Proportional

Letters take space

River, light & time

Every detail has a story. Slow down and let the page unfold.

River, light & time

Specimen

iiiWWW 0123

Measured advances appear after fonts load.

111.11888.88123.45

Size48pxAdvance guidesTabular digits

All five examples share the same text and size. The named face renders supported Latin; Korean and Japanese use Noto CJK. Other characters may fall back. Guides measure text in context, so shaping and ligatures can affect the ranges.

Concept

Proportional letters use varying advance widths.

Example

All five specimens share a sentence, iiiWWW 0123, and the same numbers. Edit the specimen, adjust its size, and show measured width guides or tabular digits. Text remains shaped as one string. Reset or reload restores the initial text at 48px. The measured i and W advances differ; tabular digits can still align.

When to choose it

Choose it for flowing text. Font coverage and number features vary; measure the loaded face rather than infer widths from its name.

W3C

Comparison within this category
Concept	Features	Advantages	Limitations	Suitable situations	Combination conditions
Proportional	Proportional letters use varying advance widths.	Different advances fit letters to their individual proportions.	Font coverage and number features vary; measure the loaded face rather than infer widths from its name.	Choose it for flowing text.	Both serif and sans-serif can be proportional; tabular digits can coexist.

Comparison within this category

Concept

Features

Advantages

Limitations

Suitable situations

Combination conditions

Proportional

Proportional letters use varying advance widths.

Different advances fit letters to their individual proportions.

Font coverage and number features vary; measure the loaded face rather than infer widths from its name.

Choose it for flowing text.

Both serif and sans-serif can be proportional; tabular digits can coexist.

Letters take space

River, light & time

Concept

Example

When to choose it

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