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I would be interested in find out about those old machines. As for the
portables, I can relate. My first typewriter was a Royal and it weighed
about a ton (I'm not exaggerating). I still "bang" the keys really hard
because that's how I learned to type.
Al Geist
Technical Communicator, Help, Web Design, Video, Photography
Office/Msg: 802-872-9190
Cell: 802-578-3964
E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com
Website: www.geistassociates.com
See Also:
Fine Art Photography
Website: www.geistarts.com
"...I walked to work, quit my job, and kept walking. Better to be a pilgrim
without a destination, I figured, than to cross the wrong threshold each
day." (Sy Safransky)
-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Hood [mailto:klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 4:36 PM
To: Jim''Pinkham; 'Leonard C. Porrello'; 'Robert Lauriston';
techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com; Al Geist
Subject: RE: Chapter-page numbering, reasons for
My grandfather was born in 1901. He worked on linotypes and on the hot lead
machines that preceded them. I don't remember what the older type of
machines were called. He introduced me to typing when I was real young, on
one of those old Olivetti upright models, where the "portable" model weighed
30 pounds and you had to nearly break your left little finger to work the
backspace key. :-)
--- On Thu, 12/3/09, Al Geist <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com> wrote:
> From: Al Geist <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>
> Subject: RE: Chapter-page numbering, reasons for
> To: "'Pinkham, Jim'" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com>, "'Leonard C. Porrello'"
<Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com>, "'Robert Lauriston'"
<robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009, 12:30 PM
> I'm on the fence for including or not
> including chapter numbers with page
> numbers. Many of my "customers" insist on them as they feel
> it makes it
> easier to locate specific information or procedures in the
> printed
> documents. My manuals are combined hardware/software user
> guides and service
> manuals. Although they are placed on the system hard drives
> (as PDFs with
> hyperlinks), many customers also insist on shipping printed
> copies (on clean
> room paper) with the system...not sure why, unless they
> have a lot of desks
> with one short leg.
>
> I've also had a software customer (mid-20s) insist on
> including page numbers
> so she could quickly find information in the PDF file.
> (That one threw me
> because the PDF had internal links between subject headings
> and content and
> hyperlinks in the content to supporting material or
> figures.)
>
> So, whether you like chapter numbers included with page
> numbers or not, it's
> what your customer wants. Many of them don't have a clue
> except what they're
> familiar with. If any spent time in the military, they
> became familiar with
> chapter number-page number.
>
> As a side note, the machine that created lead plates for
> printing was a
> Linotype and it did not make the lead plates as your
> grandfather typed. It
> created lines (Lin-o-type)of steel letter castings. Each
> line (or slug) was
> stabilized and followed by another line, or an etched plate
> for pictures.
> Full pages were galleys, which were then used to make the
> lead plates. The
> galleys were broken down after the lead castings were made
> and the letter
> castings placed back in hoppers for the next print job. The
> lead plates were
> melted down for reuse after the print run was complete.
> (Four-color printing
> was a tedious task back then trying to keep everything in
> registration.) The
> practice was common for many smaller newspapers until the
> late 1970s. The
> old cut-and-wax layout days followed until PageMaker hit
> the scene. In 1983,
> when I co-founded Mushing magazine in Fairbanks, we had to
> start the wood
> stove and heat the offices in Ester (AK) before working on
> the magazine
> because the wax was so brittle (30+ below nothing inside).
> If you didn't,
> the layout would simple slide off the page. You youngsters
> have it easy
> today.....
>
> I SAID YOU YOUNGSTERS HAVE IT EASY TODAY....
>
> Al Geist
> Technical Communicator, Help, Web Design, Video,
> Photography
> Office/Msg: 802-872-9190
> Cell: 802-578-3964
> E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com
> Website: www.geistassociates.com
> See Also:
> Fine Art Photography
> Website: www.geistarts.com
>
> "...I walked to work, quit my job, and kept walking. Better
> to be a pilgrim
> without a destination, I figured, than to cross the wrong
> threshold each
> day." (Sy Safransky)
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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from just one project. Fast and intuitive. http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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