What Is a Proportional Font?

Terms such as "proportional," "fixed pitch" and "mono spacing" are used to describe types of fonts and the kind of spacing used. Proportional fonts are the more commonly used.

Fixed-Width

• A fixed-width font is a font in which every single letter takes up the exact same space. The letter "M" takes up the same space, width-wise, as the letter "L". It is also known as a fixed-pitch font or mono-spacing font.

Proportional Font

• A proportional font is the opposite of a fixed-width font. The letter "W" takes up more room than the letter "I". A proportional font is sometimes called a proportional pitch font because each letter has a different pitch, or width.

Considerations

• Proportional fonts are considered more ascetically pleasing, but a fixed-width font is easier to implement in hardware and makes formatting much simpler.