Salon Didone

Its lowercase sits low: the x-height is 67.1% of the cap height, where the median for serif fonts is 69.6%, lower than 35 of the 39 other serif fonts. Ascenders on b, d, h, k and l line up with the capitals (100% of their height), and descenders on g, j, p, q and y drop 33.2% of the cap height below the baseline, deeper than 38 of the 39 other serif fonts. Salon Didone runs 15.3% narrower than the median for serif fonts: an average lowercase letter, spacing included, is 72.8% as wide as the capitals are tall (an average capital, 81.7%). The o is close to a circle, 0.97 times as wide as it is tall, and W is the widest capital, at 1.09 times the width of H. The O rises 1.3% of the cap height above H and sits on the baseline.

The letters stand upright, with no measurable slant. Vertical stems measure 11.3% of the cap height, lighter than 32 of the 35 other serif fonts. Ink covers 22% of each lowercase letter's box (its advance width by the cap height), lighter than 36 of the 39 other serif fonts. Strokes change thickness with direction: the sides of o and O are 8.9 times as thick as their tops and bottoms.

Its 284 characters include 105 Latin, 69 Greek and 66 Cyrillic letters, plus 44 figures, punctuation marks and symbols; 53 of the Latin letters are accented or special forms beyond A to Z. The word space measures 30.8% of the cap height, and the blank space either side of a lowercase letter takes up 6.6% of its width. Spacing is adjusted with 46 kerning pairs, fewer than 27 of the 39 other serif fonts. The tightest of them is AY, which closes up by 14.9% of the cap height. The figures have different widths, so columns of numbers set in Salon Didone will not line up exactly.

13 other library fonts share Salon Didone's underlying letter structure. Compared with Salon Didone, Scholar Roman sets 15% wider, puts down 19% more ink and adds Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi and Thai. Boutique Serif sets 24% wider. Saga Serif sets 29% wider and puts down 44% more ink.