Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
approche (typographie)
English translation:
sidebearing [SEE QUESTION!]
Added to glossary by
Tony M
Aug 9, 2017 21:17
6 yrs ago
9 viewers *
French term
France
Medical and Legal translations
Native in: English 
, French
Works in: English to French, French to English, Russian to English, and 1 more.
approche de la typographie
French to English
Other
Photography/Imaging (& Graphic Arts)
Typography
This is part of a French Government statute setting forth a series of very specific typographical requirements for posting warning messages on gaming and gambling websites:
"1° Les messages sont insérés à l’intérieur d’un cartouche de fond noir (fond : R 0, V 0, B 0), d’une hauteur minimale de 60 pixels ;
2° Les messages sont reproduits en lettres capitales de couleur blanche (**approche de la typographie** : 0) d’une taille minimale de 22 points au moyen du modèle typographique Alternate Gothic n° 2. La typographie des messages de mise en garde est centrée dans le cartouche en hauteur et en largeur ;"
The definition of the term in French can be found here:
http://www.wikiwand.com/fr/Approche_(typographie)
> Is this the same as what is called the 'shoulder' in English?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sort_(typesetting)#/media/File...
I have an uneasy feeling that the two terms ("approche" and "shoulder") may not quite match. Also, how can a "shoulder" have a "0" value? Doesn't any letter character necessarily have to have some blank space around it? Would anyone know the exact English equivalent and be able to confirm this please? Thank you.
"1° Les messages sont insérés à l’intérieur d’un cartouche de fond noir (fond : R 0, V 0, B 0), d’une hauteur minimale de 60 pixels ;
2° Les messages sont reproduits en lettres capitales de couleur blanche (**approche de la typographie** : 0) d’une taille minimale de 22 points au moyen du modèle typographique Alternate Gothic n° 2. La typographie des messages de mise en garde est centrée dans le cartouche en hauteur et en largeur ;"
The definition of the term in French can be found here:
http://www.wikiwand.com/fr/Approche_(typographie)
> Is this the same as what is called the 'shoulder' in English?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sort_(typesetting)#/media/File...
I have an uneasy feeling that the two terms ("approche" and "shoulder") may not quite match. Also, how can a "shoulder" have a "0" value? Doesn't any letter character necessarily have to have some blank space around it? Would anyone know the exact English equivalent and be able to confirm this please? Thank you.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +2 | character spacing / kerning |
Tony M
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Change log
Aug 10, 2017 11:25: writeaway changed "Field" from "Law/Patents" to "Other" , "Field (write-in)" from "Typographical requirements" to "included in Typographical requirements"
Aug 13, 2017 06:03: Tony M Created KOG entry
Aug 13, 2017 06:04: Tony M changed "Field (write-in)" from "included in Typographical requirements" to "Typography"
Proposed translations
+2
19 mins
Selected
character spacing / kerning
It's not precisely the same thing, but this is the closest specific term I can think of, since it is viewed slightly differently in FR compared to EN.
In essecne, it refers to the spacing between letters — in this case, not between some specific combonation of letters, but between ALL letters. 'Kerning' really refers to adjusting the spacing between certain combinations of characters for aesthetic effect; hence here it is really more about overall character spacing — which is what it is called in MS Word.
It has a value of '0' because the characters are neither condensed (= sqaushed together) nor expanded (= stretched apart), which would lead to –ve or +ve values respectively (in MS Word, these are expressed in points, though they might eqaully well be expresed in %)
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Note added at 23 minutes (2017-08-09 21:40:35 GMT)
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That's why 'shoulder' isn't quite the same thing, as it is of course a throwback to hot metal typography, where as you say the physical shoulder set a finite, pre-determined minimum limit on character spacing. In this usage here, '0' simply means 'the default character spacing as originally defined by the designer of the font'.
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Note added at 10 heures (2017-08-10 07:43:50 GMT)
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As Charles points out 'kerning' really is NOT the right term here, for the reasons I've already stated; so please disregard that part of my suggestion; however, as Charles also suggests, 'tracking' is another term used for this same parameter
In essecne, it refers to the spacing between letters — in this case, not between some specific combonation of letters, but between ALL letters. 'Kerning' really refers to adjusting the spacing between certain combinations of characters for aesthetic effect; hence here it is really more about overall character spacing — which is what it is called in MS Word.
It has a value of '0' because the characters are neither condensed (= sqaushed together) nor expanded (= stretched apart), which would lead to –ve or +ve values respectively (in MS Word, these are expressed in points, though they might eqaully well be expresed in %)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 minutes (2017-08-09 21:40:35 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
That's why 'shoulder' isn't quite the same thing, as it is of course a throwback to hot metal typography, where as you say the physical shoulder set a finite, pre-determined minimum limit on character spacing. In this usage here, '0' simply means 'the default character spacing as originally defined by the designer of the font'.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 heures (2017-08-10 07:43:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
As Charles points out 'kerning' really is NOT the right term here, for the reasons I've already stated; so please disregard that part of my suggestion; however, as Charles also suggests, 'tracking' is another term used for this same parameter
Note from asker:
| Thank you Tony! |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
philgoddard
17 mins
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Thanks, Phil!
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| agree |
Charles Davis
: "Approche" is literally side bearing (or sidebearing), but I think they must mean tracking (i.e. character spacing). I'm pretty sure they don't mean kerning (crénage), which only applies to particular pairs of successive characters. I'll add a ref.
5 hrs
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Thanks, Charles! Yes, you're right, 'kerning' is not applicable here; but 'tracking' is a good alternative too!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Reference comments
6 hrs
Reference:
Approche is literally side bearing (or sidebearing), but they must mean tracking
Your Wiki definition explicitly says that approche is sometimes confused with interlettrage (character spacing or letter spacing, more technically called tracking) and crénage (kerning): in other words, it is not the same as either. However, I think they must mean tracking here.
It says that approche is "la distance qui sépare le glyphe et les bords latéraux du caractère". This is side bearing:
"Side Bearings (also sidebearings)
The horizontal spaces either side of an individual character or glyph. The spaces either side are referred to as Left Side Bearing (LSB) and Right Side Bearing (RSB). These spaces ensure that characters sit beside one another with an even appearance. Sometimes the term is used to describe the extreme right and left edges of a glyph, including the space either side."
http://ilovetypography.com/typography-terms/typography-terms...
However, I don't think this can be what they mean. Sidebearings are a built-in feature of each character in a given font (and they will vary from one character to another); they can't be uniformly set to zero, as far as I know. And with zero sidebearings (no space at all between the glyphs and the sides of the characters), the glyphs will be touching in many cases. I doubt that's what they mean.
Although you would expect an Arrêté to use the right term, I think they mean tracking (interlettre). The expression they've used, "approche de la typographie", is unusual and odd anyway, since it implies a value applying to all the letters, whereas the value of the "approche" applies only to a particular letter. I very much doubt they mean kerning (crénage), since that means a selective reduction in spacing between two particular successive characters which by default appear excessively separated (the classic case is AV or VA). Admittedly, people do misuse the word "kerning" to refer to negative tracking, but it can't be what they mean.
Tracking is a parameter that is zero by default, but it can be made positive or negative. The effect is respectively to increase or reduce the sidebearings of all the characters uniformly, making the text spacier or more bunched. I presume that by "approche de la typographie: 0", they mean default spacing, i.e., "tracking: 0".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter-spacing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning
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Note added at 15 hrs (2017-08-10 12:22:46 GMT)
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Here's a very full account of kerning and tracking, the differences between them and the reasons for their use:
"Although both affect the same thing—the amount of space that characters are allotted on the page—kerning works only on specific letter pairs, while tracking works on ranges of characters, even whole documents."
http://www.graphics.com/article-old/design-fundamentals-kern...
It says that approche is "la distance qui sépare le glyphe et les bords latéraux du caractère". This is side bearing:
"Side Bearings (also sidebearings)
The horizontal spaces either side of an individual character or glyph. The spaces either side are referred to as Left Side Bearing (LSB) and Right Side Bearing (RSB). These spaces ensure that characters sit beside one another with an even appearance. Sometimes the term is used to describe the extreme right and left edges of a glyph, including the space either side."
http://ilovetypography.com/typography-terms/typography-terms...
However, I don't think this can be what they mean. Sidebearings are a built-in feature of each character in a given font (and they will vary from one character to another); they can't be uniformly set to zero, as far as I know. And with zero sidebearings (no space at all between the glyphs and the sides of the characters), the glyphs will be touching in many cases. I doubt that's what they mean.
Although you would expect an Arrêté to use the right term, I think they mean tracking (interlettre). The expression they've used, "approche de la typographie", is unusual and odd anyway, since it implies a value applying to all the letters, whereas the value of the "approche" applies only to a particular letter. I very much doubt they mean kerning (crénage), since that means a selective reduction in spacing between two particular successive characters which by default appear excessively separated (the classic case is AV or VA). Admittedly, people do misuse the word "kerning" to refer to negative tracking, but it can't be what they mean.
Tracking is a parameter that is zero by default, but it can be made positive or negative. The effect is respectively to increase or reduce the sidebearings of all the characters uniformly, making the text spacier or more bunched. I presume that by "approche de la typographie: 0", they mean default spacing, i.e., "tracking: 0".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter-spacing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 hrs (2017-08-10 12:22:46 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Here's a very full account of kerning and tracking, the differences between them and the reasons for their use:
"Although both affect the same thing—the amount of space that characters are allotted on the page—kerning works only on specific letter pairs, while tracking works on ranges of characters, even whole documents."
http://www.graphics.com/article-old/design-fundamentals-kern...
Note from asker:
| Thanks very much Charles for the thorough explanation. I will exclude kerning and pick 'character spacing' as I think it is easier to understand for all parties concerned. |
Peer comments on this reference comment:
| agree |
Tony M
3 hrs
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Thanks, Tony! It occurs to me that maybe the glossary entry could be accommodated to the (apparent) misuse of the term; otherwise people who look up "approche (typographique)" and find letter/character spacing will be misled.
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| agree |
Emma Brown
: Yes, definitely agree. Wiki definition sounds more like kerning than tracking but tracking makes most sense in the context.
12 hrs
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Thanks, Emma!
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Discussion
You also get quite a few other references by searching for "approche" + "fit" + "typographie".