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How do graphic designers measure type?

Metal Type Peice In typography, the point is the smallest unit of measurement and is used for measuring font size. The size of the point has varied throughout the history of printing as methods of printing continue to evolve. Desktop publishing has largely replaced letterpress printing, which uses metal type. The modern standard establishes that an inch equals 72 points.

Notice the point size isn't the same as the height of the letter "H", but rather the height of the entire metal body on which the character is cast. The face is the actual printing surface of the character. The shoulder is the well-defined space surrounding the type. The body, feet, groove and nick all help orient the type as it is printing. These measure the same across any particular font.

A case of cast metal type pieces.
This case of metal type pieces shows how printers can arrange the letters of a font to lay out words and sentences. Photo by Willi Heidelbach via Wikipedia CC BY 2.5

Question

What elements from the metal typecasting days of typography are still used in digital fonts?

Now that almost all typography is digital, most of the parts that make up a metal type piece are obsolete: we no longer need a "body" to fit into a printing case, or "nicks," "grooves" and "feet" to keep everything aligned. However, some important features have survived the transition: designers still talk about the "font face" to describe the style of the font they're using, and "point size" still measures how big a font is.