
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</dd>
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<dt id="ballotbox">Ballot box</dt>
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<dd>
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An unfilled square, usually
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<a href="#capheight">cap-height</a>
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in size, typically placed beside items in a checklist.
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</dd>
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<dt id="bullet">Bullet</dt>
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<dd>
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A small, filled circle typically found beside items or points in
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a list.
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</dd>
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<dt id="capheight">Cap-height</dt>
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<dd>
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The height of the tallest capital letter in a given
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<a href="#font">font</a>
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at the current
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<a href="#ps">point size</a>.
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</dd>
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<dt id="descender">Descender</dt>
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<dd>
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The portion of a letter that extends beneath the
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<a href="#baseline">baseline</a>
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(j, q, y are letters with descenders).
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</dd>
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<dt id="discretionaryhyphen">Discretionary hyphen</dt>
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<dd>
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A symbol inserted between two syllables of a word that indicates
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to a typesetting program the valid hyphenation points in the
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word. Normally, if hyphenation is turned on, groff knows where
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to hyphenate words. However, hyphenation being what it is
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(in English, at any rate), groff doesn’t always get it right.
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Discretionary hyphens make sure it does. In the event that the
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word doesn’t need to be hyphenated at all, groff leaves them
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alone. In groff, the discretionary hyphen is entered with
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<kbd>\%</kbd> (i.e. a backslash followed by the percent sign).
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</dd>
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<dt id="dropcap">Drop cap</dt>
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<dd>
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A large, usually upper-case letter that introduces the first
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paragraph of a document or section thereof. The top of the
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drop cap usually lines up with the top of the first line of the
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paragraph, and typically “drops” several lines lower.
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Text adjacent to the drop cap is indented to the right of the
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letter until the bottom of the drop cap is reached, at which
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point text reverts to the left margin.
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</dd>
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<dt id="em">Em/en</dt>
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<dd>
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An em is a relative measurement equal to the width of the
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letter M at a given
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<a href="#ps">point size</a>
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in a given
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<a href="#font">font</a>.
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Since most Ms are designed square, an em is usually (but
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sometimes erroneously) considered to be the same size as the
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current point size (i.e., if the point size of the type is 12,
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one em equals 12 points). An en is equal to the width of a
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letter N (historically 2/3 of an em, although groff treats an en
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as 1/2 of an em). Typically, ems and ens are used to measure
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indents, or to define the length of dashes (long hyphens).
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</dd>
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<dt id="family">Family</dt>
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<dd>
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The collective name by which a collection of
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<a href="#font">fonts</a>
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are known, e.g. Helvetica, Times Roman, Garamond.
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</dd>
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<dt id="figurespace">Figure space/Digit space</dt>
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<dd>
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A
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<a href="#fixedwidthspace">fixed width space</a>
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that has the width of one digit. Used for aligning numerals in,
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say, columns or numbered lists. In groff, the figure space is
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entered with <kbd>\0</kbd> (i.e. a backslash followed by a zero)
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</dd>
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<dt id="fixedwidthfont">Fixed-width font</dt>
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<dd>
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A family or font in which every character occupies exactly the
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same amount of horizontal space on the line. Courier is the
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best-known, if not the most elegant, fixed-width font.
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</dd>
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<dt id="fixedwidthspace">Fixed width space</dt>
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<dd>
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Equal to
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<a href="#wordspace">word space</a>,
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but does not expand or contract when text is
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<a href="#just">justified</a>.
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In groff, fixed width space is entered with
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<kbd>\<space></kbd> (i.e. a backslash followed by a space)
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</dd>
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<dt id="font">Font</dt>
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<dd>
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The specific
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<a href="#weight">weight</a>
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and
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<a href="#shape">shape</a>
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of type within a
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<a href="#family">family</a>,
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e.g. light, medium, bold (which are weights), and roman, italic,
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condensed (which are shapes). By default, groff knows of four
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fonts within its default set of families: R (medium roman), I
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(medium italic), B (bold roman) and BI (bold italic).
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Mom considerably extends this very basic list.
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</dd>
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<dt id="force">Force justify</dt>
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<dd>
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Sometimes, in
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<a href="#just">justified</a>
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text, a line needs to be broken short of the right margin.
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Force justifying means telling a typesetting program (like
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groff) that you want the line broken early AND that you want the
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line’s word spacing stretched to force the line flush with the
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right margin.
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</dd>
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<dt id="gutter">Gutter</dt>
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<dd>
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The vertical whitespace separating columns of type.
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</dd>
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<dt id="just">Justify/justification</dt>
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<dd>
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Lines of type are justified when they’re flush at both the left
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and right margins. Justification is the act of making both
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margins flush. Some people use the terms "left justified" and
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"right justified" to mean type where only the left (or right)
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margins align. I don’t. See
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<a href="#quad">quad</a>.
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</dd>
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<dt id="kern">Kerning</dt>
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<dd>
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Moving pairs of letters closer together to remove excess
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whitespace between them. In the days before phototypesetting,
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type was set from small, rectangular blocks of wood or metal,
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each block having exactly one letter. Because the edge of
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each block determined the edge of each letter, certain letter
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combinations (TA, for example) didn’t fit together well and had
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to be mortised by hand to bring them visually closer. Modern
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typesetting systems usually take care of kerning automatically,
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but they’re far from perfect. Professional typesetters still
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devote a lot of time to fitting letters and punctuation together
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properly.
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</dd>
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<dt id="kernunit">Kern Units</dt>
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<dd>
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A relative distance, which, by default, is equal to 1/36 of the
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current
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<a href="#ps">point size</a>.
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Used between individual letters for
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<a href="#kern">kerning</a>.
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Different typesetting systems use different values (1/54 is
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popular), and sometimes call kern units by a different name.
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It is possible to change the default size of the kern unit with the
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<a href="inlines.html#kernunit">KERN_UNIT</a>
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macro.
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</dd>
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<dt id="leading">Lead/leading</dt>
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<dd>
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The distance from the
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<a href="#baseline">baseline</a>
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of one line of type to the line of type immediately beneath
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it. Pronounced "ledding." Also called line spacing. Usually
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measured in
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<a href="#picaspoints">points</a>.
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<p>
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<em>In case you’re interested...</em> In previous centuries,
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lines of type were separated by thin strips of—you guessed
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it—lead. Lines of type that had no lead between them were said
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to be “set solid.” Once you began separating them with
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strips of lead, they were said to be “leaded”, and the
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spacing was expressed in terms of the number of
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<a href="#picaspoints">points</a>
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of lead. For this reason, “leading” and “line
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spacing” aren’t, historically speaking, synonymous.
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If type was set 10 on 12, for example, the leading was 2
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points, not 12. Nowadays, however, the two terms are used
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interchangeably to mean the distance from baseline to baseline.
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</p>
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</dd>
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<dt id="leader">Leaders</dt>
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<dd>
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Single characters used to fill lines, usually to their end. So
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called because they “lead” the eye from one element
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of the page to another. For example, in the following (brief)
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Table of Contents, the periods (dots) are leaders.
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<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
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Foreword............... 2
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Chapter 1.............. 5
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Chapter 2.............. 38
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Chapter 3.............. 60
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</span>
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</dd>
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<dt id="ligatures">Ligature</dt>
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<dd>
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Ligatures are letters joined together to form a single
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character. The commonest are fi, fl, ff, ffi and ffl. Others
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are ae and oe. Occasionally, one sees an st ligature, but this
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is archaic and quite rare.
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</dd>
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<dt id="picaspoints">Picas/Points</dt>
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<dd>
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There are twelve points in a pica, and six picas in an inch
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(hence 72 points to the inch). In the same way that gem-dealers
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have always used their own system of measurement for weight
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(carats), typographers have always used their own system of
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measurement for type.
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</dd>
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<dt id="ps">Point Size</dt>
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<dd>
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The nominal size of type, measured in
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<a href="#picaspoints">points</a>
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from the bottom of the longest
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<a href="#descender">descender</a>
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to the top of the highest
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<a href="#ascender">ascender</a>.
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In reality, type is always fractionally smaller than its point
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size.
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</dd>
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<dt id="quad">Quad</dt>
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<dd>
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When only one margin of type is flush, lines of type are quadded
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in the direction of the flush margin. Therefore, quad left
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means the left margin is flush, the right isn’t. Quad right
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means the right margin is flush, the left isn’t. Quad centre
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means neither the left nor the right margin is flush; rather,
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lines of type are quadded on both sides so that type appears
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centred on the page.
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</dd>
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<dt id="rag">Rag</dt>
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<dd>
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Describes a margin that isn’t flush. Rag right means the right
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margin isn’t flush. Rag left means the left margin isn’t flush.
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The expression "flush left/rag right" is sometimes used to
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describe type that is
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<a href="#quad">quadded</a>
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left.
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</dd>
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<dt id="shape">Shape</dt>
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<dd>
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The degree of slant and/or the width of characters.
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(Technically speaking, this is not a proper typesetting term;
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however, it may help clarify some concepts presented in these
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documents.)
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<p>
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Some typical shapes are:
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</p>
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<ul style="margin-top: -.5em; margin-bottom: -.5em">
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<li>Roman, which has no slant, and has letterforms of
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average width</li>
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<li>Italic, which is slanted, and has letterforms
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of average width</li>
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<li>Condensed, which has no slant, but has
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letterforms narrower than the average represented by Roman</li>
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<li>Condensed Italic, which is slanted, with letterforms narrower
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than average</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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The term
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<a href="#font">font</a>,
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as it is used in these documents, refers to a combination of
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<a href="#weight">weight</a>
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and shape.
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</p>
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</dd>
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<dt id="solid">Solid/set solid</dt>
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<dd>
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When no
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<a href="#leading">lead</a>
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is added between lines of type (i.e., the
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<a href="#ps">point size</a>
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and linespacing are the same), the lines are said to be “set
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solid.”
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</dd>
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<dt id="trackkerning">Track kerning/Line kerning</dt>
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<dd>
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Sometimes, it’s advantageous to increase or decrease the amount
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of space between every letter in a line by an equal (usually
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small) amount, in order to fit more (or fewer) characters on the
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line. The correct term is letter spacing, but track kerning and
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line kerning (and sometimes, just "kerning") have come to mean
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the same thing.
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</dd>
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<dt id="unbreakablespace">Unbreakable space</dt>
|
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<dd>
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Equal to
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<a href="#wordspace">word space</a>,
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|
however words separated by an unbreakable space will always be
|
|
kept together on the same line. Expands and contracts like word
|
|
space. Useful for proper names, which one should, whenever
|
|
possible, avoid splitting onto two lines. In groff, unbreakable
|
|
space is entered with <kbd>\~</kbd> (i.e. a backslash followed by a
|
|
tilde)
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="weight">Weight</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
The thickness of the strokes of letterforms. Medium and Book
|
|
have average thicknesses and are the weights used for most
|
|
of the text in books, magazines, newspapers, etc. Light has
|
|
strokes slightly thinner than Medium or Book, but is still
|
|
acceptable for most text. Semibold, Bold, Heavy and Black all
|
|
have strokes of increasing thickness, making them suitable for
|
|
headings and the like.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="wordspace">Word space</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
The amount of whitespace between words. When text is
|
|
<a href="#just">justified</a>,
|
|
word space expands or contracts to make the margins flush.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="xheight">x-height</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
The height of a lower case letter x in a given font at a given
|
|
point size. Generally used to mean the average height of the
|
|
bowl of lower case letters.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
<h3 id="groff-terms" class="docs">Groff terms</h3>
|
|
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt id="alias">Alias</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A
|
|
<a href="#macros">macro</a>
|
|
invoked by a name different from its “official”
|
|
name. For example, the official name of the macro to change
|
|
<a href="#family">family</a>
|
|
is <kbd>FAMILY</kbd>. Its alias is <kbd>FAM</kbd>.
|
|
Aliases may be created for any macro (via the
|
|
<a href="goodies.html#alias"><kbd>ALIAS</kbd></a>
|
|
macro) provided the alias uses a name not already taken by the
|
|
mom macros or one of the groff
|
|
<a href="#primitives">primitives</a>.
|
|
For a complete list of words or names you must not use, see the
|
|
<a href="reserved.html#reserved">list of reserved words</a>.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="arguments">Arguments</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Parameters or information needed by a
|
|
<a href="#macros">macro</a>
|
|
to do its job. For example, in the macro
|
|
|
|
<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
.PT_SIZE 12
|
|
</span>
|
|
|
|
<kbd>12</kbd> is the argument. In the macro
|
|
|
|
<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
.QUAD LEFT
|
|
</span>
|
|
|
|
<kbd>LEFT</kbd> is the argument. Arguments are separated from
|
|
macros by spaces. Some macros require several arguments; each
|
|
is separated by a space.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="commentlines">Comment Lines</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<a href="#inputline">Input lines</a>
|
|
introduced with the comment character <kbd>\#</kbd> (i.e. a
|
|
backslash followed by the pound sign). When processing output,
|
|
groff silently ignores everything on a line that begins with the
|
|
comment character.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="controllines">Control Lines</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Instructions to groff that appear on a line by themselves, which
|
|
means that “control lines” are either
|
|
<a href="#macros">macros</a>
|
|
or groff
|
|
<a href="#primitives">primitives</a>.
|
|
Control lines begin with a period or, occasionally, an apostrophe.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="filled">Filled lines/fill mode</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Automatic
|
|
<a href="#just">justification</a>
|
|
or
|
|
<a href="#quad">quadding</a>.
|
|
In fill mode, the ends of lines as they appear in your text
|
|
editor are ignored. Instead, words from adjoining
|
|
<a href="#inputline">input lines</a>
|
|
are added one at a time to the output line until no more words
|
|
fit. Then, depending whether text is to be
|
|
<a href="#just">justified</a>
|
|
or
|
|
<a href="#quad">quadded</a>
|
|
(left, right, or centre), and depending on whether automatic
|
|
hyphenation is turned on, groff attempts to hyphenate the last
|
|
word, or, barring that, spreads and breaks the line (when
|
|
justification is turned on) or breaks and quads the line (when
|
|
quadding is turned on).
|
|
|
|
<p id="no-fill">
|
|
Nofill mode (non-filled text) means that groff respects the ends
|
|
of lines exactly as they appear in your text editor.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="inlines">Inline escapes</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Instructions issued to groff that appear as part of an
|
|
<a href="#inputline">input line</a>
|
|
(as opposed to
|
|
<a href="#macros">macros</a>,
|
|
which must appear on a line by themselves). Inline escapes are
|
|
always introduced by the backslash character. For example,
|
|
|
|
<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
A line of text with the word T\*[BU 2]oronto in it
|
|
</span>
|
|
|
|
contains the inline escape <kbd>\*[BU 2]</kbd> (which means
|
|
“move the letter ‘o’ 2
|
|
<a href="#kernunit">kern units</a>
|
|
closer to the letter ‘T’”).
|
|
|
|
<p style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
Mom’s inline escapes always take the form
|
|
<kbd>\*[<ESCAPE>]</kbd>, where <kbd>ESCAPE</kbd> is
|
|
composed of capital letters, sometimes followed immediately by a
|
|
digit, sometimes followed by a space and a
|
|
<a href="#numericargument">numeric argument</a>.
|
|
Groff’s escapes begin with the backslash
|
|
character but typically have no star and are in lower case. For
|
|
example, the mom escapes to move forward 6
|
|
points on a line are either
|
|
|
|
<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
\*[FP6] or \*[FWD 6p]
|
|
</span>
|
|
|
|
while the groff escape for the same thing is
|
|
|
|
<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
\h’6p’
|
|
</span>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="inputline" style="margin-top: -1em;">Input line</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A line of text as it appears in your text editor.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="macros">Macros</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Instructions embedded in a document that determine how groff
|
|
processes the text for output. mom’s macros
|
|
always begin with a period, on a line by themselves, and must
|
|
be typed in capital letters. Typically, macros contain complex
|
|
commands issued to groff—behind the scenes—via
|
|
groff
|
|
<a href="#primitives">primitives</a>.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="units">Machine units</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A machine unit is 1/1000 of a
|
|
<a href="#picaspoints">point</a>
|
|
when the groff device is ps. (“ps” means
|
|
“PostScript”—the default device for
|
|
which groff prepares output, and the device for which
|
|
mom was originally designed.)
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="numericargument">Numeric argument</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
An
|
|
<a href="#arguments">argument</a>
|
|
that has the form of a digit. Numeric arguments can be built
|
|
out of arithmetic expressions using +, -, *, and / for plus,
|
|
minus, times, and divided-by respectively. If a numeric
|
|
argument requires a
|
|
<a href="#unitofmeasure">unit of measure</a>,
|
|
a unit of measure must be appended to <em>every</em> digit in
|
|
the argument. For example:
|
|
|
|
<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
.ALD 1i-1v
|
|
</span>
|
|
|
|
<div class="box-important" style="margin-right: 2.5em;">
|
|
<p class="tip">
|
|
<span class="important">IMPORTANT:</span> groff does not
|
|
respect the order of operations, but rather evaluates
|
|
arithmetic expressions from left to right. Parentheses must
|
|
be used to circumvent this peculiarity. Not to worry, though.
|
|
The likelihood of more than just the occasional plus or minus
|
|
sign when using mom’s macros is slim.
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="outputline">Output line</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A line of text as it appears in output copy.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="preprocessor">Pre-processor</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Pre-processors are used by groff to generate tables
|
|
(<strong>tbl</strong>), diagrams (<strong>pic</strong>), graphs
|
|
(<strong>grap</strong>), and equations (<strong>eqn</strong>).
|
|
These pre-processors are fully supported by mom. In addition,
|
|
the “refer” pre-processor is used to generate
|
|
bibliographies and lists of cited works. The PDF_IMAGE macro,
|
|
which allows insertion of graphics into a document, is not
|
|
strictly a pre-processor but behaves similarly to tbl, pic, and
|
|
eqn.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="primitives">Primitives</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
The lowercase instructions, introduced with a period, that groff
|
|
uses as its native command language, and out of which macros
|
|
are built. The majority of groff’s primitive requests are two
|
|
letters long.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="stringargument">String Argument</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Technically, any
|
|
<a href="#arguments">argument</a>
|
|
that is not numeric. In this documentation, string argument
|
|
means an argument that requires the user to input text. For
|
|
example, in the
|
|
<a href="#macros">macro</a>
|
|
|
|
<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
.TITLE "My Pulitzer Novel"
|
|
</span>
|
|
|
|
<kbd>"My Pulitzer Novel"</kbd> is a string argument.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Because string arguments must be enclosed by double-quotes, you
|
|
can’t use double-quotes as part of the string argument. If you
|
|
need double-quotes to be part of a string argument, use the
|
|
<a href="#inlines">inline escapes</a>
|
|
<kbd>\(lq</kbd> and <kbd>\(rq</kbd> (leftquote and
|
|
rightquote respectively) in place of the double-quote character
|
|
(<kbd>"</kbd>).
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="unitofmeasure">Unit of measure</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
The single letter after a
|
|
<a href="#numericargument">numeric argument</a>
|
|
that tells mom what measurement scale the
|
|
argument should use. Common valid units are:
|
|
|
|
<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
i (inches)
|
|
p (points)
|
|
P (Picas)
|
|
c (centimetres)
|
|
m (ems)
|
|
n (ens)
|
|
u (machine units)
|
|
v (the current leading [line space])
|
|
</span>
|
|
|
|
<p style="margin-top: -1em;">
|
|
Units of measure must come immediately after the numeric
|
|
argument (i.e. with no space between the argument and the unit
|
|
of measure), like this:
|
|
|
|
<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
.ALD 2v
|
|
.LL 39P
|
|
.IL 1i
|
|
</span>
|
|
|
|
The above example advances 2 line spaces and sets the line
|
|
length to 39 picas with a left indent of 1 inch.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="box-important" style="margin-right: 2.5em;">
|
|
<p class="tip">
|
|
<span class="important">IMPORTANT:</span>
|
|
Most mom macros that set the size or measure of something must
|
|
be given a unit of measure since most of the macros do not have
|
|
default units of measure. There are a couple of exceptions,
|
|
the most notable of which are <kbd>PT_SIZE</kbd> and
|
|
<kbd class="bold">LS</kbd>. Both use
|
|
<a href="#picaspoints">points</a>
|
|
as the default unit of measure, which means you don’t have to
|
|
append “p” to their argument.
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
You can enter decimal values for any unit of measure. Different
|
|
units may be combined by adding them together (e.g. 1.5i+2m,
|
|
which gives a measure of 1-1/2 inches plus 2 ems).
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="box-tip" style="margin-right: 2.5em;">
|
|
<p class="tip">
|
|
<span class="note">Note:</span>
|
|
a pica is composed of 12 points, therefore 12.5 picas is 12
|
|
picas and 6 points, not 12 picas and 5 points. If you want 12
|
|
picas and 5 points, you have to enter the measure as 12P+5p.
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="zerowidthcharacter">Zero-width character</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
The
|
|
<a href="#inlines">inline escape</a>
|
|
that allows you to print a literal period, apostrophe and, if
|
|
<a href="#outputline">output lines</a>
|
|
are
|
|
<a href="#filled">filled</a>,
|
|
a space that falls at the beginning of an
|
|
<a href="#inputline">input line</a>.
|
|
It looks like this:
|
|
|
|
<span class="pre" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
|
|
\& <span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal">(i.e. a backslash followed by an ampersand)</span>
|
|
</span>
|
|
|
|
Normally, groff interprets a period (or an apostrophe) at the
|
|
beginning of an input line as meaning that what follows is a
|
|
<a href="#controllines">control line</a>.
|
|
In fill modes, groff treats a space at the beginning of an input
|
|
line as meaning “start a new line and put a space at the
|
|
beginning of it.” If you want groff to interpret periods
|
|
and apostrophes at the beginning of input lines literally (i.e.
|
|
to print them), or spaces at the beginning of input lines as just
|
|
garden variety word spaces, you must start the line with the
|
|
zero-width character.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
<h3 id="mom-terms" class="docs">Mom terms</h3>
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt id="baseline-grid">Baseline grid</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Virtual guide lines spaced according to the
|
|
<a href="#leading">leading</a>
|
|
established for running text. Adherence to the grid ensures that
|
|
text fills the page completely to the bottom margin. Uncorrected
|
|
deviations from the grid result in bottom margins that fall short.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="controlmacro">Control macro</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Macros used in
|
|
<a href="docprocessing.html#docprocessing">document processing</a>
|
|
to control/alter the appearance of document elements (e.g.
|
|
headings, quotes, footnotes,
|
|
<a href="#header">headers</a>,
|
|
etc.).
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="docheader">Document header/docheader</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Document information (title, subtitle, author, etc) output at
|
|
the top of page one.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="epigraph">Epigraph</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A short, usually cited passage that appears at the beginning of
|
|
a chapter, story, or other document.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="float">Float</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A float is material intended to be kept together as a block.
|
|
Floated material that fits on a page in position is output on that
|
|
page. Floats that do not fit in position are deferred to the top
|
|
of the next page.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="footer">Footer/page footer</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Document information (frequently author and title) output in
|
|
the bottom margin of pages after page one. Not to be
|
|
confused with footnotes, which are considered part of
|
|
<a href="#running">running text</a>.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="head">Heading</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
The title used to identify a section of a document. Headings
|
|
are hierarchic, corresponding to the notion of head, subhead,
|
|
subsubhead, etc.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="header">Header/page header</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Document information (frequently author and title) output in the
|
|
top margin of pages after page one.
|
|
|
|
<div class="box-tip" style="margin-right: 2.5em;">
|
|
<p class="tip">
|
|
<span class="note">Note:</span> In terms of content and style,
|
|
headers and
|
|
<a href="#footer">footers</a>
|
|
are the same; they differ only in their placement on the page.
|
|
In most places in this documentation, references to the content
|
|
or style of headers applies equally to footers.
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="linebreak">Linebreak/author linebreak</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A gap in the vertical flow of
|
|
<a href="#running">running text</a>,
|
|
frequently set off by typographic symbols such as asterisks or
|
|
daggers. Used to indicate a shift in the content of a document
|
|
(e.g. a scene change in a short story). Also commonly called a
|
|
scene break or a section break.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="parahead">Paragraph head</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A heading joined to the body of a paragraph.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="pdflink">PDF link</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A portion of text that, when clicked on in a PDF viewer, navigates
|
|
to a bookmarked location in a document, generally but not
|
|
exclusively a heading. It may also point to an external URL.
|
|
PDF links are usually coloured to make them stand out from the
|
|
surrounding text.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="pdfoutline">PDF outline</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
The hierarchically-arranged navigation outline provided by most PDF
|
|
viewers (e.g. Okular, Evince), typically in a panel to the left of
|
|
the document window, and usually labelled “Contents”.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="quote">Quote</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A quote, to mom, is a line-for-line setting
|
|
of quoted material (e.g. poetry, song lyrics, or a snippet of
|
|
programming code). You don’t have to use
|
|
<a href="typesetting.html#br"><kbd>BR</kbd></a>
|
|
with quotes.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="running">Running text</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
In a document formatted with mom, running
|
|
text means text that forms the body of the document, including
|
|
elements such as headings.
|
|
<a href="#docheader">Docheaders</a>,
|
|
<a href="#header">headers</a>,
|
|
<a href="#footer">footers</a>
|
|
and page numbers are not part of running text.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt id="toggle">Toggle</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
A macro or tag that, when invoked without an argument, begins
|
|
something or turns a feature on, and, when invoked with ANY
|
|
argument, ends something or turns a feature off. See
|
|
<a href="intro.html#toggle-example">Example 3</a>
|
|
of the section
|
|
<a href="intro.html#macro-args">How to read macro arguments</a>.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
<div class="rule-long"><hr/></div>
|
|
|
|
<!-- Navigation links -->
|
|
<table style="width: 100%;">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td style="width: 33%;"><a href="toc.html">Back to Table of Contents</a></td>
|
|
<td style="width: 33%; text-align: center;"><a href="#top">Top</a></td>
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