typethe

Typethe is a hypothetical metadata and interchange format designed to describe typographic properties of text blocks for use in digital publishing and typesetting pipelines. The central goal of typethe is to separate typographic intent from rendering engines, enabling consistent typography across platforms and devices. A typethe document defines a typography profile composed of fields such as fontFamily, fontWeight, fontStyle, fontSize, lineHeight, letterSpacing, textTransform, textDecoration, color, alignment, and language. It may also specify advanced OpenType features (ligatures, discretionary ligatures, and alternative glyphs), features of variable fonts via fontVariationSettings, and other typographic controls like kerning and glyph substitution.

Typethe is designed to be complementary to existing formats like CSS and OpenType. Implementations typically map typethe properties to CSS properties when rendering on the web or to settings in desktop publishing software and typesetting engines. The format supports inheritance and defaults: a base profile can be extended by style rules or document sections. It uses a simple, machine-readable encoding such as JSON or YAML, enabling automated tooling for template-driven typesetting workflows.

History and status: Typethe originated in design-automation experiments in the early 2020s and has since seen limited adoption among niche publishing tools. Proponents argue that explicit typography metadata improves consistency, accessibility, and collaboration, while critics cite potential redundancy with established standards and tooling fragmentation.

Use and examples: A typethe file may accompany a document to instruct a renderer to apply a particular font family across headings, with specified sizes and leading, while enabling small caps or ligatures as required by the design system.

See also: Typography, Typesetting, CSS, OpenType, Font features, Digital publishing.