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====== ''The font designer decides on the ‘natural’ size of the font.'' ======
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====== ''If two fonts have the same size, is a dimension which has the same length in both. Which one is this?'' ======
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::::: <i>This page is based on Taco's explanation in the list [2018-12-19].</i>
There are two parts to this:
* '''What the ‘natural’ size indicates.''' First, what the ‘natural’ size indicates is the designer’s_intended use size_ for the font, such that when you planto use the font “Times-Roman” without any special rescaling,it should in fact be equivalent to “Times-Roman at ’natural size’”.<br/>
For most fonts, this ‘natural size’ is 10 pt, but special display
or footnote fonts may have a different intended use size, and the
font designer may have made special glyph adjustments for thatpurpose. For example, the computer modern family has special fontswith a ‘natural’ size anywhere between 5 pt and 17 pt. The glyphs inthe specific fonts with a smaller ‘natural’ size (like 8 pt)
are in fact a little bit bolder and wider than the same glyphs in
the font designed to be used at 10 pt. This makes sense when you
thinner and weaker than the actual font designed for 8 pt.
* '''What the ‘design’ size indicates.''' Second, a design size in points like ‘10 pt’ is somewhat misleading,
because what it actually is, is just a different way of saying “at
the expected size for traditional main text”. The “10 pt" is not
necessarily a measure of _anything_ in the font. In fact, font designers
sometimes do not use a “XXpt” “XX pt” design size at all.The Minion font family
has fonts with names like "Minion Pro Caption" and "Minion Pro Display”,
which is actually a better indication of the information the font
designer wants to convey.
That leaves the question of what the actual size is of a font used
at “10 pt”. As explained above, there are no hard rules. But usually
(and it really only applied to ‘upright’ fonts anyways).
No, there is no such thing. "TeX Gyre Bonum and TeX Gyre Adventor at twelve
