TOO CLOSE
fiffff fi iiii Ligatures
were invented to solve a practical typesetting problem. Certain characters have features that physically collide with other characters.
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Did you know the common ampersand (&) was developed from a ligature in which the handwritten Latin letters ‘e’ and ‘t’ (spelling et, from the Latin for “and”) were combined
eeee& tttt
HOLD ON
ggg
Link/Neck
g
is that small, usually curved, stroke that connects the bowl and loop of a double-storey g.
Always keep a head
Bowl Link/Neck Loop
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Did you know the lowercase letter g is the only place where the link/neck is found because out of the few letters that descend below the baseline, lowercase g is the only letter with a distinct upper and lower part connected by a small stroke.
For Example,
a lowercase y descends below the baseline , but 2 1 the stroke just passes the baseline , whereas the lowercase g has a distinct upper part and lower part, where the only thing in between that connects them is a small stroke. 1
link/neck
x-height
Ty p o g r ap hy
baseline
1
small stroke2
descender line
stroke