Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!mtuxo!lzfme!jwi
From: jwi@lzfme.att.com (Jim Winer @ AT&T, Middletown, NJ)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: why are all books Times Roman ?
Summary: When engineers design books
Keywords: typefaces, fonts
Message-ID: <1392@lzfme.att.com>
Date: 8 Jun 89 14:34:44 GMT
References: <485@hsi86.hsi.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T, Lincroft NJ
Lines: 55

> Richard Stevens writes:

> Why are almost all technical books done in Times Roman these days ?
> Going through my bookshelf, other than Knuth's books,
> almost everything seems to be in Times Roman, with 10 point
> characters on 12 point spacing.  Somehow Tanenbaum was able
> to get his second edition of networking in what looks like 11/13.
> Even the Red and Blue Adobe PostScript books are Times Roman.
> (You'd think that if anyone could do a book nicely in another
> font it would be Adobe.)

> I think the Times family on our LaserWriters look pretty bad.
> Is this endemic to the LW, or should I expect the same font on
> a high-resolution PostScript typesetter to look better ?

> What's the reason for this addiction to Times Roman ?  Going through
> the Adobe Font catalog, there appear to be more readable serif fonts
> with the characters just a little wider.  (My main complaint about
> Times is that it looks so squeezed.)  Do publishers like Times
> because it uses a fewer number of pages ?  Is it just history ?
> I note the Chicago Manual of Style says that few typefaces other
> than Times Roman have all the necessary characters necessary for
> technical typesetting, but a *lot* has happened in the area of
> type fonts since 1982.

10 point Times Roman is the default in troff (which was intended
for a typesetter, not a laser printer). It's also just about
the only typeface available on the laser printers at AT&T under
troff (except Helvetica which is used for headings). It's also what
happens when engineers design books as indicated in the current
flame wars on comp.text.desktop (see: Flame wars: (was: Re: Ventura)).

Both Century Schoolbook and Bookman are much more readable serif
faces than Times Roman on a laser printer. ITC Advant Gard Gothic is
more readable than Helvetica on a laser printer and goes well with
Century Schoolbook. These three faces are also included with most
standard Postscript (Apple) printers.

You can do something about it in your own installation!

Insist on 12 point minimum if you have to have Times Roman on a
laser printer (just make a copy of a copy to prove your point).

Insist on a different typeface if you have to have 10 point type.

And, for the books, write to the publisher and complain.

Jim Winer ..!lzfme!jwi 

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