This design term describes the uniform adjustment of spacing across an entire string of characters, a concept implemented on the web through the letter-spacing property. Expanding this horizontal spacing is a common technique used to enhance the clarity of words set entirely in uppercase, while tightening the space with negative values is generally discouraged unless applied to massive headline sizes where characters naturally drift too far apart. Inexperienced designers frequently confuse this global adjustment with kerning, which refers strictly to the tailored, micro-level spacing between a specific pair of letters, whether pre-programmed into the font file by its creator or manually tweaked for a custom emblem. It is also worth keeping in mind that certain layout engines and web browsers might automatically deactivate connected contextual letter combinations, known as ligatures, the moment global or specific spacing modifications are introduced.
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