L

L (n: El)

The twelfth letter of the Latin-based script.

Latin (n: 'l& tIn)

The script developed from the script used to write Latin and its Romance language descendants, as well as all other European languages, many African languages, and some Asian languages.

layout (n/v: 'lej Aut)

A visual organization of information on a page or screen, often using a grid or other underlying structuring device.

To place information into a visual organization.

leading (n: 'lEd iN)

The space between lines of type from descender to ascender of the next line. From the strips of lead metal placed between lines in handset type.

leaves / leaf (n: livz / lif)

A sheet of paper bound into a book or codex. Each half of the bound sheet, folded and bound at the center spine, is a leaf holding two pages, front and back.

letterspace (n/v: 'lE t@r spes)

The area around a letter.

To add distance or area between letters; best reserved for evening out the color of a setting of capital letters, and not for use with lowercase.

ligature (n: 'lIg a tS@r)

Two or more letters tied together in one glyph. Typical ligatures are the f+f,i,l; these avoid a peculiar dark spot where the head stroke of the f can collide with the dot of the i and top of the l.

light (n: lAit)

A weight of letter darkness between fine and regular.

line length (n: lAin lENT)

The length of a line of text. Generally, the maximum number of characters a readable line of text holds is 70, with 50 or 65 considered a better length. Lines should never go much longer than two and a half lowercase alphabet lengths (26 + 26 + 13 = 65), as the line becomes too long for readers to easily find their way back to the beginning of the next line. In CSS, line length can be addressed using width or max-width expressed in ems.

line spacing (n: 'lAin spes IN)

Leading; in CSS, leading is addressed with rules for line-spacing.

liquid (adj: 'lI kwId)

Of a screen design, one that adapts easily and readily in size, composition and layout to the necessities of the user's viewing device. Usually achieved with percentages or other scalable CSS measurement units such as em.

logo (n: 'lo go)

A word designed to represent a person, thing, place, or company or organization. A logo is usually based on the organization's name. From Greek, "logos", word.

lowercase (n: 'low @r kes)

Of the Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, and Armenian scripts, the usual style of letter used in a text. The lowercase letters show the evolution of letters from the capital forms, usually by softening, rounding, and use of projectors, by way of handwriting. Capital letters are used to mark sentence starts, and special nouns.