Oblique type
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Oblique type (or slanted, sloped) is a form of type that slants slightly to the right, used in the same manner as italic type. Unlike italic type, however, it does not use different glyph shapes; it uses the same glyphs as roman type, except distorted. Oblique fonts are usually associated with sans-serif typefaces, especially with geometric faces, as opposed to humanist ones whose design tends to draw more on history. Oblique and italic type are often confused by non-designers.
The start of this confusion possibly appeared when Adrian Frutiger named the slanted versions of his typefaces Univers and Frutiger as italic. Following this viewpoint, sans-serif typefaces often do not have true italic versions. The Gill Sans and Goudy Sans typefaces are two well-known exceptions. The sans-serif fonts within the ClearType Font Collection introduced in Windows Vista typefaces have true italic versions, as does the older Trebuchet MS typeface.
True oblique typefaces have letterforms which are slanted, but maintain the proportions of counters and the thick-and-thin quality of strokes. Mechanically or optically-skewed oblique fonts are considered inferior, and useless for most professional typography and graphic design. Sometimes such are generated automatically by computer display systems when italic style is requested but a requisite font file is absent.
[edit] External links
- Typographica: Ain't What ITC Used to Be
- Fake vs. True Italics
- ITC Franklin Gothic: Oblique vs. Italic
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