Logo Questions Linux Laravel Mysql Ubuntu Git Menu
 

What does glyph mean in the Chrome browser?

In the Chrome browser using the developer tools, on the Computed tab there is a section at the bottom named Rendered Fonts. In that section there is an item which lists the font type that is rendered and it states # glyphs. The # represents a number from 0 and up. What does glyph actually mean? Is it the number of characters? See screenshot below. I tried searching the web but didn't find a conclusive answer.

like image 563
iheartcsharp Avatar asked Jun 25 '14 19:06

iheartcsharp


People also ask

What is a website glyph?

A glyph is a term used in typography for the visual representation of one or more characters. The fonts used by a website contain different sets of glyphs, which represent the characters of the font.

What is Google Chrome's font?

depends on the version... it uses the system font, which is San Francisco as of El Capitan, but Lucida Grande for earlier versions.


1 Answers

Yes, it appears that this describes the number of characters (glyphs) that were produced from the given font.

  • Repeated characters are counted separately ("aabb" = 4 glyphs).
  • Blank spaces are included ("a b" = 3 glyphs).
  • Ligatures are counted as two separate glyphs ("off" = 3 glyphs even with ff ligature).
  • Child elements are not counted (foo<span>bar</span> = 3 glyps).

The purpose of the "Rendered Fonts" pane appears to be to show what font substitutions have taken place. For example, even with font-family: Arial, Chrome on Windows 7 substitutes SimSun for Chinese characters; inspecting this JSBin gives "Arial—8 glyphs, SimSun—2 glyphs".

like image 120
Jo Liss Avatar answered Sep 28 '22 09:09

Jo Liss