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MacOS A Macintosh Operating System.
majuscule A term in calligraphy which describes letterforms analogous to upper case letterforms.
The strict definition for majuscules are letterforms which are drawn between two parallel lines (the capline and the baseline) with any ascending and descending strokes being of minimum length, and drawn in a « majestic » manner.
manual pair kerning See pair kerning.
mapping See encoding.
marking engine The embedded machinery in an output device which writes visible marks on a medium in some manner, and is driven from digital signals. A marking engine is present in a digital press, dot matrix printer, dye sublimation printer, electrostatic printer, film recorder, imagesetter, ink jet printer, laser printer, phototypesetter, or plotter. Various types of alphanumeric displays (such as cathode ray tubes, LED arrays, nixie tubes, liquid crystal arrays) would not be considered marking engines because they do not write on a medium.
markup language A type of computer language which is designed to represent documents or other entities (plans, sounds, video images, etc.). Its major role is in formatting the presentation of audio, data, text, images, video, etc.
Characteristics of markup languages and markup meta-languages is that:
(1) The lexical syntax (natively) is in human-readible text.
(2) The text is subdivided into pages.
(3) Major format elements include the use of tags, which are strings set off in angular brackets, usually in pairs, before and after the content they act upon (for example, <body> and </body> ) and can be used to specify presentation behavior or definitions; and the use of links (often appearing as underlined text) which serve as activation points for further pages.
(4) While no logical, mathematical, or recursive operations can specifically be carried out in the markup language itself, programming languages (such as Basic, CGIScript, Java, JavaScript, etc.) can be called upon to provide those capabilities from embedded statements.
One of the first markup languages to gain widespread use was SGML, which is also a markup meta-language. Other markup languages include ArchML (Architectural Markup Language), BSML (Bioinformatic Sequence Markup Language), CML (Chemical Markup Language), CharMapML (Character Map encoding Markup Language), GedML (Genealogical Data in xML), HTML (the original basic presentation language of the World Wide Web, and a dialect and subset of SGML), JSML (Java Speech Markup Language), MathML (Math Markup Language), NewsML (News Markup Language),PGML (Precision Graphics Markup Language), SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language), SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language), TIM (Telecommunication Interchange Markup), VML (Vector Markup Language), VoiceXML (Voice XML), VoxML (Vox* Markup Language), WML (Wireless Markup Language), XBEL (Xml Bookmark Exchange Language), XLF (eXtensible Log Format), xMCL (extensible Media Commerce Language), and XrML (eXtensible Rights Markup Language).
* - Vox is Latin for Voice.
markup meta-language A markup language used to formulate other related markup languages, like HTML.
Markup meta-languages include SGML and XML (eXtensible Markup Language). The syntax of XML makes it easy to develop specialized markup languages based on XML (which many of the markup languages are). This is due to the role of the DTD element.
mask or mask font In typography, a mask is a typeface which is used in conjunction with other compatibly-designed typefaces in separations to render letterform images or other glyphs in multiple colors. Typeface examples include the Production First Software typeface ItalianatePFMulticolor, and the Adobe woodtype typefaces of Pepperwood, Rosewood, and Zebrawood.
A related effect can be produced by image editing software by creating another image layer containing only areas of a single color (called a mask) from the original image. However, this type of mask is usually used only for further intermediate manipulation and processing of an image and is not part of the final image.
In the era of mechanical paste-up and analog photography, a mask is dark red transparent lithographic material ( « ruby lith » ) which can be taped over an area of a negative to block out any underlying images.
massively parallel processor (MPP) A computer consisting of a large number of complex processor cells, with global connectivity and global access to resources, in numbers of hundreds or thousands, that is, 10x, x > 2. Compare with von Neumann computer, cellular computing, molecular computing, and vastly parallel processor.
master design One of the Type 1 font components comprising a MultipleMaster font.
masthead A collection of information about a newspaper or newsletter (editors, publishers, business location, sometimes the name, etc.) usually placed on the first page.
MatchMaker One of a number of Production First Software utilities which implements and installs ISO 9541 Font Resource Management using the MatchMaker 1.0 or MatchMaker 2.0 (under development) architecture.
A distinction must be made in substitution strategy between MatchMaker and MultipleMaster-based typeface matching strategies. MultipleMaster-based strategies use one of two generic template fonts (serif and sans serif) to create a MultipleMaster font instance which duplicates the average character widths and ascender heights of the missing font. This matching is performed by ATM, which must be installed on the target system. MatchMaker, on the other hand, chooses the closest available typeface from the fonts installed on the target system, and then adjusts the metrics of that typeface to that of the missing typeface. The choice is made by matching ISO 9541-1 parameters, stem thicknesses, character widths, Panose parameters, or other indices chosen by an expert system. The more fonts that are installed on the target system, the closer the match will be.
MatchMaker 1.0 Kit A Production First Software utility introduced in 1993 which implements and installs ISO 9541 Font Resource Management using the MatchMaker 1.0 architecture. ISO 9541 Font Resource Management works with PostScript fonts, in conjunction with PostScript display and output devices (including Acrobat and physical output devices), using ISO 9541-1 protocall. Font Resource Management allows automatic font substitution for fonts used in a publication but missing to the output device. It does not require the presence of ATM (or other font managers) or the use of MultipleMaster fonts. All PostScript conventional Type 1, Type 3, Type 4, Type 5, Type 6, or Type 7 fonts can be ISO 9541-enabled with this kit.
mathematical A property of characters which mark their use in mathematical expressions as operators. Glyph examples of characters being positive for this property include: ( ) * + - / < > [ ] { } ¬ ± × ÷ and others in the <20_ _ > block.
mathematical axis or math axis The horizontal axis running through the vertical centers of mathematical operator glyphs when typesetting an equation.
mathematical baseline See hanging baseline.
MathML A Mathematical Markup Language used for presentation of mathematical equations in text. It is a markup language application under XML.
matrix In hot type terminology, an assembly of type bodies and other blocks used as a plate for printing.
(another definition follows)
matrix In hot type terminology, a block serving as the (negative) mold for casting one or more type bodies or a plate.(another definition follows)
matrix Generally speaking, a two-dimensional or higher collection or array of numbers, data, blocks, etc., which can be accessed or addressed by an index for each dimension.MBCS An abbreviation for MultiByte Character Set.
MCF See Meta Content Framework.
mean line or median line An imaginary line, usually at x-height, running parallel with the baseline.
measure The width of a line of text in picas.
mechanical A camera-ready paste-up or film already stripped which is used to make a plate for offset printing.
medial form The form of a character glyph in the middle of a word or text string. (Compare to isolate form, initial form, and final form.)
medium (specific) A physical material on which latent or visible images are written by a marking engine, writing information of a form which ultimately can be directly read by humans. Examples include: acetate sheeting, paper and wood pulp-derived materials, polyester sheeting, photographic film, photosensitive printing plate materials, and vinyl sheeting. A data disk (CD-ROM, diskette, optical disk, Winchester hard disk) or memory chip would not qualify as a medium because there are no latent or visible images written on them. However, the singlar and pleural forms of the term « medium » are often applied to them.
(another definition follows)
medium (general) An agent for the presentation of detectable information, such as the written word, motion pictures, music and sound, textured materials (for the blind) and sculpture, and the like.
megabyte A unit of data storage equal to 1.024 × 106 bytes, abbreviated « M » or « MB » or « Mbyte. » 1000 kilobytes = 1 megabyte. 1000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte.
megafont (jargon) Large fonts over 1 megabyte in size.
memory leak A metaphor used by software engineers to denote a phenomenon where a software program uses up computer memory in a way that it should not, not necessarily due to a bug. Usable memory progressively disappears for the software program, as if memory was leaking out of the computer.
A related issue is a phemenon where an application uses up Microsoft Windows environment space. Then, if an MS-DOS application needs to be run, an "out of memory" message is received. This problem is either a bug in Windows or a deliberate feature built into Windows to discourage MS-DOS usage. It cannot be fixed by adding a SHELL statement to Windows' CONFIG.SYS file, because that will cause Windows to crash.
meta- A word prefix derived from Greek (among, with, after) and from Middle Latin (change). In Information Technology, it refers to a building, construction, content, derivation, or description of a more developed or advanced quantity in terms a simpler quantity of the same nature.
Meta Content Framework A data format structure for relational databases. It enables channels to be created on-the-fly from search queries.
metadata Data which describes other data. An example of a format which contains some metadata structure would be Rich Text Format (RTF). Metadata usually is stored as a data object within a wrapper.
metafile Refers to a graphics file format which contains vector draw instructions (as opposed to being based on bitmap raster data), usually in the form of API or other operating system function calls. The functions then carry out the operations necessary to produce the image represented by the file. Advantages to this kind of image representation include ability to edit without degrading the image, a more compact representation of complex images, and ability to scale or distort the image size and shape without loss of resolution. The disadvantages include the increasing size of data and an increase in rendering time as more colors are added or image color complexity is increased.
A third graphics image representation is algebraic construction.
There are several metafile formats proposed or in common use, including:
.CDR (CorelDraw!, from Corel Corporation)
.CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile, from the American National Standards Institute)
.DRW (Micrographix Designer, from Micrographix Corporation)
.DXF (Drawing Xchange Format, from Autodesk, Inc.)
.EPS, .EPSF (Encapsulated PostScript Format, from Adobe Systems Incorporated)
.EPI, .EPSI (Encapsulated PostScript Interchange Format, from Adobe Systems Incorporated)
.GEM (PC, GEM and Ventura format, from Xerox Corporation [now from Corel Corporation])
.GGL (Graphical GL Format, from Microtex Industries)
.HGL, .HPG, HPGL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language Format, from Hewlett-Packard Company)
IGES (Initial Graphics Exchange Specification Format)
.IGF (Metafile format, from Inset Systems)
.MCS (MathCAD, from AutoDesk Inc.)
.MET (OS/2 Metafile, from Microsoft Corporation)
.PGL (HP 7475A plotter format, from Hewlett-Packard Company)
.PGM or .PGML (Precision Graphics Markup Language, from Adobe Systems Inc.)
.PIC (Lotus PIC Format by Lotus/IBM)
PLOT (Unix Plot Format, from AT&T/Lucent Technologies)
.P10 (Plot10 format, from Tektronix Inc.)
.SLD (Slide Format, from Autodesk Inc.)
.SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics Format, from Adobe Systems Inc.)
.VML (Vector Markup Language, from Microsoft Corporation)
.WFM or .MET (Windows Format Metafile, from Microsoft Corporation)
.WPG (Word Perfect Graphics Format, from WordPerfect/Corel Corporation.)
metafont A font or set of instructions used to build a composite font. See also descendant font.
metal A typeface structural style characterized by indentations and artifacts introduced to imitate the appearance of printing using metal type, either resulting from a matrix-derived metal plate or a typewriter.
Interpretations of metal typefaces range from very subtle metal-flavored designs to typeface designs easily classifiable as grunge.
metrics A term used in to indicate data relating to character or glyph width and spacing for a specific typeface or font.
(another definition follows)
metrics A term used in general computer programming to indicate the characteristics and conditions related to a program's performance.metrics file A data file, font specific, which contains information on character widths and other metrics. It is used by applications to determine the proper spacing of type characters on a page. Examples would be .AFM files, .PFM files and .WFM files used by Microsoft Windows, .TFM files used by TeX, .WID files used by Ventura, and screen font files used on the Macintosh.
Microsoft Windows A graphical user interface originally used on computers that can run the MS-DOS operating system. Microsoft Windows 1.x, 2.x, and 3.x require MS-DOS. Microsoft Windows9x, Windows/NT, Windows2000, and WindowsXP do not require a separate MS-DOS installation. Competing products would include BeOS, Linux, Lindows, IBM-OS/2, and PetrOS.
When Microsoft Windows 3.0 was introduced, it became the most widely purchased software package in history up to that point in time.
WindowsCE is a downsized version (Consumer Electronics) designed for small appliances and handheld equipment. The 2001 version of Windows-XP, more so than any other version, was plagued with problems of security holes (TCP/IP raw sockets), privacy problems (Passport and peeping Tom issues), licensing cost increases, user hassels (digital certificate and software installation issues), and legal ramifications (U.S. DOJ case and European Union fines) of Windows.Competing products include BeOS, eCos, Java, Lindows, and PetrOS.
middleware The most general definition is that of software which allows applications to interface with other software without needing to explicitly consider the architecture of the interfacing software. More commonly, middleware is the term used for software which works interoperatively with client operating systems or links client applications with servers.
.MIF file Maker Interchange Format file for FrameMaker.
millimetric point A unit of measurement referred to as the « millimetric point, » and abbreviated « mp. » 1 pt = 0.015748 inch or 0.40000 mm, with 63.371 mp per inch.
MIME or MIME type MIME is an acronym for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension. A protocall which allows a variety of data to be sent through electronic mail. The particular format of the data is identified by an assigned « MIME type. » Each MIME type has certain allowable filename extensions.
The following are some of the MIME types defined, along with recognized filename extensions:
MIME Type : Subtype : Filename Extension application : conference : NEC application : ns-conference-autoconfig : PAC application : octet stream : EXE, BIN application : mac-binhex40 : HQX application : pdf : PDF audio : pn-realaudio : RA, RAM audio : wav : WAV audio : aiff : AIF, AIFF audio : basic : AU, SND image : xbitmap : XBM image : jpeg : JPEG, JPG image : gif : GIF text : html : HTM, HTML text : plain : TEXT, TXT video : msvideo : AVI video : quicktime : MOV, QT
MIME charset The encoding scheme called up for encoding and decoding data sent across the Internet.
Mincho A typeface structural style having thick vertical strokes, thin horizontal strokes, a wedge-shaped serif on the right end of strokes, and a taper on the left end of strokes. Named after the Japanese priest-painter Mincho who painted using bold brush strokes, a Chinese influence. Three sub-categories have been defined:
minim In calligraphy and typography, the height of a basic vertical stroke used in such letterforms as 'h', 'm', and 'n'. In penmanship, the term is usually applied to any single downstroke, such as is a part of a 'd' or 'l'.
Minimum European Subset A character subset of ISO/IEC 10646 which includes the following blocks: Basic Latin, Latin-1 Supplement, Latin Extended-A, part of Latin Extended-B, 2 characters from IPA Extensions, 8 characters from Spacing Modifier Letters, Basic Greek, Cyrillic (less most of what ISO terms as Extended Cyrillic), Greek Extended, 28 characters from General Punctuation, one character from Superscripts and Subscripts, 3 characters from Currency Symbols, 5 characters from Letterlike Symbols, 4 characters from Number Forms, 7 characters from Arrows, 11 characters from Mathematical Operators, 4 characters from Miscellaneous Technical, 40 characters from Box Drawing, 8 characters from Block Elements, 10 characters from Geometric Shapes, 11 characters from Miscellaneous Symbols, and 2 characters from Alphabetic Presentation Forms. Production First Software does not use this specific character set standard, because it is missing some characters required for Cyrillic, Greek, and Roman-based alphabets. However, some Production First Software Language Suites include all characters of this subset along with others.
Minor Uncial See uncial.
minuscule A term in calligraphy which describes letterforms analogous to lower case letterforms.
The strict definition for minuscules are letterforms which are drawn between four parallel lines (an ascender-level line, x-height line, baseline, and a descender-level line).
minus leading Leading which is numerically less than the point size or less than the default leading for the font or typeface.
mirroring A property of characters indicating whether or not they belong to a character pair whose substitution can be switched depending on the writing direction. For example, characters whose glyphs are ( ) { } [ ] < > all have this property. In left-to-right writing direction, the opening parenthesis used is ( , but in right-to-left writing direction (Arabic, Hebrew), the opening parenthesis would be ).
Miscellaneous Ornamental class A typeface structural style category which includes all Ornamental style designs which are not classifiable in the usual Ornamental style categories. The following sub-categories have been defined:
Miscellaneous Style class A structural style category for typefaces not classifiable in any other category or sub-category for the group.
mixed encoding A character encoding whose byte-width character representation varies. Most common mixed encodings are the JIS character set encodings which are comprised of 1-byte and 2-byte character designations. The term « mixed encoding » is a special case of the more general term « modal encoding. »
mixed mode A method of installing and using fonts which enables a TrueType font to be used for screen display and a PostScript font to be used with an output device (digital press, film recorder, imagesetter, platesetter, printer, or print file). So far, only fonts from Production First Software have this capability without running into application or operating system problems. Mixed mode is activated by using the Font Substitution Table from the 'Setup' menu of a printer driver which supports it.
Mkhedruli Another name for the modern or secular inscriptional alphabet of Georgian. Mkhedruli is a unicameral alphabet. Some Production First Software fonts have Mkhedruli encoded as both UPPERCASE and lowercase, some only as lowercase, and some present as variant glyphs.
.MMF file Maker Markup language file for FrameMaker.
.MMM file A file containing the « axis map » of a MultipleMaster PostScript font.
(another definition follows)
.MMM file See bitmap formats.MO Abbreviation for Magneto-Optical. A technology used in a type of removable disk storage medium where a laser is used to perturb a magnetic layer in a disk to record data.
modal encoding An encoding which requires a change in « mode » for some characters. The change in mode is envoked by using one or more escape characters or escape character sequences. Such an escape sequence might be a varying shift level. A change in mode commonly is used to switch between 1-byte and 2-byte characters (a « mixed encoding » ) or a switch between character sets.
modal font A font which is designed to be used with modal encoding.
Modern A typeface structural style, also known as « Didone, » developed during the late 18th and 19th centuries by Gibattista Bodoni and Fermin Didot. The characteristics include: Modern proportions; strictly vertical stress; strong contrast between thick and thin strokes; precisely symmetric contrast; abrupt weight contrast between thick and thin; and very thin unbracketed serifs. A few typefaces in this group have Old Style proportions, and a few have even-width (nearly monospaced) proportions. Typical modern typefaces fall somewhere in between. Two sub-categories have been defined under this structural style:
Modern proportions or Modern proportioning system A proportioning theory or rule intermediate between Old Style proportions and even-width proportions.
moiré A term referring to an observable, usually unwanted, image artifact consisting of a regular alternating pattern of lighter and darker areas. The pattern can be the result of « halftone screen » marks which overlap in an incorrect manner, usually at the wrong angle. The effect is seen most commonly in photographs or other graphics which have been screened in preparation for making offset plates for printing. It can also be the result of the combination of a graphic containing parallel lines projected using a raster technology (like television) or a pixel technology (like LCD screens).
molecular computing or molecular computer A computer system whose processor cells are comprised of arrangements of molecules fashioned as an array processor or parallel computer. The number of processor cells might be 10x, x >> 10. Compare with von Neumann computer, massively parallel processor, cellular computing, and vastly parallel processor.
monocase alphabet A language alphabet having only cap height or only x-height letterforms. Examples would be IPA, Hebrew, Lao, Thai, or Indic scripts.
monochrome Refers usually to an object or display consisting of a single color or (black and) white.
monogram Two or more letterforms interwoven, combined, or connected into a single glyph but which is not used in spelling. The distinction between a ligature and a monogram is that a ligature is composed of associated or connected letterforms which are intended to be used as part of a spelling; whereas a monogram consists of any arbitrary letterforms intended for use as abbreviations or initials.
monoline Refers to a design with uniform stroke thickness. Typeface examples include: Bernal, Courier, and Kaufmann.
mono ruby See ruby.
monospaced (font) Another term for « fixed-pitch. » Refers to a typeface whose character advance widths are all absolutely identical. Most typewriter-style fonts or typefaces are fixed-pitch. Examples are: Courier, CourPF, PrestigeElite.
monotone See monoline.
Monotype or Monotype machine A typesetting machine invented by Tolbert Lanston in 1893 which casts one row or a block of type as a single piece. Each line may have mixture of sizes but only one typeface (« mono - type » ).
(another definition follows)
Monotype A now well-known British type foundry which was named after the Monotype machine. Monotype also made digital typesetting systems and PostScript imagesetters. In the mid-1980's, the equipment supplying unit of Monotype was split off. Monotype was not that well-known in the US until it won the lucrative contracts with Microsoft to supply TrueType core fonts for Windows, starting with Windows 3.1. Since the whole basis of the core font business was to duplicate the character (advance) widths of previously designed bitmap and PostScript fonts so that Microsoft could leverage a phaseout of PostScript fonts in favor of the competing TrueType outline font format (see font wars), International Typeface Corporation (ITC) filed suit against Monotype for stealing registered typeface names and duplicating widths of their copyrighted fonts. The suit was settled out of court.
Monotype ended their independent third-party font marketing in the mid 1990's to concentrate solely on OEM sales when they emerged from bankruptcy. In 1998, they were acquired by the Agfa division of Bayer.
morpheme The smallest meaningful linguistic unit in written language.
morpheme boundary The location in text where one morpheme ends and the next one begins. This may be within a word or between words. This terminology generally does not apply to some texts, such as ideographic or hieroglyphic texts.
mortice An area on the body of a character (for hot type) which is cut away so as to improve letterfit.
Mosaic The first commercial Web browser, developed by Spry Inc. It was based on a public domain browser funded by various universities and U.S. government agencies. Later, the same development team was responsible for Navigator, developed by Netscape Corp.
Motif An industry standard graphical user interface which enables applications (and, to some extent, various operating system versions) to present a consistent visual and functional presentation in their task window. The implementation of Motif, however, does not guarantee complete consistency of end-user features or functioning. Aspects such as keyboard mapping, input method editors, character set support, font resource support, available system utilities, output device handling and support, and other aspects can still vary with the specific implementation. The most common implementation of Motif is on the X Window System running under some version of the Unix operating system. Competing systems to X Window System/Motif include the graphical user interfaces on Macintosh System 6 and 7, and Microsoft Windows versions.
morphing A blending from one graphic image to another over a number of video frames. An example of morphing is shown below.
.MOV file See bitmap formats.
moveable type The innovation by Johann Gutenberg of casting metal type bodies of individual letterforms which are assembled into a matrix for offset printing.
MP3, .MP3 file An MPEG-1 Layer 3 audio format. This is not the same as MPEG-3 format.
MP4, .MP4 file An MPEG-2 Layer 3 video or audio/video format. This is not the same as MPEG-4 format.
MPEG, .MPG file, .MPEG file An acronym for Moving Picture Experts Group of the ISO/IEC. A bitmap format for video and synchronized audio using lossy compression. It is similar to JPEG in that it consists of a JPEG image for each « reference » frame, with only frame-to-frame pixel differences recorded between reference frames. The frames between reference frames are then reconstructed using the difference data and a predictor algorithm. There are four currently standardized versions: MPEG-1 (developed in 1991 for recreational video/audio); MPEG-2 (developed in 1993 for broadcast quality video/audio); MPEG-3 (for streaming audio across networks, including the Internet); and MPEG-4 (for streaming video over networks and off the Internet). MPEG codecs have usually been implemented on expensive hardware boards, rather than in software; but some software is now becoming available for MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, and software is the standard for MPEG-3 and MPEG-4.
MrSID An acronym for Multiresolution Seamless Image Database. A data compression scheme developed by LizardTech Inc. for images based on wavelets.
MS-DOS An infamous operating system (an offshoot of Digital Research Inc. CPM operating system), first sold by Microsoft for IBM's newly introduced (in 1981) personal computer. Upgraded versions of it have been the standard operating systems for IBM PC-compatibles until the advent of Microsoft Windows95. Emulated versions of it are available for Macintosh, Amiga, Sun, DEC, and IBM mainframe computers. There are versions in several languages, including Japanese and Russian.
.MSP file See bitmap formats.
multibyte character A character whose character number requires 2 bytes or longer for representation.
multibyte character set A character set comprised of characters of 2 bytes or longer.
multibyte encoding An encoding scheme in which some or all of the code points are greater than 1-byte. If all the code points are of the same width, then an encoding is termed "fixed-width." Examples of fixed-width encodings include Unicode and ISO/IEC/10646. If a mixture of code point widths are used, then an encoding is termed "modal." Examples of these would be shift-JIS and EUC.
multibyte font A font structured to include or allow the use of 2-byte or higher character sets or encodings.
Production First Software offers multibyte fonts in both PostScript and TrueType formats.
multilingualization The capability of internationalizing software by simply changing certain choices of parameters, such as date, sort, writing, spell-check, and character set; and using application software which can handle these variations. These functions are usually changeable at any time on most operating systems. Enabling the full use of a multilingual character set standard, such as ISO 10646 or Unicode, in operating systems and applications is crucial to making multilingualization practical.
multimedia The term given to presentations which are combinations of audio and visual effects. The visual effects may be a series of static images, or animated images (motion pictures, videos). Strictly speaking, the term « multimedia » usually refers to such presentations packaged as software for a computer.
multiple axis font A font having the capability of adjustable design parameters. Each adjustable design parameter is called an axis. Examples of adjustable design parameters (or axes) might be: contrast (none to high), weight (light to bold), italic or inclination angle (none to very skewed), width (compressed to extended design), optical size (from 1 point to hundreds of points), glyph rotational orientation, and style (serif or swash shapes, degree of distress, shape contour, or certain other style mutations).
Multiple axis font formats include MultipleMaster Type 1, TrueType GX, and OpenType. Multiple axis fonts can also be constructed using PostScript Type 3 format.
The following illustrates the behavior of a MultipleMaster type multiple axis font adjusting its Width axis, compared to scaling the width of a conventional font. Notice how the stroke thicknesses and contrast do not markedly vary as the width changes. (Of course, a deliberate variation in stroke thickness or contrast could also have been designed into it.)
multiple language encoding An encoding specification or standard which includes characters required by alphabets of different languages. Nearly every encoding standard (except ASCII) allows this for more than one language. However, this is far less extensive and significant than multiple script encoding.
Examples would be ANSI encoding (Windows), Mac encodings (Macintosh), ISO 8859-1 to ISO-8859-4, ISO 8859-9 to ISO 8859-16, ISO 10585, and certain Production First Software Language Groups.
multicode navigation or multinodal navigation The process of navigation in text containing features such as combining marks, interlinear annotation, subjoined characters, etc. These features forbid caret points between some characters.
MultipleMaster An enhanced PostScript Type 1 format developed by Adobe Systems which enables a font to be created, through a special ATM menu, with glyph outlines which are interpolated from up to 16 installed Type 1 fonts. Such variations as contrast, weight (light to bold), width (compressed to extended design), optical size, density (to control reproduction or printing medium artifacts),and style (serif or swash shapes, degree of distress, shape contour, or certain other style mutations) can be achieved. The interpolated fonts, however, must have been designed with this in mind to get expected results. Type managers, or other imaging utilities not having full PostScript interpreters, must be specifically written to handle this format.
The following illustrates the behavior of a MultipleMaster font adjusting its Width axis, compared to scaling the width of a conventional font. Notice how the stroke thicknesses and contrast do not markedly vary as the width changes. (Of course, a deliberate variation in stroke thickness or contrast could also have been designed into it.)
multiple script encoding An encoding specification or standard which includes characters from more than one basic alphabet or script.
Examples would be ISO 8859-5 to ISO 8859-8, ISO 10646, Unicode, and certain Production First Software Language Groups.
multiprogramming The ability to keep in process concurrently more than one batch job, consisting of the execution of one or more program applications or utilities.
multiscript Pertaining to, or including the contents of, more than one script.
multitap An input text method, used where only a numeric keypad is available like in telephony, consisting of repetitively pressing the same numeral key a certain number of times to transmit a letter or other character not found on the keypad.
multitasking The ability to keep in process more than one task concurrently. A task is any user-initiated or system-initiated operation or series of operations which produces a desired result, other than a transfer of data.
multithreading The ability to keep in process more than one thread concurrently.
mutt Abbreviation for mutton.
mutton British name for the em.
MVS See OS/MVS.
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