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Comment by Telemakhos | Hacker News Reader

It’s the correct term from the technical vocabulary of book layout and printing. A rule is a line separating things on a page, while a border is a box.[0]. While the term originates in book printing shops, native English speakers would recognize it most easily from the terms “standard ruled” and “college ruled” as applied to loose-leaf notebook paper, describing the faint blue, printed horizontal lines providing guidance for straight handwriting.[1]

[0] https://practicaltypography.com/rules-and-borders.html [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruled_paper

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I remember this argument from the 90s where large numbers of people were upset at having to learn the world "Font". What it came down to was, either you use the correct existing term, or you create a new term and end up with constant conflict between the two.

These days everyone knows what a font is.

Funnily the word "font" is in fact now used in digital publishing for what is more properly called "typeface". In traditional typesetting "font" refers to one specific size, weight and style of a typeface. That is, Helvetica is a typeface, Helvetica Light Oblique 12pt is a font.

^ this

These days nobody knows what a font is.

I only know because a friend of mine studied design at the university.

Seems fine to me, it’s a fun piece of trivia for me that I am happy my friend told me. And at the same time, I don’t feel cheated for not having learned it myself in my education as mine was not in design :p

Also it does open up a neat avenue for designers to troll people if they are feeling mischievous.

Client: “This looks great, but could we try a different font?”

Designer: “Sure thing!”

Designer bumps size from 12pt to 14pt.

Designer: “There you go – different font!” :^)

A typeface would also be a font-family

The way a word is typically used is its general meaning, even if it has a different meaning in some technical circles.

While that may be true, I’ll say that as a native English speaker that reading is not the most obvious reading of “row rule”, which to me would be “A determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result.”

Indeed a “CSS rule” is already a thing and it has nothing to do with lines.

> Indeed a “CSS rule” is already a thing and it has nothing to do with lines.

Shouldn't make a difference; we had the element `<hr>` (horizontal rule) since before CSS, after all.

honestly didn't know hr actually stood for that, huh

A ruler is an object that helps you draw lines.

It's also the monarch that makes the rules, but even the rules help you stay within the lines.

While that is right, “divider” or “divider line” are common as well, and easier to search for. Try a search for “rule page layout” or “rule typography” or “rule css”.

Admittedly, we already have <hr> and <table rules="…">.

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