When you’re writing or designing a document, which font size should you use? Many people have their own preferences when it comes to the fonts they use. Some prefer using smaller font sizes to make documents look more elegant. Others like using bigger fonts so they don’t need to strain their eyes while reading. Whichever preference you have, you might also be wondering if Arial or Times New Roman is bigger. Which of these two fonts is the best for your document? Let’s find out!
Is Arial Or Times New Roman Bigger?
I don’t think there is a big difference in the size of Arial and Times New Roman. Arial and Times New Roman are available in different sizes which are suitable for different purposes. I think they are more or less the same when it comes to size.
Why Is Arial Bigger Than Times New Roman?
1. Arial has more characters per line
The number of characters that can be used in a line of text is called the point size. Arial has more characters than Times New Roman, so it is bigger than Times New Roman.
2. Arial’s height is taller than that of Times New Roman’s
The height of fonts is measured in points, and the height of Arial is 2 points taller than that of Times New Roman.
3. Arial’s weight is heavier than that of Times New Roman’s
The weight of fonts is measured in pounds, and the weight of Arial is 1 pound heavier than that of Times New Roman.
4. Arial has a lower x-height than Times New Roman
The x-height is the height of the lower-case letters in a character. The x-height of Arial is lower than that of Times New Roman, so it’s bigger than Times New Roman.
5. Arial has more ascenders and descenders than Times New Roman
The ascender and the descender are parts of characters that go up and down, respectively, above or below the baseline or horizontal line in a character, such as “a” and “b” in “ABC”. The number of ascenders, descenders, and other parts for each letter in a font is called the glyph set size; it is measured in points. Arial has more glyphs than Times New Roman, so it’s bigger than Times New Roman.
6. Arial has more of all kinds of characters than Times New Roman
The number of all kinds of characters, such as upper and lower case letters, numbers, special characters, and symbols for some languages is called the character set size; it is measured in points. Arial has more character sets than Times New Roman, so it’s bigger than Times New Roman.
How To Determine Which Font Is Bigger?
Check the font type
The first thing you should do when trying to figure out which font is bigger is to figure out which font type you’re dealing with. If you’re comparing two fonts of the same type, then you can make an apples-to-apples comparison. You can’t compare apples and oranges, right? You can, however, compare a capital “A” with a capital “B,” or a lowercase “i” with a lowercase “l.” In the case of this “Which font is bigger?” scenario, we’re dealing with serif vs. sans serif fonts. Serif fonts are those that have small lines at the end of letters. Sans serif fonts are otherwise plain letters. So which font type is bigger? Well, serif fonts tend to be a bit heavier than sans serif fonts, so a serif font may be a little larger than a sans serif font of the same font size. But that’s just a general rule of thumb.
Check the line length
The next thing to check when comparing fonts is the line length. You can do this by selecting a line of text from each sentence and measuring it. If the line of one sentence is longer than the line of the other, then the longer sentence is larger—and therefore the font type used in that sentence is bigger. You can also use this technique to see if a capital letter is larger than a lowercase letter. If the first letter of a sentence is longer than the rest of the sentence, then that letter is larger than the others, so the font type for that letter is bigger. The main thing you want to be cautious about when checking the line length is that you’re measuring from the top of the letters, not from the bottom. If you measure from the bottom, you’ll get the length of the line plus the distance the letters are from the bottom of the line.
Search for identifying features
If you’ve tried the techniques above and are still not able to determine which font is bigger, then you may have to look for some more subtle clues. Are there any identifying features of either font that you can use to help you? If you’re comparing serif and sans serif fonts, do the serif fonts have any decorative features that might help you? Are the sans serif fonts plain and modern, or do they have chunky, bold letters? If you’re comparing two fonts that are sans serif, do they both have a consistent look? Are they written in the same way, or are they written in different ways? What about the capitals versus the lowercase letters? Do they have any identifying features that could be helpful?
View the words in context
Sometimes, the best way to compare two fonts is to view them in their context. This means looking at the entire sentence and, in the case of a single sentence, paragraph, or page, page-layout. If you do this, you may find that a smaller font is actually larger than a larger font. The reason for this is that the larger font may look out of place in its current setting. For example, let’s say you have a page that has an average font size of 12 points, but you have one paragraph on the page that has a 16-point font. If you view the entire page, the 16-point font will look out of place with the rest of the page. It will be larger than everything else, but it will look like it doesn’t belong. It will seem too big for the page.
Identify which letter is larger
If you’ve tried all of the previous methods and are still not able to determine which font is bigger, then you may have to go a step further and actually measure the letters on each line. To do this, you’ll want to find a font that has a similar size to the fonts you’re comparing. You can do this by selecting a line of text from each sentence and then comparing the font sizes. Once you’ve selected the font size that’s similar to one of the two you’re trying to compare, you’ll be able to measure the letters on each line. For example, if you’re comparing a 12-point font with a 14- or 16-point font, then you’ll want to select a 12-point font to measure the letters on each line. If the letters in the 12-point font are larger than the letters in the other fonts, then the 12-point font is larger.
Look at the x-height and font size
Another way to determine which font is bigger is to look at the x-height of the fonts. The x-height is the distance between the middle of the letter “x” and the top of the letters in the font. If you have two fonts and one has a larger x-height than the other, then that font is larger. A larger x-height means the letters are bigger, and a smaller x-height means the letters are smaller. As you’re looking at the x-heights of the fonts, you can also look at the font sizes. The font size is just a general measurement of how tall the letters are in the font. If you have two fonts and one has a larger font size than the other, then that font is larger. A larger font size means the letters are taller, and a smaller font size means the letters are shorter.
Check how much space is between letters & words
If you’ve tried all of the other methods and are still not able to determine which font is bigger, you may have to look at the space between the letters and words in each line. If one line has more space between the letters and words than the other line, then the line with more space is larger. A larger line means there is more space between the letters and words, and a smaller line means there is less space between the letters and words. Of course, there are many other factors that can affect the amount of space between letters and words, but in most cases, you’ll find that the larger font has more space between letters and words
Bottom line
Arial and Times New Roman are both very common fonts that are used for both printed documents and computer screens. Which is bigger depends on what type of font you’re using. If a font is a sans-serif font, it will usually be bigger than a serif font. That’s because serif fonts are designed for printed documents and have a smaller x-height. Arial is a sans-serif font, so it is bigger than Times New Roman, which is a serif font. Which font you prefer is completely up to you. But if you’re comparing font sizes, you’ll want to know if a font is a sans-serif font or a serif font.