What's the point? [was RE: Manual scanning: TIFF-to-PDF software with greyscale support?]
15 Feb
2010
15 Feb
'10
2:41 p.m.
Rich wrote:
Tim wrote:
> PDF's are fundamentally a VECTOR format. A
vector format designed around
> typography where the most natural unit since long before computers has been
> the point (=1/72 inch).
Technically, 100/7227 inch, which is to say, there are
72.27 points per inch
in typography prior to the creation of the Macintosh. (I don't believe that
Postscript originally used a 1/72 measure, and TeX certainly didn't, so I can't
just say "non-computerized typography".)
I'm pretty sure when I learned typography the numbers I was taught was that Cicero
was 6 lines to the inch, and that it was a 12 point font. Maybe neither of those numbers
are actually correct. That was all before I had used computers although I think it's
possible that Postscript was a glimmer in someone's eye by that point.
I briefly used an IBM Composer and I'm pretty sure that defined a point = 1/72 inch
before
postscript ever did, although it seems likely that it didn't originate the 1/72
measure
either.
Most computer line printers were six lines to the inch, 66 lines to 11 inch page. This
was set by geartrain if nothing else :-). I think the Model 33 is the same.
If you think *this* mailing list goes off-topic from
time to time, you should
check out the Letpress mailing list, for metal type and ink folks.
Knuth's Metafont book closely brought together for me, for the first time, computers
and typography, and they've been closely linked for me ever since. I could've
sword
that I read that a point = 1/72 inch in there but despite some desparate scouring
he uses "point" as base unit with absolutely no attempt to map it into inches.
Tim.
15 Feb
15 Feb
4:19 p.m.
On 15/02/2010 19:41, Shoppa, Tim wrote:
Having come from the reprographics and printing industry in the days of
early phototypesetting and long before DTP, I can back up Rich's
assertion. A point is not exactly 1/72"; there are indeed 72.27 points
to the inch in conventional typography.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Rich wrote:
Technically,
100/7227 inch, which is to say, there are 72.27 points per inch
in typography prior to the creation of the Macintosh. (I don't believe that
Postscript originally used a 1/72 measure, and TeX certainly didn't, so I can't
just say "non-computerized typography".)
I'm pretty sure when I learned typography the numbers I was taught was that Cicero
was 6 lines to the inch, and that it was a 12 point font. Maybe neither of those numbers
are actually correct. That was all before I had used computers although I think it's
possible that Postscript was a glimmer in someone's eye by that point. 
4:26 p.m.
Shoppa, Tim ????????:
Knuth's Metafont book closely brought together for me, for the first time, computers
and typography, and they've been closely linked for me ever since. I could've
sword
that I read that a point = 1/72 inch in there but despite some desparate scouring
he uses "point" as base unit with absolutely no attempt to map it into inches.
The 1967 World Book Encyclopedia defines one point as 1/72 of an inch.
It seems to be the most common measure used by printers. It seems that
1/144 of an inch is the smallest unit of measure used in the printing
trade. There is a name given to that measure -- 1/144 of an inch --
which I do not recall at the moment. Related is the pica, which is
another printer's measure. These are all fractions of whichever
standard inch is traditionally used by printers, which has not changed
in the trade despite sporadic legal redefinitions. There should be
something more under the subjects of printing and typesetting if
anyone wants to look in a decent public or academic library which
doesn't throw out it's books. I suppose a google search for "printing
AND typesetting AND pica" might return some useful results as well.
Just in case that helps.
(I used to have a see-through printer's rule which was laid out in
points, pica, et cetera. It was quite useful for for laying out
pages. This was long before computers started to be used for layouts.)
==
jd
Captain Penny's Law:
You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of
the people all of the time, but you Can't Fool Mom.
--
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