chapter 1 The State of the Art
and How We Got Here
The way we set type today—and the language we use to talk about the
process—comprise a hodgepodge of technologies, techniques, and influences
that have accumulated for more than 500 years, ever since Johannes Guten-
berg developed his printing system based on the notion of movable type. A
surprising number of his innovations and refinements are still at work behind
the curtains of today’s slick computerized typesetting systems (as well as the
most modest of word processors). You can’t talk about type without using
words that have roots in German, French, and Italian.
And despite typesetting’s evol ...
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