TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Standard European Book Sizes From:Dick Margulis <margulis -at- fiam -dot- net> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 17 Jan 2000 18:42:20 -0500
[Everything snipped, because I'm not directing this at any individual]
<rant>Book size is the outside dimension of a bound book. In the case of
hardbound books this is larger than the page size. Thickness doesn't
count.
Paper size is the size of the sheet of paper that goes through the
printing device (desktop printer or sheet-fed press). This may or may
not be the same as page size.
Page size is the size of the cut piece of paper that has words printed
on it.
Type area is the area inside the margins.
Folks, please, we get into these discussions all the time, with
half-baked questions evoking half-baked answers, all because
weofallpeople get sloppy with word choice and nomenclature. (Another
example that comes up from time to time revolves around the distinctions
between dots per inch, lines per inch, pixels per inch, and so forth.)
So let's try to be clear here. 7.5 x 9 page size? Or 7.5 x 9 type area?
One-off on the customer's desktop printer? Or commercially printed and
bound?
Asking the question unambiguously will more than likely produce more
accurate answers than will asking the question ambiguously. </rant>