Just curious... I usually determine the proper 'unit' for a 'word space' in my fonts visually, depending on the font design characteristics. But, I was wondering if anyone uses some sort of formula to determine this instead. I've heard some say that they use the narrowest letter, usually the "i" to determine the "space" unit value. Others may use the "period" unit value for the "space". Half the "figure" width. That sort of thing. And, I would be curious to hear if anyone decreases the "space" width value as the weight of the font(s) progresses.
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Craig brought up a good point using the 'n' as visual reference. I agree. That's pretty much what you do when you typeset a line of text and determine the word spacing visually based on all the visual cues. It all has to do with the rhythm of the stems, counters and inner-letter spacing throughout. Thanks guys.
(each unit is you /n advance width divided by 32)
The current default in FontLab VI is 240 units. That seems like a reasonable enough arbitrary starting point.