In THE LAYMAN’S GLOSSARY: Terms Relating to the Forensic Examination of Handwriting, Signatures and Documents , handwriting expert witness Jacqueline A. Joseph, CDE, Board Certified Examiner of Handwriting & Documents, writes:
This glossary has been designed to meet the needs of those seeking to gain the meaning of common forensic terms and to understand the jargon used during the examination of questioned handwriting and signatures…
Because it would be impracticable to include all forensic terms in a work of this size and scope, this work includes many of the common terms relating to the examination of questioned handwriting and signature examination. It does not include terms relating to laboratory equipment, ink differentiation or other methods involving aspects beyond the examination of handwriting and signatures. However, it is my intention to publish expanded editions in the future….
Air stroke: The unrecorded (invisible) part of the stroke that bridges the gap between the point where the pen is raised off the paper to the point it returns to the paper.
Alignment: Spatial organization of margins, lines, words, and letters, baseline, spacing and other elements of the writing.
Arrangement of the writing: The layout of the writing including the margins, line spacing, paragraphing and various line indentations.
Baseline: The pre-printed, ruled or imaginary line upon which the bottom of the mid zone letters sit. The baseline may be even, uneven, erratic, or sloped upward or sloped downward.
Read more: http://www.jjhandwriting.com/jj/glossary-of-terms-for-the-layperson/