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Printing & Publishing / font, line spacing, print settings | | German term or phrase: LW (abbreviation) | Here is the context:
Arial 10 pt, ZAB 13 pt, LW 0
This appears in a corporate handbook of print styles for various items such as faxes, letters, memos, etc.
ZAB is line spacing. What is LW? |
|  HeartKudoZ activityQuestions: 136 (none open) ( 1 without valid answers) ( 6 closed without grading) Answers: 259
| | Local time: 11:34
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| | English translation:character spacing | Explanation:
LW is the abbreviation for Laufweite. The Wikipedia article on Laufweite has a picture showing how this typographic setting is used in OpenOffice (which is similar to Microsoft Office). The corresponding setting in an English edition of Microsoft Word 2003, for example, would be "character spacing".
In the context of fine typography, Laufweite would be translated as "letterspacing", or perhaps "tracking". But a corporate handbook which specifies Arial as the font is surely referring to a word processor setting, for which the term is "character spacing". |
| Selected response from:
de>en
Local time: 12:34
| Grading comment I know the technical term is what is specified in the other answer with many 'agrees', but for a corporate handbook for users, only character spacing would be understood by the lay person audience. But I do indeed thank everyone for your input and expertise.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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| Discussion entries: 0 |
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Automatic update in 00:
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29 mins confidence:  peer agreement (net): +4 Laufweite = tracking / letter-spacing
Explanation:
"Laufweite
Die Laufweite bezeichnet den Abstand zwischen den Zeichen einer Schrift."
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laufweite
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"Letter-spacing
In typography, letter-spacing, also called tracking, refers to the amount of space between a group of letters to affect density in a line or block of text.
Letter-spacing can be confused with kerning. Letter-spacing refers to the overall spacing of a word or block of text affecting its overall density and texture. Kerning is a term applied specifically to the spacing adjustment of two particular characters to correct for visually uneven spacing. Kerning adjusts the letters closer together (negative spacing), tracking adjusts the letters further apart (positive spacing)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter-spacing
CL 5 because these are terms that I have been using in my profession for more than 27 years.
|  Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 09:34
Works in field
Native speaker of:  German
PRO pts in category: 127
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The translation workplace 
