Comment by voidUpdate

5 days ago

> "glyphs are exactly 1/2em wide"

The M is 1/2 of an M wide?

Yes. That is, for a given x-height, the width of an 'M' half of what it "should" be for that x-height. According to this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Em_(typography)

it seems the width of an M should be exactly equal to the x-height in points (IIUC).

  • > However, as a very rough guideline, an "average" font might have [...] an x-height of 48% of the em

    • I guess I somehow skipped that, sorry T_T

      But let's look at the font used here on HN. Sure, it's monospace, but it's not particularly thin. Mx ... the x-height is pretty close the em-width. So that quote should probably read "for our idea of typical serif fonts".