The term typeface is used to refer to the overall design of the letterface. A complete set of type of one size and face. Good type and great typography is based on understanding the complicated process of reading. Reading is the basis for typography. Some of the important concepts include Saccadic Jumps During the reading process our eyes skip and stop.
Researchers call the jerky movement saccadic jumps and the pauses that follow fixations .
The information is gleaned during the moment of fixation. The jumps traverse the groups of letters and recognize them as the words they are. In other words, we don't read letter by letter, in rows, line by line. Serif Serif fonts assist the eyes movement across a line of text. Serifs are horizontal extensions of the vertical ends of the lines in the letters.