10-14-2009, 06:42 PM
"Some authors (particularly professional designers or typographers)"
Sounds like the Wikipedia "author" is unclear on the definition of the word "author," or uses it so broadly as to be almost meaningless.
As one of those professional designers, I am not the author of the texts I work with. Neither is a proofreader, but we both are tasked with correcting the errors made by the actual authors of the texts.
The issue here is probably one of the downsides of the desktop publishing revolution of the 80s.
Prior to that, if you were an author, you typed out your manuscript (not a finished, printed, bound work,) then turned that over to professional editors, proofreaders, graphic designers and printers.
They edited, corrected, laid out, printed and bound your work into the finished product.
With the arrival of the (relatively) inexpensive personal computer, simple word processing software provided anyone and everyone with controls that had previously been limited to the professionals: leading, kerning, ligatures etc., but the vast majority of those using the software didn't have a clue as to what any of this stuff was, let alone know how to use it correctly (most still don't.)
Bottom line; it's like many things in life - from cooking to sports to surgery - time and experience has shown that certain ways of doing things yield better, more consistent results.
If you just want to be a duffer; do it however you like. If you want to be a professional, learn and adopt the successful techniques. :oldfogey:
Sounds like the Wikipedia "author" is unclear on the definition of the word "author," or uses it so broadly as to be almost meaningless.
As one of those professional designers, I am not the author of the texts I work with. Neither is a proofreader, but we both are tasked with correcting the errors made by the actual authors of the texts.
The issue here is probably one of the downsides of the desktop publishing revolution of the 80s.
Prior to that, if you were an author, you typed out your manuscript (not a finished, printed, bound work,) then turned that over to professional editors, proofreaders, graphic designers and printers.
They edited, corrected, laid out, printed and bound your work into the finished product.
With the arrival of the (relatively) inexpensive personal computer, simple word processing software provided anyone and everyone with controls that had previously been limited to the professionals: leading, kerning, ligatures etc., but the vast majority of those using the software didn't have a clue as to what any of this stuff was, let alone know how to use it correctly (most still don't.)
Bottom line; it's like many things in life - from cooking to sports to surgery - time and experience has shown that certain ways of doing things yield better, more consistent results.
If you just want to be a duffer; do it however you like. If you want to be a professional, learn and adopt the successful techniques. :oldfogey: