Typography

GospeLib uses three font roles to create clear visual hierarchy: a scholarly serif for scripture text, a clean humanist sans for UI chrome, and Unicode-rich faces for original languages.

Font Roles

Role	Default Font	License	Purpose
Scripture Text (Serif)	Gentium Plus	OFL	Unicode scholarly serif with excellent Hebrew/Greek rendering, generous x-height, optimized for long reading sessions
UI Chrome (Humanist Sans)	Inter	OFL	Clean, neutral, never competes with scripture text
Original Languages	Gentium Plus (Greek) / SBL Hebrew (Hebrew)	Free	Hebrew RTL with cantillation mark support; Greek with polytonic accents

User-Selectable Alternatives

Role	Alternatives
Scripture	Georgia, Palatino, EB Garamond, Charter, user-installed fonts
UI Chrome	System default (-apple-system, Segoe UI), Nunito for warmer feel
Hebrew fallback	Ezra SIL

Token names: font.family.scripture, font.family.ui, font.family.hebrew, font.family.greek

Type Scale

Based on a 1.25 major third ratio, anchored at 16px base (configurable 12px–24px):

Token	Size	Line Height	Usage
font.size.xs	11px	1.4	Strong's badges, metadata chips
font.size.sm	13px	1.45	Secondary labels, captions
font.size.base	16px	1.6	UI body text, default
font.size.md	18px	1.55	Default scripture text size
font.size.lg	20px	1.5	Large scripture, section headers
font.size.xl	24px	1.4	Screen titles
font.size.2xl	30px	1.3	Marketing headings
font.size.3xl	38px	1.2	Hero headings

Scripture text defaults to md (18px) with 1.6 line height — generous for extended reading. User-configurable from sm to 2xl.

Scripture Text Rendering

Scripture text uses specific typography rules distinct from UI text:

font-feature-settings:
  'kern' 1,
  'liga' 1,
  'calt' 1;
text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;
font-variant-numeric: oldstyle-nums;
hanging-punctuation: first;

Verse Numbers

Property	Value
font-variant	small-caps
color	navy-400 (light) / navy-300 (dark)
font-size	0.7em
vertical-align	super
letter-spacing	0.02em
margin-right	0.35em

Chapter Drop Cap

The first verse of each chapter uses a decorative drop cap:

Property	Value
Size	3-line drop cap, font-size: 3.2em
Color	Corpus identity color (see Colors)

Red-Letter Christ Words

Property	Light Mode	Dark Mode
color	#A83232	#E87070

User-toggleable in Settings → Reader.

Section Headings

Section headings within chapters (e.g., "The Creation," "The First Vision"):

font-variant: small-caps;
font-size: 0.8em;
letter-spacing: 0.12em;
color: var(--color-verse-number);
text-align: center;
margin: 1.8em 0 0.8em;

Section headings are decorative guides — they must never visually compete with scripture text.

Original Language Text Rules

Hebrew

Property	Value
direction	rtl
font-family	"SBL Hebrew", "Ezra SIL", serif
font-size	1.1em (slightly larger — Hebrew letterforms are compact)
line-height	2.0 (extra space for cantillation marks above/below)
letter-spacing	0.02em

Greek

Property	Value
font-family	"Gentium Plus", "SBL Greek", serif
font-size	1.05em
line-height	1.8

Transliteration

Property	Value
font-family	"Gentium Plus", serif
font-style	italic
color	navy-400 (light) / navy-300 (dark)
font-size	0.9em

Reading Density Interaction

Typography adjusts based on the selected reading density:

Density	Line Height	Font Size Delta	Result
Spacious	1.85	+2px	20px default
Comfortable	1.6	0	18px default
Compact	1.45	-3px	15px default

Density and font size are independent — a user can be in Compact density with a large font, or Spacious density with a small font.

Font Weights

Token	Value	Usage
font.weight.regular	400	Body text
font.weight.medium	500	Emphasized labels
font.weight.semibold	600	Section headings
font.weight.bold	700	Strong emphasis

Related Pages

• Design Tokens — complete typography token table
• Reader Experience — density modes and chapter headers
• Original Language Tools — interlinear display
• Dark Mode — typography theming across modes