Although the basic letterforms of the modern alphabet have changed very little since the days of ancient Rome, the appearance of written and printed letters have evolved over time. These variations in style are due largely to changes in the applications of written language and the tools used to create it. From the stone-carved letters of ancient Roman monuments, to the hand-drawn illuminated manuscripts of gothic monks, to the hand-cut wooden type used in early printing, to the advent of acid-etched metal type, to typefaces designed for modern digital output, each advancement has contributed to the evolution of typographic styles.

Font A set of characters. In the world of metal type, this means a given alphabet, with all its accessory characters, in a given size. In the world of digital type, it is the character set itself or the digital information encoding it.

Font families are important because they give designers a variety of choices while still remaining consistent. Good typefaces usually come with a variety of weights, as well as italicized and condensed weights.