Frame Sans

Its lowercase is tall: the x-height is 74.2% of the cap height, against a median of 71.1% for sans serif fonts, taller than 11 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. Ascenders on b, d, h, k and l rise 4% above the capitals, and descenders on g, j, p, q and y drop 28.1% of the cap height below the baseline, shallower than 10 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. Frame Sans runs 21.6% narrower than the median for sans serif fonts: an average lowercase letter, spacing included, is 76.1% as wide as the capitals are tall (an average capital, 87.2%). The o is close to a circle, 1.02 times as wide as it is tall, and W is the widest capital, at 1.35 times the width of H. Round letters overshoot: O rises 1.3% of the cap height above H and dips 1.3% below the baseline.

The letters stand upright, with no measurable slant. Vertical stems measure 6.3% of the cap height, lighter than 14 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. Ink covers 18.8% of each lowercase letter's box (its advance width by the cap height), darker than 8 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. Strokes keep one thickness in every direction: the sides of o and O measure the same as their tops and bottoms.

Its 148 characters include 105 Latin letters, plus 43 figures, punctuation marks and symbols; 53 of the Latin letters are accented or special forms beyond A to Z. The word space measures 33.7% of the cap height, and the blank space either side of a lowercase letter takes up 14.4% of its width. Spacing is adjusted with 134 kerning pairs, more than 12 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. The tightest of them is AY, which closes up by 23.6% of the cap height. The figures have different widths, so columns of numbers set in Frame Sans will not line up exactly.

12 other library fonts share Frame Sans's underlying letter structure. Compared with Frame Sans, Arcade Inline cuts a thin line along each stroke, sets 39% wider and puts down 100% more ink. Bulwark Block sets 45% wider, puts down 160% more ink and has a 83% x-height. Mezzanine Deco sets 41% wider and puts down 56% more ink.