View source for Serif

{{short description|Decorative detail in typography}}
{{About|the font characteristic|the software company|Serif Europe|other uses|Serif (disambiguation)}}
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In [[typography]], a '''serif''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɛr|ᵻ|f}}) is a small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol within a particular [[font]] or family of fonts. A [[typeface]] or "font family" making use of serifs is called a '''serif typeface''' (or '''serifed typeface'''), and a typeface that does not include them is [[sans-serif]]. Some typography sources refer to sans-serif typefaces as "grotesque" (in [[German language|German]], {{lang|de|grotesk}}) or "Gothic"<ref>{{cite web|last=Phinney|first=Thomas|title=Sans Serif: Gothic and Grotesque|url=http://www.graphic-design.com/typography/design/sans-serif-gothic-and-grotesque|publisher=Showker|website=TA. Showker Graphic Arts & Design|access-date=1 February 2013|archive-date=19 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019220449/http://graphic-design.com/typography/design/sans-serif-gothic-and-grotesque|url-status=dead}}</ref> (although this often refers to [[blackletter]] type as well). In  German usage, the term [[Antiqua (typeface class)|Antiqua]] is used more broadly for serif types.<!-- [[Roman type]] can be either serif or sans-serif. It is not a synonym for Serif. -->

Serif typefaces can be broadly classified into one of four subgroups: [[Serif#Old-style|Old-style]], [[Serif#Transitional|Transitional]], [[Serif#Didone|Didone]], and [[Serif#Slab serif|Slab serif]], in order of first emergence.

==Origins and etymology==
Serifs originated from the first official Greek writings on stone and in [[Latin alphabet]] with [[Roman square capitals|inscriptional lettering]]—words carved into stone in Roman [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]]. The explanation proposed by Father [[Edward Catich]] in his 1968 book ''The Origin of the Serif'' is now broadly but not universally accepted: the Roman letter outlines were first painted onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks, which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. Another theory is that serifs were devised to neaten the ends of lines as they were chiselled into stone.<ref name=Samara>{{cite book|last=Samara|first=Timothy|title=Typography workbook: a real-world guide to using type in graphic design|year=2004|publisher=Rockport Publishers|isbn=978-1-59253-081-6|page=240|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=denl7KWyM4EC&pg=PA21|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2024-02-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075231/https://books.google.com/books?id=denl7KWyM4EC&pg=PA21#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Rob|title=Digital Typography: Practical Advice for Getting the Type You Want When You Want It|year=2000|publisher=Windsor Professional Information|isbn=978-1-893190-05-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/digitaltypograph0000gold/page/264 264]|url=https://archive.org/details/digitaltypograph0000gold |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Linotype Bulletin|date=January–February 1921|page=265|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4bnAAAAMAAJ&q=serif+chisel&pg=PA266-IA7|access-date=26 October 2011|archive-date=9 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075214/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4bnAAAAMAAJ&q=serif+chisel&pg=PA266-IA7#v=snippet&q=serif%20chisel&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

The origin of the word 'serif' is obscure, but apparently is almost as recent as the type style. The book ''The British Standard of the Capital Letters contained in the Roman Alphabet, forming a complete code of systematic rules for a mathematical construction and accurate formation of the same'' (1813) by [[William Hollins]], defined 'surripses', usually pronounced "surriphs", as "projections which appear at the tops and bottoms of some letters, the O and Q excepted, at the beginning or end, and sometimes at each, of all". The standard also proposed that 'surripsis' may be a Greek word derived from {{lang|grc|σῠν-}} ({{Transliteration|grc|'syn-'}}, "together") and {{lang|grc|ῥῖψῐς}} ({{Transliteration|grc|'rhîpsis'}}, "projection").

In 1827, Greek scholar [[Julian Hibbert]] printed with his own experimental [[uncial]] Greek types, remarking that the types of [[Giambattista Bodoni]]'s ''Callimachus'' were "ornamented (or rather disfigured) by additions of what [he] believe[s] type-founders call syrifs or cerefs". The printer [[Thomas Curson Hansard]] referred to them as "ceriphs" in 1825.<ref name="Typographia, an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of Printing">{{cite book|last1=Hansard|first1=Thomas Curson|title=Typographia, an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of Printing|date=1825|page=[https://archive.org/details/typographiaanhi01hansgoog/page/n432 370]|url=https://archive.org/details/typographiaanhi01hansgoog|access-date=12 August 2015}}</ref> The oldest citations in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (''OED'') are 1830 for 'serif' and 1841 for 'sans serif'. The ''OED'' speculates that 'serif' was a [[back-formation]] from 'sanserif'.

''[[Webster's Third New International Dictionary]]'' traces 'serif' to the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] noun {{lang|nl|schreef}}, meaning "line, stroke of the pen", related to the verb {{lang|nl|schrappen}}, "to delete, strike through" ({{lang|nl|'schreef'}} now also means "serif" in Dutch). Yet, {{lang|nl|schreef}} is the past tense of {{lang|nl|schrijven}} (to write). The relation between {{lang|nl|schreef}} and {{lang|nl|schrappen}} is documented by Van Veen and Van der Sijs.<ref>''Etymologisch Woordenboek'' (Van Dale, 1997).</ref> In her book {{lang|nl|Chronologisch Woordenboek}},<ref>(Veen, 2001).</ref> Van der Sijs lists words by first known publication in the language area that is the Netherlands today:
* {{lang|nl|schrijven}}, 1100;
* {{lang|nl|schreef}}, 1350;
* {{lang|nl|schrappen}}, 1406 (i.e. {{lang|nl|schreef}} is from {{lang|nl|schrijven}} (to write), not from {{lang|nl|schrappen}} (to scratch, eliminate by strike-through)).

The ''OED''{{'}}s earliest citation for "grotesque" in this sense is 1875, giving 'stone-letter' as a [[synonym]]. It would seem to mean "out of the ordinary" in this usage, as in art 'grotesque' usually means "elaborately decorated". Other synonyms include "Doric" and "Gothic", commonly used for [[Japanese Gothic typeface]]s.<ref name="A Neo-Grotesque Heritage">{{cite web|last1=Berry|first1=John|title=A Neo-Grotesque Heritage|url=http://acumin.typekit.com/history/|publisher=Adobe Systems|access-date=15 October 2015|archive-date=16 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016002936/http://acumin.typekit.com/history/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Classification==

==={{anchor|"Old Style"}}Old-style===
[[File:Garamond sample.svg|thumb|[[Adobe Garamond]], an example of an old-style serif{{efn|Note that this image includes 'Th' [[Typographic ligature|ligatures]], common in Adobe typefaces but not found in the 16th century.}}]]

Old-style typefaces date back to 1465, shortly after [[Johannes Gutenberg]]'s adoption of the [[movable type]] [[printing press]]. Early printers in Italy created types that broke with Gutenberg's [[blackletter]] printing, creating upright ("[[Roman type|roman]]") and then oblique ("[[italic type|italic]]") styles that were inspired by [[Renaissance]] calligraphy.<ref name="The first roman fonts" /><ref name="Venetian origins of roman type">{{cite web|last1=Olocco|first1=Riccardo|title=The Venetian origins of roman type|url=https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/the-venetian-origins-of-roman-type-a856eb3f0cb|website=Medium|publisher=C-A-S-T|access-date=27 January 2018|archive-date=13 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231113230423/https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/the-venetian-origins-of-roman-type-a856eb3f0cb|url-status=live}}</ref>  Old-style serif fonts have remained popular for setting body text because of their organic appearance and excellent readability on rough book paper. The increasing interest in early printing during the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a return to the designs of Renaissance printers and type-founders, many of whose names and designs are still used today.<ref name="Garamond, Griffo and Others: The Price of Celebrity">{{cite journal|last1=Mosley|first1=James|title=Garamond, Griffo and Others: The Price of Celebrity|journal=Bibiologia|date=2006|url=http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=200608401&rivista=84|access-date=3 December 2015|archive-date=8 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208134351/http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=200608401&rivista=84|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Coles Top Ten">{{cite web|last1=Coles|first1=Stephen|title=Top Ten Typefaces Used by Book Design Winners|url=http://fontfeed.com/archives/top-ten-typefaces-used-by-book-design-winners/|website=FontFeed (archived)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228035307/http://fontfeed.com/archives/top-ten-typefaces-used-by-book-design-winners/|access-date=2 July 2015|archive-date=2012-02-28}}</ref><ref name="Old-Face Types in the Victorian Age">{{cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=A.F.|author-link1=Alfred F. Johnson|title=Old-Face Types in the Victorian Age|journal=Monotype Recorder|date=1931|volume=30|issue=242|pages=5–15|url=http://www.metaltype.co.uk/downloads/mr/mr_30_242.pdf|access-date=14 October 2016|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305105747/http://www.metaltype.co.uk/downloads/mr/mr_30_242.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Old-style type is characterized by a lack of large differences between thick and thin lines (low line contrast) and generally, but less often, by a diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom). An old-style font normally has a left-inclining curve axis with weight stress at about 8 and 2 o'clock; serifs are almost always bracketed (they have curves connecting the serif to the stroke); head serifs are often angled.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fonts.com/FavoriteFonts/OldStyleSerif.htm|title=Old Style Serif|access-date=2009-06-25|archive-date=2009-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221095647/http://www.fonts.com/FavoriteFonts/OldStyleSerif.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Old-style faces evolved over time, showing increasing abstraction from what would now be considered handwriting and blackletter characteristics, and often increased delicacy or contrast as printing technique improved.<ref name="Venetian origins of roman type" /><ref name="Unusual fifteenth-century fonts: part 1">{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=Unusual fifteenth-century fonts: part 1|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2014/02/08/unusual-fifteenth-century-fonts/|website=i love typography|date=7 February 2014|access-date=22 September 2017|archive-date=13 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913081705/http://ilovetypography.com/2014/02/08/unusual-fifteenth-century-fonts/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Unusual fifteenth-century fonts: part 2">{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=Unusual fifteenth-century fonts: part 2|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2015/07/01/unusual-fifteenth-century-fonts-part2/|website=i love typography|date=July 2015|access-date=22 September 2017|archive-date=30 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930013956/http://ilovetypography.com/2015/07/01/unusual-fifteenth-century-fonts-part2/|url-status=live}}</ref> Old-style faces have often sub-divided into 'Venetian' (or '[[Vox-ATypI classification#Humanist|humanist]]') and '[[Vox-ATypI classification#Garalde|Garalde]]' (or 'Aldine'), a division made on the [[Vox-ATypI classification]] system.<ref name="Type anatomy: Family Classifications of Type">{{cite web|title=Type anatomy: Family Classifications of Type|url=http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/type_basics/type_families.htm|website=SFCC Graphic Design department|publisher=Spokane Falls Community College|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=7 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807200219/http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/type_basics/type_families.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Nonetheless, some have argued that the difference is excessively abstract, hard to spot except to specialists and implies a clearer separation between styles than originally appeared.<ref name="Dixon 2002">{{Citation |last=Dixon |first=Catherine |title=Typeface classification |publisher=Friends of St Bride |contribution=Twentieth Century Graphic Communication: Technology, Society and Culture |year=2002 |url=http://www.stbride.org/friends/conference/twentiethcenturygraphiccommunication/TypefaceClassification.html |access-date=2015-08-14 |archive-date=2014-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026120725/http://www.stbride.org/friends/conference/twentiethcenturygraphiccommunication/TypefaceClassification.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{efn|Specifically, Manutius's type, the first type now classified as "Garalde", was not so different from other typefaces around at the time.<ref name="The first roman fonts" /> However, the waves of "Garalde" faces coming out of France from the 1530s onwards did tend to cleanly displace earlier typefaces, and became an international standard.<ref name="Stanley Morison's Aldine Hypothesis Revisited">{{cite journal|last1=Amert|first1=Kay|title=Stanley Morison's Aldine Hypothesis Revisited|journal=Design Issues|date=April 2008|volume=24|issue=2|pages=53–71|doi=10.1162/desi.2008.24.2.53|s2cid=57566512}}</ref><ref name="The Aldine Press: catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy collection of books by or relating to the press in the Library of the University of California, Los Angeles: incorporating works recorded elsewhere.">{{cite book|title=The Aldine Press: catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy collection of books by or relating to the press in the Library of the University of California, Los Angeles : incorporating works recorded elsewhere.|date=2001|publisher=Univ. of California Press|location=Berkeley [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-520-22993-8|pages=22–25|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfiFtIkbNsEC&pg=PA22|quote=[On the Aldine Press in Venice changing over to types from France]: the press followed precedent; popular in France, [these] types rapidly spread over western Europe.}}</ref>}} Modern typefaces such as [[Arno (typeface)|Arno]] and [[Trinité (typeface)|Trinité]] may fuse both styles.<ref name="Arno Pro specimen">{{cite book|vauthors=Twardoch, Slimbach, Sousa, Slye|title=Arno Pro|date=2007|publisher=Adobe Systems|location=San Jose|url=http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/type/pdfs/ArnoPro.pdf|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=30 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140830030331/http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/type/pdfs/ArnoPro.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Early "humanist" roman types were introduced in Italy. Modelled on the script of the period, they tend to feature an "e" in which the cross stroke is angled, not horizontal; an "M" with two-way serifs; and often a relatively dark colour on the page.<ref name="The first roman fonts" /><ref name="Venetian origins of roman type" /> In modern times, that of [[Nicolas Jenson]] has been the most admired, with many revivals.<ref name="Olocco Jenson">{{cite web|last1=Olocco|first1=Riccardo|title=Nicolas Jenson and the success of his roman type|url=https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/nicolas-jenson-and-the-success-of-his-roman-type-9f0afeba4103|website=Medium|publisher=C-A-S-T|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-date=9 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075216/https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/nicolas-jenson-and-the-success-of-his-roman-type-9f0afeba4103?gi=51c5b3759956|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="The first roman fonts">{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=The first roman fonts|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2016/04/18/the-first-roman-fonts/|website=ilovetypography|date=18 April 2016|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-date=27 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927071940/http://ilovetypography.com/2016/04/18/the-first-roman-fonts|url-status=live}}</ref> Garaldes, which tend to feature a level cross-stroke on the "e", descend from an influential 1495 font cut by engraver [[Francesco Griffo]] for printer [[Aldus Manutius]], which became the inspiration for many typefaces cut in France from the 1530s onwards.<ref name="palaeotypography" /><ref name="A View of Early Typography up to about 1600">{{cite book|last1=Carter|first1=Harry|title=A View of Early Typography up to about 1600|date=1969|publisher=Hyphen Press|location=London|isbn=0-907259-21-9|pages=72–4|edition=Second edition (2002)|quote=''De Aetna'' was decisive in shaping the printers' alphabet. The small letters are very well made to conform with the genuinely antique capitals by emphasis on long straight strokes and fine serifs and to harmonise in curvature with them. The strokes are thinner than those of Jenson and his school...the letters look narrower than Jenson's, but are in fact a little wider because the short ones are bigger, and the effect of narrowness makes the face suitable for octavo pages...this Roman of Aldus is distinguishable from other faces of the time by the level cross-stroke in 'e' and the absence of top serifs from the insides of the vertical strokes of 'M', following the model of Feliciano. We have come to regard his small 'e' as an improvement on previous practice.}}</ref> Often lighter on the page and made in larger sizes than had been used for roman type before, French Garalde faces rapidly spread throughout Europe from the 1530s to become an international standard.<ref name="Stanley Morison's Aldine Hypothesis Revisited" /><ref name="palaeotypography">{{cite book|last1=Vervliet|first1=Hendrik D.L.|author-link=H. D. L. Vervliet|title=The palaeotypography of the French Renaissance. Selected papers on sixteenth-century typefaces. 2 vols.|date=2008|publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV|location=Leiden|pages=90–91, etc.|quote=[On Robert Estienne's typefaces of the 1530s]: Its outstanding design became standard for Roman type in the two centuries to follow...From the 1540s onwards French Romans and Italics had begun to infiltrate, probably by way of Lyons, the typography of the neighbouring countries. In Italy, major printers replaced the older, noble but worn Italian characters and their imitations from Basle.|isbn=978-90-04-16982-1}}</ref><ref name="Aldine: the intellectuals begin their assault on font design">{{cite web|last1=Bergsland|first1=David|title=Aldine: the intellectuals begin their assault on font design|url=http://www.bergsland.org/2012/08/book-production/typography/aldine-the-intellectuals-begin-their-assault-on-font-design/|website=The Skilled Workman|date=29 August 2012|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=17 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117063938/https://www.bergsland.org/2012/08/book-production/typography/aldine-the-intellectuals-begin-their-assault-on-font-design/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Also during this period, [[italic type]] evolved from a quite separate genre of type, intended for informal uses such as poetry, into taking a secondary role for emphasis. Italics moved from being conceived as separate designs and proportions to being able to be fitted into the same line as roman type with a design complementary to it.<ref name="i love typography">{{cite web|last1=Boardley|first1=John|title=Brief notes on the first italic|url=http://ilovetypography.com/2014/11/25/notes-first-italic/|website=i love typography|date=25 November 2014|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019195111/http://ilovetypography.com/2014/11/25/notes-first-italic|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Vervliet2008 Aldine Italic">{{cite book|first=Hendrik D. L.|last=Vervliet|title=The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance: Selected Papers on Sixteenth-century Typefaces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6sidSDlif48C&pg=PA287|year=2008|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-16982-1|pages=287–289|access-date=2017-09-21|archive-date=2023-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101004525/https://books.google.com/books?id=6sidSDlif48C&pg=PA287#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Lane JPHS">{{cite journal|last1=Lane|first1=John|author-link=John A. Lane|title=The Types of Nicholas Kis|journal=Journal of the Printing Historical Society|date=1983|pages=47–75|quote=[[Miklós Tótfalusi Kis|Kis's]] Amsterdam specimen of c. 1688 is an important example of the increasing tendency to regard a range of roman and italic types as a coherent family, and this may well have been a conscious innovation. But italics were romanised to a greater degree in many earlier handwritten examples and occasional earlier types, and Jean Jannon displayed a full range of matching roman and italic of his own cutting in his 1621 specimen...[In appendix] [György] Haiman notes that this trend is foreshadowed in the specimens of Guyot in the mid-sixteenth century and Berner in 1592.}}</ref>{{efn|Early italics were intended to exist on their own on the page, and so often had very long ascenders and descenders, especially the "chancery italics" of printers such as Arrighi.<ref name="Vervliet2008">{{cite book|first=Hendrik D. L.|last=Vervliet|title=The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance: Selected Papers on Sixteenth-century Typefaces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6sidSDlif48C&pg=PA287|year=2008|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-16982-1|pages=287–319|access-date=2017-09-21|archive-date=2023-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101004525/https://books.google.com/books?id=6sidSDlif48C&pg=PA287#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Jan van Krimpen]]'s Cancelleresca Bastarda typeface, intended to complement his serif family Romulus, was nonetheless cast on a larger body to allow it to have an appropriately expansive feel.}}

Examples of contemporary Garalde old-style typefaces are [[Bembo]], [[Garamond]], [[Galliard (typeface)|Galliard]], [[Granjon]], [[Goudy Old Style]], [[Minion (typeface)|Minion]], [[Palatino]], Renard, [[Sabon]], and [[FF Scala|Scala]]. Contemporary typefaces with Venetian old style characteristics include [[Cloister (typeface)|Cloister]], [[Adobe Jenson]], the [[Golden Type]], [[Hightower Text]], [[Centaur (typeface)|Centaur]], Goudy's Italian Old Style and [[Berkeley Old Style]] and ITC Legacy. Several of these blend in Garalde influences to fit modern expectations, especially placing single-sided serifs on the "M"; Cloister is an exception.<ref name="Searching for Morris Fuller Benton">{{cite web|last1=Shen|first1=Juliet|title=Searching for Morris Fuller Benton|url=http://typeculture.com/academic-resource/articles-essays/searching-for-morris-fuller-benton/|website=Type Culture|access-date=11 April 2017|archive-date=11 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411135132/http://typeculture.com/academic-resource/articles-essays/searching-for-morris-fuller-benton/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Dutch taste ====
A new genre of serif type developed around the 17th century in the Netherlands and Germany that came to be called the "Dutch taste" ({{lang|fr|goût Hollandois}} in [[French language|French]]).<ref name="Dutch Taste Johnson" /> It was a tendency towards denser, more solid typefaces, often with a high [[x-height]] (tall lower-case letters) and a sharp contrast between thick and thin strokes, perhaps influenced by blackletter faces.<ref name="Printing Types vol 2">{{cite book|last1=Updike|first1=Daniel Berkeley|title=Printing Types: Their History, Forms and Uses: Volume 2|date=1922|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/printingtypesthe02updi/page/6 6]–7|url=https://archive.org/details/printingtypesthe02updi|access-date=18 December 2015|chapter=Chapter 15: Types of the Netherlands, 1500-1800}}</ref><ref name="typo-history-1">{{cite web|url=https://typofonderie.com/gazette/post/type-history-1/|work=Typofonderie Gazette|title=Type History 1|access-date=23 December 2015|archive-date=23 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223141313/https://typofonderie.com/gazette/post/type-history-1/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Dutch Taste Johnson">{{cite journal|last=Johnson|first=A. F.|author-link=Alfred F. Johnson|title=The 'Goût Hollandois'|journal=The Library|date=1939|volume=s4-XX|issue=2|pages=180–196|doi=10.1093/library/s4-XX.2.180}}</ref><ref name="Type and its Uses, 1455-1830">{{cite web|last1=Mosley|first1=James|title=Type and its Uses, 1455-1830|url=http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/LRBS/Outline%20of%20Course_Type%26itsUses2013_2.pdf|publisher=[[Institute of English Studies]]|access-date=7 October 2016|quote=Although types on the 'Aldine' model were widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries, a new variant that was often slightly more condensed in its proportions, and darker and larger on its body, became sufficiently widespread, at least in Northern Europe, to be worth defining as a distinct style and examining separately. Adopting a term used by Fournier le jeune, the style is sometimes called the 'Dutch taste', and sometimes, especially in Germany, 'baroque'. Some names associated with the style are those of Van den Keere, Granjon, Briot, Van Dijck, Kis (maker of the so-called 'Janson' types), and [[William Caslon|Caslon]].|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009181144/http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/LRBS/Outline%20of%20Course_Type%26itsUses2013_2.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="The Briot project. Part I">{{cite web |last1=de Jong |first1=Feike |last2=Lane |first2=John A. |title=The Briot project. Part I |url=https://pampatype.com/blog/the-briot-project |website=PampaType |publisher=TYPO, republished by PampaType |access-date=10 June 2018 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612144055/https://pampatype.com/blog/the-briot-project |url-status=live }}</ref>

Artists in the "Dutch taste" style include [[Hendrik van den Keere]], Nicolaas Briot, [[Christoffel van Dijck]], [[Miklós Tótfalusi Kis]] and the [[Janson]] and [[Ehrhardt (typeface)|Ehrhardt]] types based on his work and [[Caslon]], especially the larger sizes.<ref name="Type and its Uses, 1455-1830" />

===Transitional===
[[Image:Times New Roman sample.svg|thumb|[[Times New Roman]], a modern example of a transitional serif design.]]
Transitional, or baroque, serif typefaces first became common around the mid-18th century until the start of the 19th.<ref name="Shaw2017">{{cite book|author=Paul Shaw|title=Revival Type: Digital Typefaces Inspired by the Past|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n7e0DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA85|date=18 April 2017|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-21929-6|pages=85–98|access-date=22 June 2017|archive-date=9 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075213/https://books.google.com/books?id=n7e0DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA85#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> They are in between "old style" and "modern" fonts, thus the name "transitional". Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but less dramatic than they are in the Didone fonts that followed. Stress is more likely to be vertical, and often the "R" has a curled tail. The ends of many strokes are marked not by blunt or angled serifs but by [[ball terminal]]s. Transitional faces often have an italic 'h' that opens outwards at bottom right.<ref name="Type Designs of the Past and Present, Part 3">{{cite journal|last1=Morison|first1=Stanley|title=Type Designs of the Past and Present, Part 3|journal=PM|date=1937|pages=17–81|url=http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-11-01/edition/4-3/page/19|access-date=4 June 2017|archive-date=2017-09-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904064848/http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-11-01/edition/4-3/page/19|url-status=dead}}</ref> Because the genre bridges styles, it is difficult to define where the genre starts and ends. Many of the most popular transitional designs are later creations in the same style.

Fonts from the original period of transitional typefaces include early on the {{lang|fr|"[[romain du roi]]"}} in France, then the work of [[Pierre Simon Fournier]] in France, [[Joan Michaël Fleischman|Fleischman]] and [[Jacques François Rosart|Rosart]] in the Low Countries,<ref name="Middendorp2004 Fleischman">{{cite book|author=Jan Middendorp|title=Dutch Type|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sR9g5xPPJVQC&pg=PA27|year=2004|publisher=010 Publishers|isbn=978-90-6450-460-0|pages=27–29}}</ref> [[Eudald Pradell|Pradell]] in Spain and [[John Baskerville]] and [[Bulmer (typeface)|Bulmer]] in England.<ref name="Eighteenth Century Spanish Type Design">{{cite journal|last1=Corbeto|first1=A.|title=Eighteenth Century Spanish Type Design|journal=The Library|date=25 September 2009|volume=10|issue=3|pages=272–297|doi=10.1093/library/10.3.272|s2cid=161371751}}</ref><ref name="Unger 2001">{{cite journal|last1=Unger|first1=Gerard|title=The types of François-Ambroise Didot and Pierre-Louis Vafflard. A further investigation into the origins of the Didones|journal=Quaerendo|date=1 January 2001|volume=31|issue=3|pages=165–191|doi=10.1163/157006901X00047}}</ref> Among more recent designs, [[Times New Roman]] (1932), [[Perpetua (typeface)|Perpetua]], [[Plantin (typeface)|Plantin]], [[Mrs. Eaves]], [[Freight (typeface)|Freight Text]], and the earlier [[Modernised Old Style (typeface)|"modernised old styles"]] have been described as transitional in design.{{efn|Monotype executive [[Stanley Morison]], who commissioned Times New Roman, noted that he hoped that it "has the merit of not looking as if it had been designed by somebody in particular".<ref name="The history of the Times New Roman typeface">{{cite web|last1=Alas|first1=Joel|title=The history of the Times New Roman typeface|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a2fa033e-7ca1-11de-a7bf-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a2fa033e-7ca1-11de-a7bf-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=2022-12-10 |url-access=subscription|website=Financial Times|access-date=16 January 2016}}</ref>}}

Later 18th-century transitional typefaces in Britain begin to show influences of Didone typefaces from Europe, described below, and the two genres blur, especially in type intended for body text; [[Bell MT|Bell]] is an example of this.<ref name="The Evolution of the Modern-Face Roman">{{cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=Alfred F.|author-link1=Alfred F. Johnson|title=The Evolution of the Modern-Face Roman|journal=The Library|date=1930|volume=s4-XI|issue=3|pages=353–377|doi=10.1093/library/s4-XI.3.353}}</ref><ref name="Transitional Faces">{{cite book|last1=Johnston|first1=Alastair|title=Transitional Faces: The Lives & Work of Richard Austin, type-cutter, and Richard Turner Austin, wood-engraver|date=2014|publisher=Poltroon Press|location=Berkeley|url=http://www.poltroonpress.com/book/transitional-faces-the-lives-work-of-richard-austin-type-cutter-and-richard-turner-austin-wood-engraver/|isbn=978-0918395320|access-date=8 February 2017|archive-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211075548/http://www.poltroonpress.com/book/transitional-faces-the-lives-work-of-richard-austin-type-cutter-and-richard-turner-austin-wood-engraver/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{efn|It should be realised that "Transitional" is a somewhat nebulous classification, almost always including Baskerville and other typefaces around this period but also sometimes including 19th and 20th-century reimaginations of old-style faces, such as [[Bookman Old Style|Bookman]] and [[Plantin (typeface)|Plantin]], and sometimes some of the later "old-style" faces such as the work of Caslon and his imitators. In addition, of course Baskerville and others of this period would not have seen their work as "transitional" but as an end in itself. Eliason (2015) provides a leading modern critique and assessment of the classification, but even in 1930 A.F. Johnson called the term "vague and unsatisfactory."<ref name="The Evolution of the Modern-Face Roman"/><ref name="“Transitional” Typefaces: The History of a Typefounding Classification">{{cite journal|last1=Eliason|first1=Craig|title="Transitional" Typefaces: The History of a Typefounding Classification|journal=Design Issues|date=October 2015|volume=31|issue=4|pages=30–43|doi=10.1162/DESI_a_00349|s2cid=57569313}}</ref>}}

===Didone===
{{Main|Didone (typography)}}
[[Image:Bodoni sample.svg|thumb|right|[[Bodoni]], an example of a modern serif]]
Didone, or modern, serif typefaces, which first emerged in the late 18th century, are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines.{{efn|Additional subgenres of Didone type include "fat faces" (ultra-bold designs for posters) and "Scotch Modern" designs (used in the English-speaking world for book and newspaper printing).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Shinn|first1=Nick|title=Modern Suite|url=http://shinntype.com/wp-content/uploads/files/pdf/Scotch_Modern.pdf|publisher=Shinntype|access-date=11 August 2015|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225042806/http://shinntype.com/wp-content/uploads/files/pdf/Scotch_Modern.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> }} These typefaces have a vertical stress and thin serifs with a constant width, with minimal bracketing (constant width). Serifs tend to be very thin, and vertical lines very heavy. Didone fonts are often considered to be less readable than transitional or old-style serif typefaces. Period examples include [[Bodoni]], [[Didot (typeface)|Didot]], and [[Walbaum (typeface)|Walbaum]]. [[Computer Modern]] is a popular contemporary example. The very popular [[Century type family|Century]] is a softened version of the same basic design, with reduced contrast.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Shaw|first1=Paul|title=Overlooked Typefaces|url=http://www.printmag.com/imprint/overlooked-typefaces/|website=Print magazine|date=10 February 2011|access-date=2 July 2015|archive-date=22 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622135314/http://www.printmag.com/imprint/overlooked-typefaces/|url-status=live}}</ref> Didone typefaces achieved dominance of printing in the early 19th-century printing before declining in popularity in the second half of the century and especially in the 20th as new designs and revivals of old-style faces emerged.<ref name="Ovink I">{{cite journal|last1=Ovink|first1=G.W.|title=Nineteenth-century reactions against the didone type model - I|journal=Quaerendo|date=1971|volume=1|issue=2|pages=18–31|doi=10.1163/157006971x00301}}</ref><ref name="Ovink II">{{cite journal|last1=Ovink|first1=G.W.|title=Nineteenth-century reactions against the didone type model - II|journal=Quaerendo|date=1971|volume=1|issue=4|pages=282–301|doi=10.1163/157006971x00239}}</ref><ref name="Ovink III">{{cite journal|last1=Ovink|first1=G.W.|title=Nineteenth-century reactions against the didone type model-III|journal=Quaerendo|date=1 January 1972|volume=2|issue=2|pages=122–128|doi=10.1163/157006972X00229}}</ref>

In print, Didone fonts are often used on high-gloss [[Coated paper|magazine paper]] for magazines such as ''[[Harper's Bazaar]]'', where the paper retains the detail of their high contrast well, and for whose [[Corporate identity|image]] a crisp, "European" design of type may be considered appropriate.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frazier|first1=J. L.|title=Type Lore|date=1925|location=Chicago|page=[https://archive.org/details/typelorepopularf00fraz/page/14 14]|url=https://archive.org/details/typelorepopularf00fraz|access-date=24 August 2015}}</ref><ref name="HFJ Didot introduction">{{cite web|title=HFJ Didot introduction|url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/overview/|publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones|access-date=10 August 2015|archive-date=14 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814033142/http://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/overview/|url-status=live}}</ref> They are used more often for general-purpose body text, such as book printing, in Europe.<ref name="HFJ Didot introduction"/><ref name="HFJ Didot">{{cite web|title=HFJ Didot|url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/features/|publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones|access-date=10 August 2015|archive-date=8 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708130812/http://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/features/|url-status=live}}</ref> They remain popular in the printing of Greek, as the Didot family were among the first to establish a printing press in newly independent Greece.<ref name="A primer on Greek type design">{{cite web|last1=Leonidas|first1=Gerry|title=A primer on Greek type design|url=http://leonidas.org/text-archive/|publisher=Gerry Leonidas/University of Reading|access-date=14 May 2017|archive-date=4 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104212416/http://leonidas.org/text-archive/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="GFS Didot">{{cite web|title=GFS Didot|url=http://www.greekfontsociety.gr/pages/en_typefaces19th.html|publisher=Greek Font Society|access-date=10 August 2015|archive-date=21 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150821044456/http://www.greekfontsociety.gr/pages/en_typefaces19th.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The period of Didone types' greatest popularity coincided with the rapid spread of printed [[poster]]s and commercial [[ephemera]] and the arrival of [[bold type]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eskilson|first1=Stephen J.|title=Graphic design : a new history|date=2007|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|isbn=9780300120110|page=[https://archive.org/details/graphicdesignnew00eski/page/25 25]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/graphicdesignnew00eski/page/25}}</ref><ref name="Affichen-Schriften">{{cite web |last1=Pané-Farré |first1=Pierre |title=Affichen-Schriften |url=https://forgotten-shapes.com/affichen-schriften?article=affichen-schriften |publisher=Forgotten-Shapes |access-date=10 June 2018 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140720/https://forgotten-shapes.com/affichen-schriften?article=affichen-schriften |url-status=live }}</ref> As a result, many Didone typefaces are among the earliest designed for "[[Typeface#Display type|display]]" use, with an ultra-bold "[[fat face]]" style becoming a common sub-genre.<ref name="Fat Faces: Their History, Forms and Use">{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Alfred F.|author-link1=Alfred F. Johnson|title=Selected Essays on Books and Printing|date=1970|pages=409–415|chapter=Fat Faces: Their History, Forms and Use}}</ref><ref name="Fat faces Phinney">{{cite web|last1=Phinney|first1=Thomas|title=Fat faces|url=http://graphic-design.com/typography/design/decorative-display-typestyles|publisher=Graphic Design and Publishing Centre|access-date=10 August 2015|archive-date=9 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009143543/http://www.graphic-design.com/typography/design/decorative-display-typestyles|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="The Story of Our Friend, the Fat Face">{{cite web|last1=Kennard|first1=Jennifer|title=The Story of Our Friend, the Fat Face|url=http://fontsinuse.com/uses/5578/the-story-of-our-friend-the-fat-face|website=Fonts in Use|date=3 January 2014|access-date=11 August 2015|archive-date=9 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109184124/https://fontsinuse.com/uses/5578/the-story-of-our-friend-the-fat-face|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Slab serif===
{{Main|Slab serif}}
[[Image:Rockwell sample.svg|thumb|right|Rockwell, an example of a more geometric slab serif]]
[[Image:Clarendon sample.svg|thumb|right|Clarendon, an example of a less geometric slab serif]]
Slab serif typefaces date to about 1817.{{efn|Early slab-serif types were given a variety of names for branding purposes, such as 'Egyptian', 'Italian', 'Ionic', 'Doric', 'French-Clarendon' and 'Antique', which generally have little or no connection to their actual history. Nonetheless, the names have persisted in use.}}<ref name="Three chapters in the development of clarendon/ionic typefaces">{{cite thesis|last1=Miklavčič |first1=Mitja |title=Three chapters in the development of clarendon/ionic typefaces |type=MA Thesis |publisher=University of Reading |date=2006 |url=http://www.typefacedesign.org/resources/essay/MitjaMiclavcic_essay_scr.pdf |access-date=14 August 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125001608/http://www.typefacedesign.org/resources/essay/MitjaMiclavcic_essay_scr.pdf |archive-date=November 25, 2011 }}</ref> Originally intended as attention-grabbing designs for posters, they have very thick serifs, which tend to be as thick as the vertical lines themselves. Slab serif fonts vary considerably: some, such as [[Rockwell (typeface)|Rockwell]], have a geometric design with minimal variation in stroke width—they are sometimes described as sans-serif fonts with added serifs. Others, such as those of the [[Clarendon (typeface)|"Clarendon"]] model, have a structure more like most other serif fonts, though with larger and more obvious serifs.<ref name="Sentinel: historical background">{{cite web|title=Sentinel: historical background|url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/sentinel/history/|publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones|access-date=15 July 2015|archive-date=5 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905170730/http://www.typography.com/fonts/sentinel/history/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Know your type: Clarendon">{{cite web|last1=Challand|first1=Skylar|title=Know your type: Clarendon|url=http://idsgn.org/posts/know-your-type-clarendon/|publisher=IDSGN|access-date=13 August 2015|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224122009/http://idsgn.org/posts/know-your-type-clarendon/|url-status=live}}</ref> These designs may have bracketed serifs that increase width along their length.

Because of the clear, bold nature of the large serifs, slab serif designs are often used for posters and in small print. Many [[Monospace font#Monospaced typefaces|monospace fonts]], on which all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal space as in a [[typewriter]], are slab-serif designs. While not always purely slab-serif designs, many fonts intended for newspaper use have large slab-like serifs for clearer reading on poor-quality paper. Many early slab-serif types, being intended for posters, only come in [[boldface|bold]] styles with the key differentiation being width, and often have no lower-case letters at all.

Examples of slab-serif typefaces include [[Clarendon (typeface)|Clarendon]], [[Rockwell (typeface)|Rockwell]], [[Archer (typeface)|Archer]], [[Courier (typeface)|Courier]], [[Excelsior (typeface)|Excelsior]], [[Thesis (typeface)|TheSerif]], and [[Zilla Slab]]. [[FF Meta|FF Meta Serif]] and [[Guardian Egyptian]] are examples of newspaper and small print-oriented typefaces with some slab-serif characteristics, often most visible in the bold weights. In the late 20th century, the term "humanist slab-serif" has been applied to typefaces such as [[Chaparral (typeface)|Chaparral]], Caecilia and Tisa, with strong serifs but an outline structure with some influence of old-style serif typefaces.<ref name="Phinney Chaparral">{{cite web |last1=Phinney |first1=Thomas |title=Most Overlooked: Chaparral |url=https://blog.typekit.com/2005/11/07/most_overlooked_1/ |website=Typekit Blog |publisher=Adobe Systems |access-date=7 March 2019 |archive-date=16 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216105812/https://blog.typekit.com/2005/11/07/most_overlooked_1/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="LuptonArt2014">{{cite book|author-link=Ellen Lupton|first=Ellen|last=Lupton|title=Type on Screen: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Developers, and Students|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gswEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT16|date=12 August 2014|publisher=Princeton Architectural Press|isbn=978-1-61689-346-0|page=16|access-date=7 March 2019|archive-date=9 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075055/https://books.google.com/books?id=gswEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT16#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Bringhurst Caecilia">{{cite book |last1=Bringhurst |first1=Robert |author-link=Robert Bringhurst |title=The Elements of Typographic Style |title-link=The Elements of Typographic Style |year=2002 |publisher=Hartley & Marks |isbn=9780881791327 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780881791327/page/218 218, 330] |edition=2nd }}</ref>
{{clear}}

===Other styles===
During the 19th century, genres of serif type besides conventional body text faces proliferated.<ref name="Nineteenth-century Ornamented Typefaces">{{cite book|last1=Gray|first1=Nicolete|title=Nineteenth-century Ornamented Typefaces|date=1976}}</ref> These included "Tuscan" faces, with ornamental, decorative ends to the strokes rather than serifs, and "Latin" or "wedge-serif" faces, with pointed serifs, which were particularly popular in France and other parts of Europe including for signage applications such as business cards or shop fronts.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frutiger|first1=Adrian|title=Typefaces – the complete works|date=8 May 2014|isbn=9783038212607|pages=26–35|publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}</ref>

Well-known typefaces in the "Latin" style include [[Wide Latin]], [[Copperplate Gothic]], [[Johnston (typeface)#Johnston Delf Smith|Johnston Delf Smith]] and the more restrained [[Meridien (typeface)|Méridien]].

==Readability and legibility==

Serifed typefaces are widely used for [[body text]] because they are considered easier to read than [[sans-serif]] typefaces in print.<ref>''Merriam-Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors'', (Springfield, 1998) p. 329.</ref> Colin Wheildon, who conducted scientific studies from 1982 to 1990, found that sans serif typefaces created various difficulties for readers that impaired their comprehension.<ref>{{cite book|title= Type and Layout: How Typography and Design Can Get your Message Across – Or Get in the Way|last= Wheildon|first= Colin|year= 1995|publisher= Strathmoor Press|location= Berkeley|isbn= 0-9624891-5-8|pages= [https://archive.org/details/typelayouthowtyp0000whei/page/57 57, 59–60]|url= https://archive.org/details/typelayouthowtyp0000whei/page/57}}</ref> According to Kathleen Tinkel, studies suggest that "most sans serif typefaces may be slightly less legible than most serif faces, but&nbsp;... the difference can be offset by careful setting".<ref>Kathleen Tinkel, "Taking it in: What makes type easy to read", [https://www.adobe.com/products/adobemag/archive/pdfs/9603fekt.pdf adobe.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019140934/http://www.adobe.com/products/adobemag/archive/pdfs/9603fekt.pdf |date=2012-10-19 }} Accessed 28 December 2010. p. 3.</ref>

[[Sans-serif]] are considered to be more [[Legibility|legible]] on computer screens. According to Alex Poole,<ref name="alexpoole">Literature Review ''Which Are More Legible: Serif or Sans Serif Typefaces?'' [http://www.alexpoole.info/academic/literaturereview.html alexpoole.info] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100306051141/http://www.alexpoole.info/academic/literaturereview.html |date=2010-03-06 }}.</ref> "we should accept that most reasonably designed typefaces in mainstream use will be equally legible". A study suggested that serif typefaces are more legible on a screen but are not generally preferred to sans serif typefaces.<ref name="bernardliaomills">Effects of Font Type on the Legibility ''The Effects of Font Type and Size on the Legibility and Reading Time of Online Text by Older Adults''. [http://psychology.wichita.edu/mbernard/articles/elderly.pdf psychology.wichita.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007023610/http://psychology.wichita.edu/mbernard/articles/elderly.pdf |date=2009-10-07 }}.</ref> Another study indicated that comprehension times for individual words are slightly faster when written in a sans serif typeface versus a serif typeface.<ref name="morettatay">Moret-Tatay, C., & Perea, M. (2011). Do serifs provide an advantage in the recognition of written words? ''Journal of Cognitive Psychology 23, 5, 619-24.''. [http://www.valencia.edu/mperea/serif_JCP.pdf valencia.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516205407/http://www.valencia.edu/mperea/serif_JCP.pdf |date=2011-05-16 }}.</ref>

When size of an individual glyph is 9–20 pixels, proportional serifs and some lines of most glyphs of common vector typefaces are smaller than individual pixels.<!-- the site containing online version of "The raster tragedy in low resolution is currently offline for me, but the paper itself traces back to late 1990th so even if the site is down forever, we can insert the reference here later. --> [[Font hinting|Hinting]], [[spatial anti-aliasing]], and [[subpixel rendering]] allow to render distinguishable serifs even in this case, but their proportions and appearance are off and thickness is close to many lines of the main glyph, strongly altering appearance of the glyph. Consequently, it is sometimes advised to use sans-serif typefaces for content meant to be displayed on screens, as they scale better for low resolutions. Indeed, most web pages employ sans-serif type.<ref>''The Principles of Beautiful Web Design'', (2007) p. 113.</ref> Recent introduction of desktop displays with 300+ dpi resolution might eventually make this recommendation obsolete.

As serifs originated in inscription, they are generally not used in handwriting. A common exception is the [[block letters|printed]] [[capital letters|capital]] [[I]], where the addition of serifs distinguishes the character from [[lowercase]] [[L]] (l). The printed capital [[J]] and the [[numeral system|numeral]] [[1 (number)|1]] are also often handwritten with serifs.

==Gallery==
Below are some images of serif letterforms across history:
<gallery>
Jenson006.jpg|The roman type of [[Nicolas Jenson]]
De Aetna 1495.jpg|''De Aetna'', printed by [[Aldus Manutius]]
Houghton TypTS 515.52.370 - Alphabetum Graecum.jpg|Title page printed by Robert Estienne
Garamond's Second Great Primer Roman Vervliet.png|Great Primer type (c. 18 pt) by Claude Garamond
Claude Garamond Gros Canon image basic characters.jpg|Gros Canon type by Garamond
Michael Praetorius Missodia Sionia (1611).jpg|1611 book, with [[Fleuron (typography)|arabesque]] ornament border
Hendrik van den Keere La Plus grande Romaine from Plantin specimen c. 1585.jpg|Large roman by [[Hendrik van den Keere]], introducing the "Dutch taste" style
Christoffel van Dijck Ascendonica Romein.jpg|Type by [[Christoffel van Dijck]]
Romain du roi sample (1702).png|The ''[[Romain du roi]]'', the first "transitional" typeface
Ehrhardt specimen.png|Condensed, high x-height types in the "Dutch taste" style, {{Circa|1720}}
Publii Virgilii Maronis Bucolica, Georgica, et Æneis by John Baskerville 1757.jpg|Title page by [[John Baskerville]], 1757
Type sample, Pierre Simon Fournier, Manuel Typographique 1766.png|Alphabet by [[Pierre-Simon Fournier]] in his ''Manuel typographique'', 1760s
Fleischman Paragon roman & italic.jpg|Transitional type by [[Joan Michaël Fleischman]] of Amsterdam, 1768
Feria Sexta.jpg|Modern-face types by the [[Amoretti Brothers]], 1797
Code civil des Français (Firmin-Didot).jpg|Didone type in a book printed by the company of Firmin Didot, 1804
Manuale-Tipografico1.jpg|Bodoni's posthumous ''Manuale Tipografico'', 1818
Caslon inline Great Primer Columbia specimen.jpg|Inline modern face
Austin Foundry 1838 12 Lines Ornamented, No. 4.jpg|Display type with pattern inside 
Redford & Robins - poster - Google Art Project.jpg|"Fat face" ultra-bold Didone type
Fann Street Foundry Clarendon image with text for emphasis.jpg|The original Clarendon typeface
Boston Type Foundry Clarendon.jpg|Display-size slab-serifs
Miller & Richard Old Style Type Specimen (15399996818).jpg|Miller and Richard's [[Modernised Old Style (typeface)|Modernised Old Style]], a reimagination of pre-Didone typefaces
Kelmscott Press Typefaces.jpg|William Morris's [[Golden Type]] in the style of Jenson and other typefaces of his Kelmscott Press
ATF 1923 Garamond specimen page 22.jpg|[[American Type Founders|ATF]]'s "Garamond" type, an example of historicist printing
Sir Harry Johnston memorial plaque.JPG|Memorial plaque by [[Eric Gill]], {{circa|1920s}}
Linotype Textype sample Legibility Group typeface.jpg|Sample of the Linotype [[Legibility Group]] typefaces, the most popular [[newspaper]] typefaces during the twentieth century.<ref name="The Changing Newspaper">{{cite book|last1=Hutt|first1=Allen|title=The Changing Newspaper: typographic trends in Britain and America 1622-1972|date=1973|publisher=Fraser|location=London|isbn=9780900406225|pages=100–2 etc.|quote=the majority of the world's newspapers are typeset in one or another of the traditional Linotype 'Legibility Group', and most of the rest in their derivatives.|edition=1. publ.}}</ref>
Kindle3-it (cropped).png|Humanist slab-serif PNM Caecilia on an [[Amazon Kindle]]
</gallery>

== Analogues in other writing systems ==
=== East Asia ===
{{Main|Ming (typeface)}}
[[File:Ming serif.svg|thumb|upright=0.9|From left to right: a serif typeface with serifs in red, a serif typeface, and a sans-serif typeface]]

In the [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Japanese language|Japanese]] writing systems, there are common type styles based on the [[regular script]] for [[Chinese characters]] akin to serif and sans serif fonts in the West. In Mainland China, the most popular category of serifed-like typefaces for body text is called [[Songti|Song]] ({{lang|zh|宋体}}, {{Transliteration|zh|Songti}}); in Japan, the most popular serif style is called {{nihongo||明朝|Minchō}}; and in Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is called {{Transliteration|zh|Ming}} ({{lang|zh|明體}}, {{Transliteration|zh|Mingti}}). The names of these lettering styles come from the [[Song dynasty|Song]] and [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] dynasties, when [[block printing]] flourished in China. Because the [[wood grain]] on printing blocks ran horizontally, it was fairly easy to carve horizontal lines with the grain. However, carving vertical or slanted patterns was difficult because those patterns intersect with the grain and break easily. This resulted in a typeface that has thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}. In accordance with Chinese calligraphy ([[kaiti]] style in particular), where each horizontal stroke is ended with a dipping motion of the brush, the ending of horizontal strokes are also thickened{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}. These design forces resulted in the current Song typeface characterized by thick vertical strokes contrasted with thin horizontal strokes, triangular ornaments at the end of single horizontal strokes, and overall geometrical regularity.

In Japanese typography, the equivalent of serifs on [[kanji]] and [[kana]] characters are called {{Transliteration|ja|uroko}}—"fish scales".  In Chinese, the serifs are called either {{Transliteration|zh|yǒujiǎotǐ}} ({{lang|zh|有脚体}}, lit. "forms with legs"){{citation needed|date=March 2023}} or {{Transliteration|zh|yǒuchènxiàntǐ}} ({{lang|zh|有衬线体}}, lit. "forms with ornamental lines").

The other common East Asian style of type is called black ({{lang|zh|黑体/體}}, {{Transliteration|zh|Hēitǐ}}) in Chinese and {{nihongo|[[Japanese gothic typeface|Gothic]]|ゴシック体|Goshikku-tai}} in Japanese. This group is characterized by lines of even thickness for each stroke, the equivalent of "sans serif". This style, first introduced on newspaper headlines, is commonly used on headings, websites, signs and billboards. A Japanese-language font designed in imitation of western serifs also exists.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.akibatec.net/wabunfont/library/dynafont/design.html#ugaso | title=和文フォント大図鑑 &#91;ダイナコムウェア／その他&#93; }}</ref>

=== Thai ===
{{see also|Thai typography}}
Farang Ses, designed in 1913, was the first Thai typeface to employ thick and thin strokes reflecting old-style serif Latin typefaces, and became extremely popular, with its derivatives widely used into the digital age. (Examples: Angsana UPC, [[Kinnari (typeface)|Kinnari]])<ref name="Farangses">{{cite web |author1=Pracha Suveeranont |title=ฝรั่งเศส |url=https://thaifaces.com/thaitype/farangses/ |website=๑๐ ตัวพิมพ์ กับ ๑๐ ยุคสังคมไทย (10 Faces of Thai Type and Thai Nation) |publisher=Thaifaces |accessdate=22 May 2020 |language=th}} Originally exhibited 18–31 October 2002 at the Jamjuree Art Gallery, Chulalongkorn University, and published in ''Sarakadee''. '''17''' (211). September 2002.</ref>

===Compared to blackletter===
In Germany and other Central European countries, blackletter remained the norm in body text for longer than in Western Europe; see the [[Antiqua–Fraktur dispute]], often dividing along ideological or political lines. After the mid-20th century, Fraktur fell out of favor and Antiqua-based typefaces became the official standard in Germany. (In German, the term "Antiqua" refers to serif typefaces.<ref name="Renner-A">{{cite web |publisher=Linotype |title=Renner Antiqua – Reviving a serif typeface from the designer of Futura |url=https://www.linotype.com/5689/rennerantiqua.html |quote=Antiqua is a term used in German to denote serif typefaces, many of them oldstyles (Garamond-Antiqua, Palatino-Antiqua, etc.). The word is used in very much the same way as "roman" [is used] in English-speaking typography to differentiate between upright and italic typefaces in a family.}}</ref>)

==See also==
{{Wiktionary}}

* [[Homoglyph]]
* [[Ming (typeface)]], a similar style in Asian typefaces
** The analogs of serifs, known in Japanese as {{lang|ja|[[wikt:鱗|鱗]]}} ''uroko'', literally "fish scales"
* [[San Serriffe]], an elaborate typographic joke

===Lists of serif typefaces===
* [[List of serif typefaces]]
* [[List of typefaces#Serif]]
* [[:Category:Old style serif typefaces|Old-style]]
* [[:Category:Transitional serif typefaces|Transitional]]
* [[:Category:Didone serif typefaces|Didone]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* [[Robert Bringhurst]], ''[[The Elements of Typographic Style]],'' version 4.0 (Vancouver, BC, Canada: [[Hartley & Marks]] Publishers, 2012), {{ISBN|0-88179-211-X}}.
* [[Harry Carter (typographer)|Harry Carter]], ''A View of Early Typography: Up to about 1600'' (London: Hyphen Press, 2002).
* Father [[Edward Catich]], ''The Origin of the Serif: Brush Writing and Roman Letters'', 2nd ed., edited by Mary W. Gilroy (Davenport, Iowa: Catich Gallery, St. Ambrose University, 1991), {{ISBN|9780962974021|}}.
* [[Nicolete Gray]], ''Nineteenth Century Ornamented Typefaces'', 2nd ed. (Faber, 1976), {{ISBN|9780571102174|}}.
* [[Alfred F. Johnson]], ''Type Designs: Their History and Development'' (Grafton, 1959).
* Stan Knight, ''Historical Types: From Gutenberg to Ashendene'' (Oak Knoll Press, 2012), {{ISBN |9781584562986|}}.
* [[Ellen Lupton]], ''[http://issuu.com/papress/docs/thinking_with_type?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fcolor%2Flayout.xml&backgroundColor=FFFFFF&showFlipBtn=true&pageNumber=6 Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students]'', 2nd ed. (New York: [[Princeton Architectural Press]], 2010), {{ISBN|9781568989693|}}, <www.thinkingwithtype.com>.
* Indra Kupferschmid, "[http://kupferschrift.de/cms/2016/01/type-classification-texts/ Some Type Genres Explained]," Type, kupferschrift.de (2016-01-15).
* Stanley Morison, ''A Tally of Types'', edited by Brooke Crutchley et al., 2nd ed. (London: Cambridge University Press, 1973), {{ISBN |978-0-521-09786-4}}. (on revivals of historical typefaces created by the British company Monotype)
* ———, “Type Designs of the Past and Present,” was serialized in 4 parts in 1937 in ''PM Magazine'' (the last 2 are available online):
** “Part 1,” ''PM Magazine'', 4, 1 (1937-09);
** “Part 2,” ''PM Magazine'', 4, 2 (1937-12);
** “[http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-11-01/edition/4-3/page/19 Part 3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904064848/http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-11-01/edition/4-3/page/19 |date=2017-09-04 }},” ''PM Magazine'', 4, 3 (1937-11): 17–32;
** “[http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-12-01/edition/4-4/page/63 Part 4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724205300/https://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/PM/1937-12-01/edition/4-4/page/63 |date=2021-07-24 }},” ''PM Magazine'', 4, 4 (1937-12): 61–81.
*Sébastien Morlighem, ''The 'modern face' in France and Great Britain, 1781-1825: typography as an ideal of progress'' (thesis, University of Reading, 2014), [https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.651303 download link]
* Sébastien Morlighem, ''Robert Thorne and the Introduction of the 'modern' fat face'', 2020, Poem, and [https://vimeo.com/516485231 presentation]
* James Mosley, ''Ornamented types: twenty-three alphabets from the foundry of Louis John Poucheé'', I.M. Imprimit, 1993
* Paul Shaw, ''Revival Type: Digital Typefaces Inspired by the Past'' (Brighton: Quid Publishing, 2017), {{ISBN|978-0-300-21929-6|}}.
* Walter Tracy, ''Letters of Credit: A View of Type Design'', 2nd ed. (David R. Godine, 2003), {{ISBN|9781567922400|}}.
* [[Daniel Berkeley Updike]], ''Printing Types, their History, Forms, and Use: A Study in Survivals'', 2 vols. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1922), [[iarchive:printingtypesthe01updi|volume 1]] and [[iarchive:printingtypesthe02updi|volume 2]]—now outdated and known for a strong, [http://typefoundry.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/elzevir-letter.html not always accurate] dislike of Dutch and modern-face printing, but extremely comprehensive in scope.
* [[Hendrik Désiré Louis Vervliet|H. D. L. Vervliet]], ''The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance: Selected Papers on Sixteenth-Century Typefaces'', 2 vols., Library of the Written Word series, No. 6, The Handpress World subseries, No. 4 (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2008-11-27), {{ISBN|978-90-04-16982-1|}}.
* ———, ''Sixteenth Century Printing Types of the Low Countries'', Annotated catalogue (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 1968-01-01), {{ISBN|978-90-6194-859-9}}.
* ———, ''French Renaissance Printing Types: A Conspectus'' (Oak Knoll Press, 2010).
* ———, ''Liber librorum: 5000 ans d'art du livre'' (Arcade, 1972).
** Translation: Fernand Baudin, ''The Book Through Five Thousand Years: A Survey'', edited by Hendrik D. L. Vervliet (London: Phaidon, 1972).
* James Mosley's reading lists:  [https://web.archive.org/web/20161009181144/http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/LRBS/Outline%20of%20Course_Type%26itsUses2013_2.pdf "Type and its Uses, 1455–1830"], [http://rarebookschool.org/2008/reading/typography/t55/ 1830-2000]

{{Typography terms}}

[[Category:Serif typefaces| ]]
[[Category:Typography]]