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In typography, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, san serif or simply sans typeface is one that does not have the small projecting features called "serifs" at the end of strokes.〔"sans serif" in ''The New Encyclopaedia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 10, p. 421.〕 The term comes from the French word ''sans'', meaning "without" and "serif" from the Dutch word ''schreef'' meaning "line". Sans-serif fonts tend to have less line width variation than serif fonts. In print, sans-serif fonts are often used for headlines rather than for body text.〔(Serifs more used for headlines )〕 Sans-serif fonts have become the most prevalent for display of text on computer screens. This is partly because interlaced screens have shown twittering on the fine details of the horizontal serifs. Additionally, on lower-resolution digital displays, fine details like serifs may disappear or appear too large. Before the term "sans-serif" became common in English typography, a number of other terms had been used. One of these outmoded terms for sans serif was gothic, which is still used in East Asian typography and sometimes seen in font names like Century Gothic, Highway Gothic, or Trade Gothic. Sans-serif fonts are sometimes, especially in older documents, used as a device for emphasis, due to their typically blacker type color. ==History== The first sans-serif types were developed in the 18th century. They became popular in printed media in the early 19th century, at first under the term ''grotesque'', as the omission of serifs was a significant departure from hundreds of years of tradition in printed text. The term 'grotesque' comes from Italian for cave, and was often used to describe Roman decorative styles found by excavation, but had long become applied in the modern sense for objects that appeared 'malformed or monstrous'. Letters without serifs historically appear in epigraphy, especially in casual, non-monumental epigraphy (while serifs were developed for monumental inscriptions in Roman capitals in the Roman imperial era). The earliest typesets which omitted serifs were not intended to render contemporary texts, but to represent ancient inscriptions. Thus, Thomas Dempster's ''De Etruria regali libri VII'' (1723), used special types intended for the representation of Etruscan epigraphy, and in c. 1745, Caslon foundry made Etruscan types for pamphlets written by Etruscan scholar John Swinton.〔 In late 18th century, Neoclassicism led to architects increasingly incorporating ancient Greek and Roman designs in contemporary structures. Among the architects, John Soane was noted for using sans-serif letters on his drawings and architectural designs, which were eventually adopted by other designers, such as Thomas Banks and John Flaxman. In 1786 a rounded sans-serif font that was developed by Valentin Haüy first appeared in the book titled "Essai sur l'éducation des aveugles" (''An Essay on the Education of the Blind'').〔(The First Book for Blind People )〕 The purpose of this font was to be invisible and address accessibility. It was designed to emboss paper and allow the blind to read with their fingers.〔(Does your font choice measure up? )〕 The design was eventually known as ''Haüy type''.〔(How Braille Began )〕 Sans-serif letters began to appear in printed media as early as 1805, in ''European Magazine''. However, early-19th-century commercial sign writers and engravers had modified the sans-serif styles of neoclassical designers to include the uneven stroke weights found in serif Roman fonts, producing sans-serif letters.〔 In London, 'Egyptian' lettering was popular for advertising, apparently because of the "astonishing" effect the unusual style had on the public.〔"It became clear that in 1805 Egyptian letters were happening in the streets of London, being plastered over shops and on walls by signwriters, and they were astonishing the public, who had never seen letters like them and were not sure they wanted to." Mosley, James, ''The Nymph and the Grot, an update '', 6 January 2007.〕 In 1816, the Ordnance Survey began to use 'Egyptian' type, which was printed using copper plate engraving of monoline sans-serif capital letters, to name ancient Roman sites.〔 In 1816, William Caslon IV produced the first sans-serif printing type in England for Latin characters under the title 'Two Lines English Egyptian', where 'Two Lines English' referred to the font's body size, which equals to about 28 points. Originally cut in 1812.〔(William Caslon IV's sans serif )〕 Sans-serifs were popular due to their clarity and legibility at distance in advertising and display use, when printed very large or very small. Much early sans-serif signage was not actually printed but hand-painted or lettered, since large signs were difficult to print but could easily be painted by hand. Because sans-serif type was often used for headings and commercial printing, many early sans-serif designs did not feature lower-case letters. The first Grotesque typeface complete with lower-case letters was probably cast by the Schelter & Giesecke Foundry as early as 1825. The term ''sans-serif'' was first employed in 1832 by Vincent Figgins. The first use of sans serif as a running text is believed to be the short booklet ''Feste des Lebens und der Kunst: eine Betrachtung des Theaters als höchsten Kultursymbols'' (Celebration of Life and Art: A Consideration of the Theater as the Highest Symbol of a Culture),〔 by Peter Behrens, in 1900. Throughout the nineteenth century sans-serif types were viewed with suspicion by printers of fine books as being fit only for advertisements (if that), and to this day most books remain printed in serif fonts as body text. This impression would not have been helped by the standard of common sans-serif types of the period, many of which now seem somewhat lumpy and eccentrically-shaped. As late as 1922, master printer Daniel Berkeley Updike described sans-serif fonts as having "no place in any artistically respectable composing-room." By 1937 he stated that he saw no need to change this opinion in general, though he felt that Gill Sans and Futura were the best choices if sans-serifs had to be used. Through the early twentieth century, an increase in popularity of sans-serif fonts took place as more artistic and complex designs were created. As Updike's comments suggest, the more constructed humanist and geometric sans-serif designs were viewed as increasingly respectable, and were shrewdly marketed in Europe and America as embodying classic proportions (with influences of Roman capitals) while presenting a spare, modern image.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://theredlist.com/wiki-2-343-917-998-view-type-profile-gill-eric.html )〕〔(East Coast Joys: Tom Purvis and the LNER )〕 While he disliked sans-serif fonts in general, the American printer J.L Frazier wrote of Copperplate Gothic in 1925 that "a certain dignity of effect accompanies...due to the absence of anything in the way of frills," making it a popular choice for the stationery of professionals such as lawyers and doctors. By the mid-century, neo-grotesque fonts such as Univers and Helvetica had become popular through offering a more unified range of styles than on previous designs, allowing a wider range of text to be set artistically through setting headings and body text in a single font.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.fontbureau.com/nhg/ )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.fontbureau.com/nhg/history/ )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sans-serif」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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