kerning

text The process of reducing the spacing between certain

pairs of letters to improve their appearance. When a font

is created, each character is given a width that includes

some space around it so that the letters don't run into each

other when displayed or printed. This can be thought of as an

invisible box around each character. Some pairs of characters

such as A and V, look better if the boxes overlap slightly,

bringing the characters closer together (but still not

touching).

See also tracking, leading.

(1996-06-07)