Standard,
ordinary, simple, basic, upright type is considered to be “roman”—with a
lowercase “r.” It’s not the same Roman as in Times New Roman. You can use Times New Roman roman or Times New Roman italic.
Italic type can be considered to be the opposite of roman type
and it leans to the right. It leans like the Leaning Tower of Pisa—and Pisa is in Italy, where italic type originated during the Renaissance.
“Itals”
have several purposes in typography. They can provide emphasis and can also highlight:
- uncommon foreign words
- technical terms
- book, magazine, newspaper, CD and
movie titles
- TV series titles
- pieces of art, like The Last Supper
- important vehicles, like the
Mayflower and Enterprise
Grammar Diva Arlene Miller provides a good rule about using italics or quotation marks: "In general, big things go in italics, and parts of things go in quotation marks."
Names of books (but not “Torah,” “Bible” or “Koran”) are often put in italics. There is much disagreement about what else gets the italic treatment. See Grammar Girl.
It’s common to use italics to
introduce an obscure technical term like virgule,
and then switch to roman letters later on in a book or article. If I am introducing a technical term
that uses ordinary words, like “breaker head,” I generally use quote marks the
first time. Sadly, I am not consistent about this.
For
many years, before personal computers were common, text was underlined with typewriters that could not
produce italic letters for emphasis. Graphics experts frown on the use of
underlines in books and recommend italics
instead if you need to call attention to a word.
However, sometimes an italic word looks too weak, or doesn't look
right when it’s next to a roman word. Compare these two versions of text:
In
the first example, “Real” looks stronger because it’s upright and there are no
strange gaps between it and the adjacent roman words because of slanted
letters. I think the underlined text is fine. Some traditional typographers probably hate it and will brand me as a heretic.
[below] I'm not the only heretic. Here are pieces of two book covers with underlined text. I published one of them
If
you mix italic and roman type, be careful with slanted letters W, Y, K, and
sometimes M. Look at “k W” below.
[below]
Be careful if you have roman and italic letters on the same line. The italics
may appear shorter because they ‘lean over.’ You can experiment with slightly
enlarging the itals, changing the typeface or changing cases.
[below]
Sometimes I use an underline to call attention to an actual (“physical”) word
rather than to emphasize a concept.
With
modern software and the huge variety of fonts, there is generally no need to use underlines for emphasis. When you
underline a word, the line will cross through the descenders of lowercase
letters g, j, p, q, and y, making an ugly word. I would hate to underline “regal”
or “royal.” You can sometimes avoid the ugly problem by substituting a
word that has no descenders (not always an option and you can’t alter a web
address).
[below] The New York Daily News is a tabloid newspaper with a long tradition of YELLING at its readers. The paper uses lots of underlines, but cuts the lines apart to accommodate descenders and punctuation. I've never seen this technique on a book cover, but if you feel the need to create a book that yells, try it (but be prepared to be yelled at).
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This posting is adapted from my upcoming Typography for Independent Publishers.