Tuesday, January 9, 2018

typography - Why don't upper case numbers exist?


Capital letters add a lot to text in various ways, for names, brands, emphasis (although capitalisation for emphasis is frowned upon)


Why then, are there no upper case numbers?



Answer



They do. The thing is, you probably don't realise, because upper case numbers have been all you've been using or seeing.


There is a distinction between 'default' numbers and 'oldstyle' numbers. The default numbers we all know are the actual capitals, with the 'oldstyle' numbers (sometimes incorrectly called 'proportional numbers') are lowercase.


Fonts tend to default to one style or another. Most font files allow you to change default numbers into oldstyle ones by turning them into 'small caps', but you can also select them from the Glyphs palette (Shift+Alt+F11 in InDesign).


Don't confuse 'default' vs. 'oldstyle' with 'tabular' vs. 'proportional', that's a distinction in how the numbers are lined out horizontally.


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This article outlines the difference between the kinds of numbers, and also gives some tips on how to achieve the different looks in InDesign.


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