Reply #26: A lot of people who are trying to seem expert about all of this [View All]

[janx]

have never even used a typewriter, let alone a few different kinds through the years. Furthermore, they have no knowledge of typography and are throwing terms around that they know nothing about.

So terms like pitch, point, line spacing, proportional spacing, font, etc. are all getting thrown around with abandon and ignorance.

Jeez. I remember the days when we had to write on a typewriter and send the copy to the typesetter. We had to count the type according to the typeface we wanted the copy set in so that we could fit it into a column. I remember the evolution of typewriters, and the transition from those days into digital formatting. Believe me when I tell you that most people--*especially those wingnuts who contrived this rumor*--have no idea what's going on.

Older media types like Rather know this, however. Many of them have had to count type too. They know what various typewriters were capable of and they know digital typesetting and computer fonts very well.

For instance: one ridiculous assertion going around is that a typewriter could not have 13-point line spacing, which is ridiculous. Typewriters used to have type SIZES of typefaces, typically, at 10, 12, and 15 "pitch." (In typesetting this is akin to point size now.) But the line spacing was another matter. When we had to count type, back in the old days, we would designate 12 point Times Roman, for instance, to be set at 13 point line spacing. That was COMMON. We'd write 12/13 in the margin--12 for the type size and 13 for the line spacing.

People are getting hysterical.