Metric typographic units

Metric typographic units have been devised and proposed several times to overcome the various traditional point systems.

After the French Revolution of 1789 one popular proponent of a switch to metric was Didot, who had been able to standardise the continental European typographic measurement a few decades earlier.

The advent and success of desktop publishing (DTP) software and word processors for office use, coming mostly from the non-metric United States, side stepped this metrication process in typography.

[1] The German draft standard DIN 16507-2 has suggested that digital typography will be specified using millimeters, with sizes in multiples of 0.250  mm.

[1] German graphic designer and typographer Otl Aicher (1922 – 1991) vividly encouraged the use of the quart, and provided a suggested list of common sizes: Note that Aicher's font sizes are based on the DIN standard then in development, which uses the H-height, whereas in lead typesetting the larger cap height was used.

Diagram of font metrics showing where letters and symbols would be placed relative to each other. The letters would change size according to the font type, typographic unit and dimension used.