P900Penthera type

Type system

How is type set on penthera.org?

One scale, three faces and one set of rules, on every page. They come from Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style, read end to end and adapted to the screen. Every sample here uses the live tokens, so this page can’t drift from the site.

Scale

  1. --t-poster42 to 124 px · HelveticaThe poster headline

    Check it before they wreck it

  2. --t-h140 to 88 px · HelveticaPage titles

    Rules decide

  3. --t-h232 to 56 px · HelveticaSection titles

    What it finds

  4. --t-h326 to 40 px · HelveticaPost titles in a list

    We benchmarked ten scanners

  5. --t-lead22 to 28 px · HelveticaStandfirsts

    How do you test your own tool without fooling yourself?

  6. --t-read18 to 20 px · CharterReading

    A tuned scanner knows the answers, so we sealed half of each dataset before anyone looked at it.

  7. --t-text17 px · HelveticaInterface text

    A security scanner and fixer for your app. It checks your AI setup too.

  8. --t-mono16.5 px · Departure MonoSection heads in a post, inline code

    npx penthera --repo .

  9. --t-small15 px · HelveticaCaptions and tables

    Square: dev half, tuned. Dot: test half.

  10. --t-note13 px · Departure MonoNotes and small print

    Passive. Nothing stored. Your own site only.

  11. --t-label11 px · Departure MonoStickers and labels, at the font’s own size

    28 October 2026

Rules

  1. Bringhurst 2.1.2

    Keep lines to about 65 characters.

    Long lines lose the reader on the way back. The reading column is 35.5 rem wide and grows with the reader’s own text size.

  2. Bringhurst 2.2.2

    Measure vertical space in lines.

    One line of text is the unit, so the column keeps its beat past heads, lists and figures.

  3. Bringhurst 2.1.3

    Leave the right edge ragged.

    Browsers justify by stretching word gaps. A natural rag reads better, with no automatic hyphens.

  4. Bringhurst 3.5.1

    Let weight fall as size rises.

    Big type is already loud. Large heads are medium, small heads are bold, and each step changes one thing.

  5. Bringhurst 5.4

    Use real marks.

    Curly quotes, true apostrophes and single-character ellipses, set at build time. Code stays exactly as typed, so a command still pastes.

  6. Bringhurst 2.1.9

    Never fake a letter.

    No synthetic bold, italic or small caps. If a face lacks a style, we do without it.

  7. Bringhurst 6.5

    Give each face one job.

    Charter reads, Helvetica heads, Departure Mono labels. No fourth face.

  8. Bringhurst 9.5.3

    Match the ink to the paper.

    A cool near-black on light grounds. Warm blacks suit ivory, not gray.

  9. Bringhurst 1.1.1

    Spend the fun on the furniture.

    Stickers, blocks and colored keys live around the text, never behind it.

Rules we break on purpose

  1. Space between paragraphs.

    The book prefers indents. Space is easier for many readers on a screen.

  2. A heavy title on the blog.

    Size with weight breaks 3.5.1 once, on purpose. It’s the one poster moment.

  3. Lining numbers.

    Charter has no old-style figures on most devices, and we don’t fake them. Where the font has them, they appear.

  4. 13 px mono.

    Departure Mono is drawn at 11. Notes at 13 trade a little crispness for reading comfort.