Typography on the Web - Softcover

Sinclair, Joseph T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0126455457 ISBN 13: 9780126455458

Publisher: Academic Press Inc, 1999

Synopsis

Webmasters and graphics professionals involved with Web page design need wait no more for choices in what fonts they can use on the Web. With this practical book in hand, readers get the latest information and tips on how to incorporate advances in Web typography--including Bitstream's TrueDoc typesetting system and cascading style sheets--to make Web pages even more exciting. A short section reviews basic typographical principles, making the book a great reference to keep handy. It also includes a multiplatform CD-ROM loaded with a variety of shareware and freeware utilities and tools to help readers get up-to-speed on Web typography. Features: * Covers TrueDoc and cascading style sheets * Features hands-on guidance to using Web typography effectively * Provides an overview of traditional typographical principles * Includes one CD-ROM loaded with freeware and shareware

About this title

From the Author:

About creating readable Web typography:
The theme of the book is readability. I endeavored in the book to show webworkers (webmasters, Web developers, etc) how to create readable text on the Web and how to create Web-page environments that support greater readability. Most people do not like to read on their monitors. With more competent typography practices and with the better Web typography enabled by CSS 1 and TrueDoc (and font embedding), webworkers can easily create readable Web pages that more people will read more often and in greater volume.

In this book for webworkers, I provided a short introduction to typography and digital typography for those who may not have a good foundation in desktop publishing. Also included is a chapter on SGML which provides the basis for a better understanding of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). In three chapters, I covered HTML typography providing the basics as well as more advanced techniques. Although most of these techniques have been covered in a scattered fashion in other books, I condensed them into a smaller space for easier reference. Then two chapters cover CSS 1, first by providing instruction and examples and then by providing a markup-by-markup analysis for easy reference. CSS 1 enables precise layout for Web pages. Two chapters on Bitstream's TrueDoc provide the typesetting instruction for Web pages. TrueDoc works well but only for the 4.0 browsers, and it works on Microsoft's 4.0 browser only through an ActiveX browser add-on which Bitstream supplies and installs automatically via its TrueDoc website. Two chapters on Microsoft's Web-page font embedding (for the Microsoft 4.0 browser only) round out the Web typesetting.

The remaining chapters briefly cover typography for Dynamic HTML, Net-TV (e.g., WebTV), and Java. Another chapter on cross-media publishing briefly covers using style sheets with SGML and XML. One chapter covers some specific readability research which, although done for print, has direct relevance to Web typography. Finally, the last chapter provides paragraph-long examples of dozens of different text typefaces and examples of typefaces that work well on the Web for text.

Many of the chapters have step-by-step illustrations of practical procedures. A person who reads this book should get out of it a practical knowledge of Web typography and how to implement attractive typesetting and layout for the Web easily and inexpensively. This is not a design book, but it will give readers a good idea of how to implement their own designs or designs they find on the Web that they desire to adapt to their own use. I recommend that people use this book together with Web design books to realize their Web publishing aspirations.

The book does not cover CSS 2 in depth. Nonetheless, it does mention the "print on demand" (POD) capability for the Web enabled by CSS 2 pagination. POD promises to create a revolution in publishing, but POD is not practical without the technology enabled by CSS 1 and TrueDoc (or font embedding).

Good typography is a pleasure. It's an amalgam of tradition and aesthetics that has inspired printers, publishers, and writers for centuries. I hope I have expressed that essential quality in the book. Now, we are all breaking new ground. For those who want to provide readable Web pages and POD, I believe this book will provide you with the foundation you need in order to create attractive Web typography.

About this edition

• Publisher: Academic Press Inc
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0126455457
• ISBN 13: 9780126455458
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 350