You're right that the AFM units are based on 1000 to the em. To use the
size for each character in an application, divide the size in the AFM by
1000, and multiply by whatever your current pointsize is. The easiest
example is the em dash character. It's size is 1000 units, so if you're
setting type in 12 points, 1000/1000*12 = 12. An em dash in 12 point type
is 12 points wide. Of course, if you want your application to support
character pair kerning, then things get a bit more complicated. Steven