Editing Descender

{{Short description|Portion of a letter that extends below the baseline of a font or script}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Descender.png|thumb|390px|Descenders are parts of a character that lie below the baseline.]]
In [[typography]] and [[handwriting]], a '''descender''' is the portion of a [[grapheme]] that extends below the [[Baseline (typography)|baseline]] of a [[typeface|font]].

For example, in the letter ''y'', the descender is the "tail", or that portion of the [[diagonal]] line which lies below the ''v'' created by the two lines converging. In the letter ''p'', it is the stem reaching down past the ''ɒ''.

In most fonts, descenders are reserved for [[lowercase]] characters such as ''g'', ''j'', ''q'', ''p'', ''y'', and sometimes ''f''. Some fonts, however, also use descenders for some [[Numerical digit|numerals]] (typically ''3'', ''4'', ''5'', ''7'', and ''9''). Such numerals are called [[old-style numeral]]s. (Some [[Italic type|italic]] fonts, such as [[Computer Modern|Computer Modern italic]], put a descender on the numeral ''4'' but not on any other numerals. Such fonts are not considered old-style.) Some fonts also use descenders for the tails on a few uppercase letters such as ''J'' and ''Q''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mcclam |first=Erin |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-15-1438578486_x.htm |title=Typeface designers mix art, engineering |work=[[USA Today]] |date=2007-09-16 |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref>

The parts of characters that extend above the [[x-height]] of a font are called [[ascender (typography)|ascenders]].<ref name="macworld">{{cite web|first=Lesa |last=Snider |url=http://www.macworld.com/article/2033779/typography-for-all-demystifying-text-for-high-impact-messages.html |title=Typography for all: Demystifying text for high-impact messages |work=[[Macworld]] |date=2013-04-23 |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref>

Descenders are often reduced in small-print typefaces for uses such as newspapers, directories or pocket Bibles to fit more text on a page. More radically, on 20 May 1802 Philip Rusher of [[Banbury]] patented a new [[Rusher's Patent Types|Patent Type]] with eliminated descenders and shortened ascenders.<ref>{{cite book|title=English Patents of Inventions, Specifications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bheS8CveebwC&pg=PA14-IA11|year=1856|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|pages=14–15}}</ref><ref name="Goudy1977">{{cite book|author-link=Frederic Goudy|first=Frederic|last=Goudy|title=Typologia: Studies in Type Design & Type Making, with Comments on the Invention of Typography, the First Types, Legibility, and Fine Printing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s5Js_NPRflwC&pg=PA141|date=1 January 1977|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-03308-5|pages=141–142}}</ref><ref name="Rusher Rasselas">{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Samuel |title=Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. By Dr. Johnson. Printed with Patent Types in a Manner Never Before Attempted. Rusher's Edition |date=1804 |publisher=P. Rusher |location=[[Banbury]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A-GksvnNIkYC |access-date=11 August 2021}}</ref><ref name="Johnston Weird">{{cite web |last1=Johnston |first1=Alastair |title=Weird And Wonderful Typography - Yet Still Illegible |url=https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/03/weird-and-wonderful-yet-still-illegible/ |website=[[Smashing Magazine]] |date=21 March 2012 |access-date=11 August 2021}}</ref> The type did not prove successful, nor did another use in 1852.<ref name="Shutford1852">{{cite book|author=William White (of Shutford.)|title=A Complete Guide to the Mystery and Management of Bees;|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jYbNAAAAMAAJ|year=1852|publisher=Simpkin, Marshall, and Company; and Hamilton, Adams, and Company: Oxford; H. Slatter: Reading; Rusher and Johnson: Banbury; J. G. Rusher}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=John Cheney and His Descendants: Printers in Banbury Since 1767 |date=1936 |location=Banbury |pages=26–31}}</ref> The Art Nouveau [[display typeface]] [[Hobo (typeface)|Hobo]] and headline typeface [[Permanent Headline]] which also eliminate descenders have both been somewhat popular since.<ref name="Karlgeorg Hoefer Devroye">{{cite web|last1=Devroye|first1=Luc|title=Karlgeorg Hoefer|url=http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-31543.html|website=Type Design Information|accessdate=17 June 2016}}</ref>

Some early computer displays (for example, the [[Compukit UK101]]) and printers (for example, the Commodore 4022<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/4725/Commodore-4022-Printer/|title=Commodore 4022 Printer|website=The Centre For Computing History}}</ref>) restricted the vertical spacing of characters so that there was no space for correct display of descenders. Instead, characters with descenders were displaced vertically upwards so that the bottom of the descender was aligned with the [[Baseline (typography)|baseline]]. Contemporary systems that did not have this restriction were described as supporting ''true descenders''.

[[File:Typography Line Terms.svg|thumb|upright 2.0|alt=A diagram showing the line terms used in typography|The descenders are parts of a character that lie below the baseline.<br />For broader context, see [[Typeface anatomy]].]]

== Analogues in Thai script ==
{{main|Thai typography#Type anatomy}}
Some type designers have observed the “tails” of some Thai glyphs to be analogues to the descenders. (e.g. {{lang|th|ฤ}}) <ref name="Farida" /><ref name="Viewpoint" /> Other authors have also mentioned  pedestals/feet to be analogues to the descenders. (e.g. {{lang|th|ฎ}}, {{lang|th|ฏ}}, {{lang|th|ญ}} and {{lang|th|ฐ}})<ref name="Tiga" /><ref name="Assumption" />

[[File:Thai typeface anatomy.svg|center|540px|Thai typeface anatomy]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="Assumption">{{cite journal |last1=Punsongserm |first1=Rachapoom |last2=Sunaga |first2=Shoji |last3=Ihara |first3=Hisayasu |title=Thai Typefaces (Part 1): Assumption on Visibility and Legibility Problems |journal=Archives of Design Research |date=28 February 2017 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=5–23 |doi=10.15187/adr.2017.02.30.1.5|doi-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="Tiga">{{cite thesis|last1=Gunkloy |first1=Sirin |title=Tiga: A Latin-Thai type family for news media |type=post-graduate dissertation |date=2020 |publisher=École supérieure d'art et de design d'Amiens |pages=6–37 |url=http://postdiplome.esad-amiens.fr/wp-content/uploads/Memoire-Tiga-Online-20200306.pdf |accessdate=22 May 2020}}</ref>
<ref name="Viewpoint">{{cite journal |author1=Rachapoom Punsongserm |title=ข้อสังเกตในการใช้แบบตัวพิมพ์ไทยเสมือนโรมัน: เอกลักษณ์และความชัดเจนที่หายไป |trans-title=Viewpoint of Using a Roman-like Typeface: Disappearance of Singularity and Legibility |journal=Manutsayasat Wichakan |date=2012 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=113–145 |url=https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/abc/article/view/54148 |language=th |issn=2673-0502}}</ref>
<ref name="Farida">{{cite thesis|last1=Virunhaphol |first1=Farida |title=Designing Khom Thai Letterforms for Accessibility |type=doctoral thesis |date=2017 |publisher=University of Huddersfield |pages=38–67 |url=http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/34345/}}</ref>
}}

== External links ==
* {{Wiktionary-inline}}

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{{Typography terms}}

[[Category:Typography]]