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In its widest sense a typeface could be said to be a set of design rules (i.e. a style, look or feel) in which any character can be conceived. This allows for addition of new characters to existing typefaces (e.g. the introduction of the Euro sign)
The art of designing typefaces is called type design, being the occupation of a type designer.
A font (originally fount, from typefoundry) is a set of glyphs (images) representing the characters from a particular character set in a particular typeface. Traditionally a font was specific to a given size (the actual height of characters), weight (how dark the text appears e.g. bold, light) and style (most commonly regular, italic or condensed). The design of a given character in font took into account all these three factors. Photographic typesetting allowed for optical scaling which meant that multiple sizes could be produced from a single font (although physical constraints on the reproduction system being used still require design changes at different sizes e.g. ink traps and spikes to allow for spread of ink).
In digital fonts, the image of each character may be encoded either as a bitmap (in a bitmap font) or by a higher-level description in terms of lines and curves enclosing space (an outline fontAn outline font (or "vector font") is one defined as vector graphics, i. as a set of lines and curves, as opposed to a bitmap font. Examples are PostScript and TrueType. Outline font characters can be scaled to any size and otherwise transformed more easi, also called "vector font").
The term fount has been used for centuries to refer to the contemporary technological device used to print in a particular size and typeface. Virtually all founts were cast by type foundries in various leadFor the "lead" in news writing, see news style. Lead is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Pb ( L. Plumbum and atomic number 82. A soft, heavy, toxic and malleable poor metal, lead has a dull gray appearance and is bluish white w alloys from the 1450sCenturies: 14th century 15th century 16th century Decades: 1400s 1410s 1420s 1430s 1440s 1450s 1460s 1470s 1480s 1490s 1500s Years: 1450 1451 1452 1453 1454 1455 1456 1457 1458 1459 Events and Trends Fall of Constantinople on May 29, 1453. until the middle of the 20th century19th century 20th century 21st century more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901- 2000 in the sense of the Gre. A few large founts were made of wood, especially in the USA. This is known as wood type . There was a relatively brief overlapping period (ca. 1950sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Years: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb.– 1990sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s Years: Events and trends Computers, technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other techn) where photographic technology, known as phototypesetting, was used; founts came on rolls or discs of film. From the mid- 1980s the move to digital typography has been relentless and the American spelling font has been almost universally adopted. The term font nowadays almost always refers to a computer file containing scalable, outline letterforms, usually in one of several common formats. Some fonts, such as Microsoft's Verdana, are intended primarily for use on computer screens.