Adobe PS: bar, stroke, slash
Languages: Bosnian, Croatian, Danish, Diné bizaad (Navajo), Faroese, Inari Sámi, Maltese, Nnee biyátiʼ (Western Apache), Polish, Serbian, Skolt Sámi, Vietnamese
Bar, Stroke, Slash
History and examples of use
In South Slav languages and Vietnamese, the stroke alters the pronunciation of đ. In Maltese it is used with the ħ character of Arabic origin. In Polish and Upper and Lower Sorbian it denotes “hard” pronunciation of ł. Ø with a stroke alters the pronunciation in Danish, Norwegian, Faroese and Greenlandic.
Notes
Icelandic capital Ð appears the same as the South Slavic/Vietnamese Ð, but its lower case counterpart is different: ð.
Design
The strength of the stroke should be the same as the strength of the vertical strokes in other characters in the typeface (as in Ħ) and it should be the same for both lowercase and uppercase letters. In serifed typefaces, the stroke should be as wide as the serifs. The more the stroke exceeds the serif width, the more problems will occur in kerning. In sanserifed faces, the stroke is vertically either placed in the centre of the character (Đ), in the visual centre of the ascender (đ, ħ), or in the visual centre of the character above the bar (Ħ). If the characters are asymmetrical, the stroke is usually reaches further to the inside of the character than the outside. Slash in ø should not exceed the width of the character itself, optically, the height of the slash should correspond to the height of the letter x. The slash should not be thicker than the horizontal strokes of the character, usually it is about half as thick, and it should cross the centre of the o. In extra bold characters, the part of the slash inside of the character may be omitted. Vertically, the slash with barred ł (or “ew”) should appear in the visual centre of the character. When it is placed higher than that, it might be mistaken for the t character. The angle between the slash an horizontal line should be around 30 degrees and certainly not 45 degrees and more. The stroke strength should correspond with the thin strokes in the characters, ideally with the slashed parts of w, k, or x. In serifed faces, the width of the slash should not exceed the width of the serifs. Slash in Ł caps reaches further to the right, in lowercase ł it is inclined to the right only slightly. The terminal of the slash should correspond with similar symbols in the face, it may be slightly stressed, but it should not be excessively decorated. The Polish have specific approach to the slash in handwritten typefaces — instead of a slash, they use a form of tilde in the upper part of the character or above it. In those cases, it is often necessary to alter the shape of the original character. Detailed description with examples is to be found via the following links.