Which statement correctly distinguishes kerning from tracking?

Which statement correctly distinguishes kerning from tracking?

• A. Kerning adjusts spacing between specific pairs; tracking adjusts spacing between all characters in a block of text.
• B. Kerning adjusts line height; tracking adjusts font size.
• C. Kerning changes color; tracking changes stroke weight.
• D. Kerning and tracking both adjust letter spacing globally with no difference.

Answer: (A)

Kerning is the adjustment of space between specific character pairs to create visually even spacing. Tracking is a broader adjustment that changes the spacing uniformly across a range of characters or an entire block of text. So you kern when a particular letter pair (like A and V) looks too close or too far, and you track when you want the overall density of a word, line, or paragraph to be tighter or looser. In practice, kerning fine-tunes optical balance between tricky pairs, while tracking controls the overall readability and fit of the text. The other ideas—altering line height, changing font size, or adjusting color or stroke—do not relate to spacing between characters in this way, and saying both kerning and tracking act globally with no difference ignores the pairwise precision that kerning provides.

Kerning is the adjustment of space between specific character pairs to create visually even spacing. Tracking is a broader adjustment that changes the spacing uniformly across a range of characters or an entire block of text. So you kern when a particular letter pair (like A and V) looks too close or too far, and you track when you want the overall density of a word, line, or paragraph to be tighter or looser. In practice, kerning fine-tunes optical balance between tricky pairs, while tracking controls the overall readability and fit of the text. The other ideas—altering line height, changing font size, or adjusting color or stroke—do not relate to spacing between characters in this way, and saying both kerning and tracking act globally with no difference ignores the pairwise precision that kerning provides.