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Good design arranges text and objects in a manner that invites and leads the reader through the composed page or material and enhances legibility and comprehension., The basic elements of design that affect typography include the following: ▪ Contrast: This refers to the contrast between dark and light type and large and small units of information (such as title and byline, side heads and subheads, and text). In addition, the evenness of darkness or blackness of letters and characters affects legibility; this evenness depends on the specific typeface used as well as spacing between letters, words, and lines (see also ...Less

A general scheme of heads and side heads may call for the use of boldface type for first- and second-level heads and for first-level side heads in the text, although heading styles and formats vary among journals (see also , Manuscript Preparation, Parts of a Manuscript, Headings, Subheadings, and Side Headings). For example: METHODS (level 1 head, flush left, bold caps) Statistical Analysis (level 2 head, bold caps and lowercase) Clustering Data. (level 3 head or first-level side head, paragraph indent, run into the text, bold caps and lowercase).Boldface may also be used in text to call out references to ...Less

Capital letters are larger than lowercase letters and are used as initial letters in the first word of sentences and for proper names. They are also often used as the initial letter of major words in titles, heads, and subheads. (Caput is Latin for head.) Use of all capital letters in large blocks of text should be avoided as legibility is decreased; other ways should be used to add emphasis if needed., JAMA and the Archives Journals use all capital letters sparingly (eg, for level 1 heads).A dropped cap (a form of initial cap) is an oversized capital letter of ...Less

Italics is a form of roman type style that slants to the right. Italics have multiple uses. However, setting large blocks of body text in italics should be avoided because legibility is reduced. Use italics as follows: ▪ For level 4 heads (second-level side heads)▪ When terms are described as terms, and letters as letters (see also , Punctuation, Quotation Marks, Coined Words, Slang, and , Punctuation, Apostrophe, Using Apostrophes to Form Plurals): The page number is called the folio. In his handwriting the n’s look like u's.▪ For titles of books and journals, proceedings, symposia, plays, paintings, long poems, ...Less

Layout is the arrangement of all the elements of design and typography on the page for optimal readability, taking into account the context and aesthetic requirements of the text. To create emphasis, complementary typefaces and various fonts within a typeface may be used. However, only a few compatible typefaces should be used at once. Multiple typefaces on a single page can compete for attention, are distracting, and impede readability., Two typefaces (a serif for body text and a sans serif for titles and subheads) with appropriate use of styles, such as bold and italics, will most often suffice for a ...Less

Letterspacing refers to the space between letters and other characters. Ideally, the spaces between letters should be balanced. There are no absolute values for optimal letterspacing, but type size and column width are interdependent in design and may affect reading comprehension. Kerning (adjusting the space between characters) is often used to modify spacing between pairs of characters to bring letters closer together or further apart in an attempt to fit words into a defined space (ie, in text that uses justified columns rather than ragged right line ends). Kerning is typically done in units of 1, 2, or 3. The ...Less

Line spacing refers to the vertical distance between the base of 1 line of text and the base of the next line of text. Line spacing is traditionally known as leading for the strips of lead once used between lines of printer type. The space between lines of type is measured in points. Generally, leading is 20% larger than the copy size. For example, 10-point copy would be set on 12 points of leading or line spacing (10/12), as is shown for the body copy in Figure . Optimal line spacing requires consideration of the type size, layout density, and ...Less

Lowercase letters are smaller than capital (or uppercase) letters and are differently configured (eg, a, A). The term lowercase originates from the earlier use of manually set wooden or metal characters that were kept by compositors in 2 cases; the lower case contained the smaller letters and the upper case contained the larger capital letters. Sentences are typically set with the initial letter of the first word of a sentence as a capital letter and all other letters lowercase. In titles, the initial letter of each major word is set as a capital letter and all other letters are lowercase. ...Less

In this typeface style, all the letters take the shape of a capital letter. However, in the place of lowercase letters, smaller capital letters are used. The small caps generally, but not always, align with the same x-height as the regular roman face, in the same typeface. Use small capital letters as follows: ▪ am and pm in time (see also , Units of Measure, Conventional Units and SI Units in JAMA and the Archives Journals, Time)▪ bc, bce, ce, and ad (see also , Abbreviations, Days of the Week, Months, Eras)▪ Some prefixes in chemical formulas (l for levo-, ...Less

Readability of type depends on the spacing between letters, words, and lines; none of these is independent of the others.Letterspacing refers to the space between letters and other characters. Ideally, the spaces between letters should be balanced. There are no absolute values for optimal letterspacing, but type size and column width are interdependent in design and may affect reading comprehension. Kerning (adjusting the space between characters) is often used to modify spacing between pairs of characters to bring letters closer together or further apart in an attempt to fit words into a defined space (ie, in text that uses justified ...Less