Re: Computers and right justified margins (Was spaces)

["D. Margulis" <ampersandvirgule -at- WORLDNET -dot- ATT -dot- NET>]

Smith, Martin wrote:
>
>News
> stories were typeset with right justified margins. The system actually
> altered the way in which it drew individual characters instead of
> tweaking the spacing between characters, words, and sentences. So the
> question is, why can't the Pentium II computer on my desk accomplish the
> same thing? I thought that Adobe's multiple master fonts were supposed
> to make high quality typesetting on the desktop a reality. As far as I
> know, none of the major desktop publishing programs alters the shape of
> individual characters in order to right justify text. There is still a
> noticeable difference in quality between documents produced on the
> desktop and documents produced using dedicated typesetting equipment.
>


Martin,

Multiple Master fonts serve a purpose, but that isn't it. Generally
speaking (outside of newspaper work, which is a special case), it is
poor practice to compress or expand type to make a line fit. One can
certainly make a design decision to compress or expand a font for a
particular paragraph type or for a specific magazine article, or for a
whole book. But varying the set from line to line is usually a last
resort, along with letterspacing. (Letterspacing, when intentional, can
be used to good effect; what I'm referring to is letterspacing one word
or one line in order to fit the copy.)

As to the difference between desktop typesetting and commercial
typesetting, you're correct that full-fledged commercial systems are
superior, but the differences are fairly subtle. The most visible
differences in the product usually result from lack of training and
general hubris of DTPers. Going to Sears and spending a couple thousand
bucks on Craftsman tools doesn't make you a mechanic, and buying
PageMaker and working through the tutorial doesn't make you a
typographer.

Getting back to newspapers, the concerns over typography in that
industry have always been related to time and money (specifically,
getting the plates on the press in time, and maximizing the number of
words per square inch of paper), not aesthetics. Narrow columns present
special difficulties for typographers and compositors [a typographer
specifies type; a compositor sets it] and the exigencies of newspaper
economics mitigate for the crudest of solutions to those problems.

So I would not use the solutions selected by a newspaper as a model for
best practice in less ephemeral work.

My .02

Dick (who started setting type in 1959)


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