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3\usemodule[prestepwise,presenttiles,abr02]
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5\definecolor[maincolor] [s=.6]
6\definecolor[othercolor][s=.2]
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9
10
11\startdocument
12 [title={How about those\\typographic virtues:\\do they still make sense?},
13 subtitle={Hans Hagen\\EuroBacho\TeX\\May 2013}]
14
15\StartSteps
16
17\starttopic[title=Typesetting]
18
19 \FlushStep
20
21 \startitemize
22 \startitem somehow we turned sounds into speech into language \FlushStep \stopitem
23 \startitem and after that it may have started with writing in the sand \FlushStep \stopitem
24 \startitem followed by painting on cave walls \FlushStep \stopitem
25 \startitem or maybe carving symbols in wood \FlushStep \stopitem
26 \startitem and figuring out some writing system \FlushStep \stopitem
27 \startitem that made it possible to chisel thoughts in stone \FlushStep \stopitem
28 \startitem and eventually putting blobs on paper \FlushStep \stopitem
29 \startitem that we somehow managed to map onto pixels \FlushStep \stopitem
30 \stopitemize
31
32 but \FlushStep
33
34 \startitemize
35 \startitem typesetting only happened very lately \FlushStep \stopitem
36 \stopitemize
37
38\stoptopic
39
40\StopSteps
41
42\StartSteps
43
44\starttopic[title=In the process]
45
46 \FlushStep
47
48 \startitemize
49 \startitem mankind optimized the basic shapes (to suit the language) \FlushStep \stopitem
50 \startitem and kept inventing new symbols \FlushStep \stopitem
51 \startitem more and more automated typesetting and rendering and printing \FlushStep \stopitem
52 \startitem and of course this went with all kind of silly arguments \FlushStep \stopitem
53 \stopitemize
54
55 think of this: \FlushStep
56
57 \startitemize
58 \startitem for ages scribes were the only way to get high end arabic typesetting \FlushStep \stopitem
59 \startitem and now we can do this mostly automatic (in good and bad ways) \FlushStep \stopitem
60 \startitem so we endangered yet another craft \FlushStep \stopitem
61 \stopitemize
62
63
64\stoptopic
65
66\StopSteps
67
68\StartSteps
69
70\starttopic[title=But eventually]
71
72 \FlushStep
73
74 \startitemize
75 \startitem new interfaces will bring new ways of reading (how about leap motion) \FlushStep \stopitem
76 \startitem and well go from manual to visual (glasses, look at gaming) \FlushStep \stopitem
77 \startitem so information will be pushed more or less directly into our brain \FlushStep \stopitem
78 \startitem while high quality rendering moves to the arts department \FlushStep \stopitem
79 \startitem and in the end probably not much gets printed any more \FlushStep \stopitem
80 \startitem so we will share, stare at and discuss books no longer the way we do now \FlushStep \stopitem
81 \startitem just look at how kids deal with information nowadays \FlushStep \stopitem
82 \stopitemize
83
84\stoptopic
85
86\StopSteps
87
88\StartSteps
89
90\starttopic[title=Targeting paper]
91
92 \FlushStep
93
94 \startitemize
95 \startitem we kept trying to save space by combine shapes and using umlauts and accents \FlushStep \stopitem
96 \startitem we can make it look better, using ligatures, alternative shapes \FlushStep \stopitem
97 \startitem color comes cheap, as does mixing fonts \FlushStep \stopitem
98 \startitem went from left to right and vise versa and top to bottom and mixed all this \FlushStep \stopitem
99 \startitem papers and magazines squeezed more into columns (in fact, we get less newspapers and magazines, but more advertising, so for a while theres as much print but more of dubious quality) \FlushStep \stopitem
100 \startitem and we even optimized the art of unreadability as in antismoke warnings \FlushStep \stopitem
101 \startitem thanks to software we can tweak fonts, mess with kerning, fool ourselve with expansion and protrusion \FlushStep \stopitem
102 \startitem we mess around with margins, aspect ratios, scaling, rotating, and justification \FlushStep \stopitem
103 \startitem and yes, we introduced conventions but also entered endless debates \FlushStep \stopitem
104 \stopitemize
105
106\stoptopic
107
108\StopSteps
109
110\StartSteps
111
112\starttopic[title=Towards displays]
113
114 \FlushStep
115
116 \startitemize
117 \startitem nowadays we can fake the old stuff on the screen and simulate paper \FlushStep \stopitem
118 \startitem we have weird user interfaces as we still want to recognize the old e.g.\ funny borders and strange buttons \FlushStep \stopitem
119 \startitem and were told how less pixels are actually needed to keep us happy \FlushStep \stopitem
120 \startitem while we stare at ourselves on those mirroring and radiating displays \FlushStep \stopitem
121 \startitem lack of detail gets nicely compensated with special reading compensation programs at school \FlushStep \stopitem
122 \startitem and still progress is hampered by copyrighting trivial properties and inventions that anyone can come up with given the machinery \FlushStep \stopitem
123 \stopitemize
124
125\stoptopic
126
127\StopSteps
128
129\StartSteps
130
131\starttopic[title=The state of affairs]
132
133 \FlushStep
134
135 \startitemize
136 \startitem we already lost (or maybe never reached) optimal quality \FlushStep \stopitem
137 \startitem it looks like ragged right won the battle \FlushStep \stopitem
138 \startitem and messing with fonts beyond what designers had in mind is okay \FlushStep \stopitem
139 \startitem the users start controlling the layout by scaling, rotating and setting properties \FlushStep \stopitem
140 \stopitemize
141
142 so \FlushStep
143
144 \startitemize
145 \startitem why do we texies still bother about typography, hobyism apart \FlushStep \stopitem
146 \startitem does paying so much attention and trying to be original still fit into rappidly changing times \FlushStep \stopitem
147 \startitem were not alone: the same is true for programs, apps, operating systems, etc \FlushStep \stopitem
148 \stopitemize
149
150\stoptopic
151
152\StopSteps
153
154\StartSteps
155
156\starttopic[title=Take ligatures]
157
158 \FlushStep
159
160 \definefont[TestA][texgyrepagellaregular*default]
161 \definefont[TestB][cambria*default]
162 \definefont[TestC][dejavuserif*default]
163 \definefont[TestD][lmroman10regular*default]
164
165 \startcombination[alternative=none,nx=1,ny=4]
166 {\hbox to \textwidth{\scale[height=.1\textheight]{\TestA fi ffi fl ffl ij}\hss}}
167 {\hbox to \textwidth{\scale[height=.1\textheight]{\TestB fi ffi fl ffl ij}\hss\tlap{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\TestB ffl\hskip.1emffi}}}}
168 {\hbox to \textwidth{\scale[height=.1\textheight]{\TestC fi ffi fl ffl ij}\hss}}
169 {\hbox to \textwidth{\scale[height=.1\textheight]{\TestD fi ffi fl ffl ij}\hss\tlap{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\TestD ffl\hskip.1emffi}}}}
170 \stopcombination
171
172 \FlushStep
173
174 Subtle kerning, partial substitution, different shapes: take your
175 choice. Can texies really claim that their ffi looks the best? Just
176 stare at it for a while.
177
178 \FlushStep
179
180\stoptopic
181
182\StopSteps
183
184\StartSteps
185
186\starttopic[title=Accent battles]
187
188 \FlushStep
189
190 \startcombination[alternative=label,nx=5,ny=2]
191 {\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[texgyrepagellaregular]š}}
192 {\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[dejavuserif]š}}
193 {\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[cambria]š}}
194 {\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[texgyretermesregular]š}}
195 {\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[lucidabrightot]š}}
196 {\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[texgyrebonumregular]š}}
197 {\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[texgyreherosregular]š}}
198 {\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[lmroman10regular]š}}
199 {\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[KozMinPr6NRegular]š}}
200 {\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[zapfinoextraltpro]š}}
201 \stopcombination
202
203 \FlushStep
204
205 \blank
206
207 Of course there are some conventions, but given that designs are \unknown\ well,
208 designs \unknown\ its never going to be okay for all of us.
209
210 \FlushStep
211
212\stoptopic
213
214\StopSteps
215
216\StartSteps
217
218\starttopic[title=Justification]
219
220 \FlushStep
221
222
223 \externalfigure[chinesecourier.jpg][width=\textwidth]
224
225 \FlushStep
226
227 \blank
228
229 Intercharacter spacing, interglyph spacing, tightening symbols: why bother
230 any longer: lets play safe and from now on advice to use monospaced ragged
231 right.
232
233 \FlushStep
234
235\stoptopic
236
237\StopSteps
238
239\StartSteps
240
241\starttopic[title=Backslashes]
242
243 \FlushStep
244
245 \startitemize
246 \startitem you always need a way to escape formatting directives \FlushStep \stopitem
247 \startitem so texies have the backslash and a few more special characters \FlushStep \stopitem
248 \startitem coding in \XML\ seems to be too complex and awkward for most users \FlushStep \stopitem
249 \startitem but \ASCII\ based quick and dirty formatting becomes a fashion (\type {*doc}) \FlushStep \stopitem
250 \startitem of course influencing the makeup and making things nice involves even nastier escapes \FlushStep \stopitem
251 \startitem and in the process we eventually loose quality \FlushStep \stopitem
252 \stopitemize
253
254 but \FlushStep
255
256 \startitemize
257 \startitem it fits nicely into quick and dirty often onetime markup \FlushStep \stopitem
258 \startitem and real markup, maybe targeted at reuse, becomes a speciality, craft, hobby or disappears \FlushStep \stopitem
259 \startitem there is no reason why what we do now stays \unknown\ we have no copying monks left either \FlushStep \stopitem
260 \stopitemize
261
262\stoptopic
263
264\StopSteps
265
266\StartSteps
267
268\starttopic[title=Endangered features]
269
270 \FlushStep
271
272 \startitemize
273 \startitem ebooks are mostly single sided \FlushStep \stopitem
274 \startitem but somehow we still care about pages (or cant look beyond them) \FlushStep \stopitem
275 \startitem there is no longer room and need for multicolumns \FlushStep \stopitem
276 \startitem and also no need for footnotes as we can have rollovers \FlushStep \stopitem
277 \startitem paper size can still be different but can swap to landscape\FlushStep \stopitem
278 \startitem floats become cumbersome compared to paper books, so no floats \FlushStep \stopitem
279 \startitem margins, they waste space and we already have hardware margins \FlushStep \stopitem
280 \startitem a proper tables of contents still make some sense \FlushStep \stopitem
281 \startitem indices can be replaced but searching in most cases \FlushStep \stopitem
282 \startitem bibliographies can become popups \FlushStep \stopitem
283 \startitem readers are encouraged to choose and scale fonts so the design has limitations \FlushStep \stopitem
284 \startitem and why even bother optimizing the look and feel \FlushStep \stopitem
285 \stopitemize
286
287\stoptopic
288
289\StopSteps
290
291\StartSteps
292
293\starttopic[title=The future of \TEX]
294
295 \FlushStep
296
297 \startitemize
298 \startitem as it happens: these are all mechanisms that complicate the \TEX\ machinery and workflow \FlushStep \stopitem
299 \startitem and removing the need for them might as well remove the need for \TEX \FlushStep \stopitem
300 \startitem but still, for a long time \CONTEXT\ \MKIV\ can fulfill the needs as demands probably only become more simple \FlushStep \stopitem
301 \startitem and I can start working on a simple version: twittertex™, monospaced, one paragraph fat most 140 characters, no pages, no structure, maybe random generated content, etc. \FlushStep \stopitem
302 \startitem or maybe first make some intermediate version: markuptex™, geared at ebooks in some kind of \XML\ format \FlushStep \stopitem
303 \startitem and Luigi will make \type {livetex}, a dna based typesetting plugin that connects to our already builtin retina \FlushStep \stopitem
304 \stopitemize
305
306 however, \FlushStep
307
308 \startitemize
309 \startitem looking at the still active \TEX\ crowd we will stay around for a while \FlushStep \stopitem
310 \startitem given that we manage to advocate the virtues of typographical traditions \FlushStep \stopitem
311 \startitem and for that, we might need to reinvent ourselves (a nice theme for a conference) \FlushStep \stopitem
312 \stopitemize
313
314\stoptopic
315
316\StopSteps
317
318\stopdocument
319
320 |