Learning Resources
Lesson
A Brief History of Printing
It is necessary to have an understanding of the evolution of printing technology in order to understand the function and design of desktop publishing software, since the latter evolved from the former and brings much of the traditional thinking with it.
There are a number of documented chronologies of the major developments in printing technology, including the following.
- Detailed history of publishing (in chronological order) from The History of Printing (in alphabetical order)
Gutenberg invented the first moveable-type printing press in the mid-1400s. He also invented the technologies of mass producing type, compositing it into lines and blocks of text, and the process for ink to adhere properly to the type and the paper. This technology was changed very little until the 1900's. Processes related to layout of documents evolved in approximately the following sequence
- block layout. a whole page was carved into a single block, inked and printed
- movable type individual letters were carved, inked and pressed onto the page
- printing press individual letters were composited two lines at a time and placed into a page frame, inked and printed onto a page (repeated as many times as you needed copies
- linotype a machine with a typewriter-style keyboard that allowed two lines of type to be entered, which was then cast into a solid block and composited into a full page for printing
- phototypesetter a machine into which you typed your paragraphs, which were then printed at very high resolution, cut up and pasted into a layout. The layout was photographed to make the printing plates.
- desktop publishing software evolved from phototypesetting machines, and added full page compositing in a WHYSIWYG view. Tags, stylesheets, and templates were invented to give precise control and automated formatting.
Manual layout by cutting and pasting is only now fully disappearing from publishing. The process is easy to see and use with great precision in desktop publishing programs. The phototypesetting manual process is approximated below.
- document design
- the document is mocked up on a grid
- typesetting
- paragraph width, type face, size and spacing are set on the typesetter
- copy is typed into it
- headings, body, breakouts, etc are typeset individually
- copy is printed electronically onto photo paper and developed
- document layout
- the grid is placed on a light-table
- copy is cut into blocks, placed on the grid, aligned carefully, and pasted onto the grid
- images, illustrations and other material are cut out and pasted on the grid
- every thing is checked and verified
- printing
- the layout or 'comp' (composition) is transferred photographically onto printing plates
- the plates are attached to the rotary drum on the printer
- the printer is inked and printing is done
If more than one colour is used, a separation process is used to photographically separate the colours into cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) for printing. Using these four inks, the printer can reproduce the full spectrum of colours. This is also known as process printing. Often, special ink colours are used which cannot easily be reproduced this way. Printing with a specific colours is called spot printing, and the colours are called spot colours. There are a number of sets of spot colours. One example is Pantone colours (built into Corel Draw).
Activity
Assigned activities
The purpose of this activity is to develop understanding of page layout through manual compositing (cut and paste). this understanding is critical to understanding how desktop publishing works.
You will need to print the following files to complete this activity. Content is formatted to be the correct size to complete the activity.
- 3 column grid (print 2 copies)
- copy (print 1 copy)
- images (print 1 copy)
Complete each of the following
- Using the first copy of the grid, create a design (mock-up)
- use stick glue (or scotch tape) to attach page 1 and page 2 back to back. Repeat for pages 3 and 4
- review the content you have (copy and images) and create a mock-up on the 4 pages. pages 2 and 3 should be face up and the inside margins touching each other when you design these two pages
- Using the second copy of the grid, create a composite (layout)
- use stick glue (or scotch tape) to attach page 1 and page 2 back to back. Repeat for pages 3 and 4
- cut the copy into exact sized pieces and layout page 1
- cut the images you will place on page 1 and add them
- when you are satisfied, glue them on or attach with scotch tape
- repeat for pages 2-3
- repeat for page 4
- scan the pages in your mock-up at 100 dpi and save as gif or jpg
- scan the pages in the composite at 100 dpi and save as gif or jpg
- create an appropriate entry in your portfolio and import the images
- publish the portfolio to your course portfolio web
Test Yourself
There is no self test for this lesson.