字体设计基础----字符间距

Spacing. Some words about spacing type. Much more important than the shapes o f the characters, is the rhythm of the type. A typeface with beautiful characters whi ch are badly spaced is extremely hard to read. However, if the shapes of the lette rs are not that good, but when they are all perfectly spaced, the type will be fairly easy to read. Defining the rhythm is more important than defining the shapes.

字符间距

这里要说一下字符间距。字符的间距要比它的外形重要得多，这关系到字体的节奏。一种间距很糟糕的字体，不管外形如何优美，一样难于阅读。相反的，一款外形稍欠的字体，如果有完美的间距调节，这种字体一样可以易于阅读。因此，定义字体的节奏，要比定义字体的外形更加重要。

The white spaces inside and in between letters are defining the rhythm, much more than the black shapes of the letters. When you manage to create a good rhy thm in your line of text, your type gets more readable and gives a balanced end r esult. While creating the black shapes, you have to take the white spaces into con sideration. Because the white spaces are more important than the black shapes. H owever, white cannot exist without black. Changing a white shape, inevitable will h ave an influence on the black shape. From that perspective, one colour cannot be more important than the other.

是字符内部和字符之间的白空间决定着字符的节奏，而非字符的黑色形体。如果你能够为你的文本建立一种很好的节奏，你的字体就更易于阅读，并获得均衡的整体效果。从创建黑色形体的时候起，你就应该同时把白空间的设置考虑在内。当然，白空间和黑空间是互相依存的。白空间的改变也必然的会影响黑空间的形态。从这个角度来看，我们不能说黑与白哪个更重要。

For example, there has to be a relation between the space inside an 'n' and t he space between the 'i' and the 'n' (see drawing). In the top row you can see th

e space inside the 'n' is much much bigger than the space in between the 'n' and the 'i'. In the bottom row they are much more equal, and in this way you'll get a much better rhythm and more harmony in your line o

f text.

例如，字母n内部的白空间，以及i与n之间的白空间，两者之间必然会存在着一种联系（见图示）。在上面一行中，字母n内部的白空间要远大于i与n之间的白空间。在下面一行中，两者则要均衡得多，你也因而获得了更好的节奏，整个文本也更和谐。

The same goes for the inner form of the 'a' and the 'e' for example. There is a big relation between these two forms. If they have (optically) the same amount o f white inside the character (=counter), your type will have a better rhythm as well.

同样的，小写a和e之间的内部空间也存在着这种关系。两个形状之间的联系非常紧密。这两个字符的内部白空间（counter，中文术语翻译为字怀/字谷/字币）在视觉上应当是等量大小的，这样你的字体才会有更好的节奏。

图片文字说明：

文字间距基础

上：太紧

下：a和e的内部空间应该是相等的

平衡字符的内空间和外空间

Digitizing sketches. When the handmade sketches on paper are ready to be sca nned, take care of digitizing them in a proper way. More specifically, take care whil e converting your scanned image manually with a Bezier based pen tool. Too man

y points on a character, or points at the wrong position can have a negative influe nce at your font.

线稿的数字化。在纸上画好线稿之后就可以扫描了，这时候要开始要注意，要用正确的方法将其数字化。说的更明确一点，在你用贝赛线钢笔工具手工描摹你的线稿的时候，要留神。一个字符如果有太多的节点，或者是节点放置在不正确的位置上，都会给你的字体带来负面的影响。

Too many points (=nodes) can not only cause technical problems -e.g. the prin ter can't print the font anymore- but it is also much harder to control the shapes of a character. Controlling a curve between two nodes is much easier than changing a curve with twelve nodes. Of course it's possible, but it will not end up in a flue nt form.

过多的节点不仅仅会导致技术上的麻烦，例如打印机无法打印输出，还会使得字符的外形更加难于控制。在两个节点之间控制一条曲线，要远远容易过操纵一条有12个节点的曲线。当然这并非不可以，但多余的节点必然会导致外形的不平滑。

Having the nodes at the wrong position can cause technical problems -e.g. it's impossible to hint the font perfectly- but also practically it is recommendable to pu t nodes at extreme positions at your glyph. For example, digitizing an 'o' would onl y need 8 nodes. Four at the outer form, four at the counter form. Putting nodes at extreme positions (most top & down, most left & right) means the BCP (Bezier C ontrol Point) will always be totally horizontal or vertical. In that case they are much easier to control. In most software programs you can use shift key to keep the B CP totally horizontal or vertical.

节点放置在错误的地方也会导致技术问题，例如无法实现字符在屏幕小字号下的完美显示（hinting-在计算机屏幕上显示小字号时的优化显示技术，是设计者嵌入字体内部的提示信息）。建议是，把节点放置在字符的"顶点"位置。举例说明，用贝赛线绘制一个“O”要用到8个节点。外面4个，内部的字怀4个。将节点放置在顶点（最上点、最下点、最左点