I knew this chapter was coming when the
earlier chapters alluded to the old methods of typesetting, but this
chapter put it into a much more detailed light. I still can't
comprehend going through the old block style of typesetting for an
entire manuscript letter by letter. I can only imagine the joy of
typographers everywhere when linotype and eventually monotype were
invented. It's just infinitely easier nowadays to create type on the
computer and see it change in real time. I had never even heard of
phototypesetting until reading this. It was an interesting idea, to
use technology similar to that of photography. I would imagine though
that the clarity of the type would suffer a bit, though. I really
like the Walker typeface developed by Matthew Carter in 1995. The
idea of interchangeable serifs and decoration to the text is a cool
idea.
By far though, I thought most about the
discussion of the concept of WYSIWYG. In the age of digital design,
ensuring that what one produces on a screen comes out in print the
same way it looks on screen is a real challenge. I had discovered
last year how unforgiving the computer screen could be, when I
printed out a poster for a final project with a light cream-colored
background, that printed in a pretty nasty looking brown-yellow. I
had to go get it reprinted late at night at a local Staples because I
don't have a printer large enough for the required size. Just goes to
show how important it is to have an accurate screen. Even in our
classroom, the projector and the monitor in the back look completely
different, which sometimes leads to completely different critiques.
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| And you thought typesetting in English was complicated... |
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