Introduction to Digital Publishing

Chapter 1: Digital publishing Why not desktop publishing? Print publishing, Web publishing, multimedia publishing, entry level requirements for designers, current realities Chapter 2: Printing history and the different types of printing Letterpress, Intaglio, screen, lithography, xerography, inkjet, dryography, and the new variants. Chapter 3: The digital revolution and the online world Desktop publishing, imagesetters, PostScript, the World Wide Web, email, FTP Chapter 4: Hardware CPUs, RAM, hard drives, removable storage, scanners, mice and tablets, printers Chapter 5: Software Why Office won't do: PostScript illustration, bitmap illustration, image manipulation; page layout Chapter 6: File management Making a folder to save the pieces: document, word processing file, graphics, halftones; where to save it; how to move it Chapter 7: Graphic design history Editors rule, the entry of illustrations, the birth of marketing, the addition of color Chapter 8: Fonts Terminology, baseline measurements, weight, italics, families, PostScript, TrueType, OpenType; character lists; small caps, oldstyle figures, ligatures. When to use them and when not to. Chapter 9: Typestyles Usage of serif, sans serif, script, text, display, types of serifs, development of serif styles, styles of sans serif, historical periods; faux elements: faux bold, italic, small caps, superscript, subscript, fractions, etc. Why they happen, how to avoid them, why and when to avoid them. Chapter 10: Typography The differences between typewriting and typesetting, typographic measurements, hundreds of standard characters Chapter 11: Producing type Excellent type is invisible, a basic procedure: 1. Read the copy; 2. Place the copy in historical and typographic context; 3. List the different pieces needed: headers, body copy, bulleted lists, captions, bylines, sidebars, bursts, legalese; 4. Pick an appropriate typeface; 5. Shape the page to reveal the pieces as they need to be seen to be read; 6. Pay especial detail to the details Chapter 12: Typographic norms Margins, indents, column widths, gutters, body copy, bulleted lists, headers, captions, bylines, stationery, newsletters Chapter 13: Forms, rules, and tables Tabular matter, leaders, paragraph rules, tables, white space, leading the eye Chapter 14: Paper and media Basis size, and weight; office paper, printing paper, cover stock sheet-fed, Web or roll-fed Chapter 15: Basic Web design Purpose of the Web, why do they come? How do you attract them? What can you use? Chapter 16: Career positions and customer relations Traditional, digital, online, deadlines, attitude, the key is communication, client approval, business ethics Appendix A: Shortcuts & customized interface: a rationale Appendix B: Teaching style & expectations Appendix C: Glossary