PANOSE是一种依照字体外观来进行分类的方法。对于未知的字体，可以透过PANOSE体系将字体的外观特征整理并且与其他字体归类比较。

PANOSE定义了几个范围：Latin Text, Latin Script, Latin Decorative, Iconographic, Japanese Text, Cyrillic Text, Hebrew。PANOSE的原形在1985年由 Benjamin Bauermeister 所开发，当时一个字体由七个16进制数字所定义，现在则发展为十个。这每一个数字都定义一种视觉外观的单位，像是笔划的粗细或是字体衬线的样式。

 

图：Family，Serif Style和Proportion选项由Windows系统用来进行字体选择和匹配。

举例来说，Times New Roman字体，依照PANOSE系统的定义如下：

Family Kind	2 (Latin text)
Serif Style	2 (Cove)
Weight	6 (Medium)
Proportion	3 (Modern)
Contrast	5 (Medium low)
Stroke variation	4 (Transitional)
Arm style	5 (Straight arms)
Letterform	2 (Round)
Midline	3 (Standard)
X-height	4 (Large)

这十个选项的含义以及可以取的值（括号中给出）在下面列出。这些是最通常的情形，其“family”为2，Text and Display。（如果这第一个数字取值不同，那么剩余九个数字的含义也随之不同）。

Family

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Latin Text and Display (2)
• Latin Script (3)
• Latin Decorative (4)
• Latin Pictorial (5)

Serif Style

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Cove (2)
• Obtuse Cove (3)
• Square Cove (4)
• Obtuse Square Cove (5)
• Square (6)
• Thin (7)
• Bone (8)
• Exaggerated (9)
• Triangle (10)
• Normal Sans (11)
• Obtuse Sans (12)
• Perp Sans (13)
• Flared (14)
• Rounded (15)

Weight

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Very Light (2)[100]
• Light (3) [200]
• Thin (4) [300]
• Book (5) [400]
• Medium (6) [500]
• Demi (7) [600]
• Bold (8) [700]
• Heavy (9) [800]
• Black (10) [900]
• Extra Black / Nord (11) [900]

Proportion

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Old Style (2)
• Modern (3)
• Even Width (4)
• Expanded (5)
• Condensed (6)
• Very Expanded (7)
• Very Condensed (8)
• Monospaced (9)

Contrast

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• None (2)
• Very Low (3)
• Low (4)
• Medium Low (5)
• Medium (6)
• Medium High (7)
• High (8)
• Very High (9)

Stroke Variation

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• No Variation (2)
• Gradual/Diagonal (3)
• Gradual/Transitional (4)
• Gradual/Vertical (5)
• Gradual/Horizontal (6)
• Rapid/Vertical (7)
• Rapid/Horizontal (8)
• Instant/Horizontal (9)
• Instant/Vertical (10)

Arm Style

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Straight Arms/Horizontal (2)
• Straight Arms/Wedge (3)
• Straight Arms/Vertical (4)
• Straight Arms/Single Serif (5)
• Straight Arms/Double Serif (6)
• Non-Straight Arms/Horizontal (7)
• Non-Straight Arms/Wedge (8)
• Non-Straight Arms/Vertical 90)
• Non-Straight Arms/Single Serif (10)
• Non-Straight Arms/Double Serif (11)

Letterform

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Normal/Contact (2)
• Normal/Weighted (3)
• Normal/Boxed (4)
• Normal/Flattened (5)
• Normal/Rounded (6)
• Normal/Off Center (7)
• Normal/Square (8)
• Oblique/Contact (9)
• Oblique/Weighted (10)
• Oblique/Boxed (11)
• Oblique/Flattened (12)
• Oblique/Rounded (13)
• Oblique/Off Center (14)
• Oblique/Square (15)

Midline

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Standard/Trimmed (2)
• Standard/Pointed (3)
• Standard/Serifed (4)
• High/Trimmed (5)
• High/Pointed (6)
• High/Serifed (7)
• Constant/Trimmed (8)
• Constant/Pointed (9)
• Constant/Serifed (10)
• Low/Trimmed (11)
• Low/Pointed (12)
• Low/Serifed (13)

XHeight

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Constant/Small (2)
• Constant/Standard (3)
• Constant/Large (4)
• Ducking/Small (5)
• Ducking/Standard (6)
• Ducking/Large (7)