Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!shelby!portia!mouser
From: mouser@portia.Stanford.EDU (Michael Wang)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
Subject: Re: Typography--Was Re: ventura
Message-ID: <2733@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 5 Jun 89 08:35:04 GMT
References: <4062@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Sender: Michael Wang <mouser@Portia.stanford.edu>
Reply-To: mouser@portia.Stanford.EDU (Michael Wang)
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 44

Boy isn't this discussion great!

In article <4062@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
           lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee) writes:

> From article <2706@portia.Stanford.EDU>,
> by mouser@portia.Stanford.EDU > (Michael Wang):
>> ...
>>    Now it is great the TeX does all this stuff for you, but unless you
>>    fully understand what TeX is doing, you probably won't be able to
>>    apply these concepts outside of the TeX environment.
>
> True.  So?  We were talking about whether technical folks can do a
> decent job formatting their documents, weren't we?  Not whether they
> know everything and can do everything that a professional designer
> knows and can do.

Well Greg, in your original article you made the statement that "I doubt
that book design is even much of a craft, much less a science (as some
seem to be contending)." I'm trying to contend that book design (and
typography in general) IS a craft, and, in some parts, a science.

I'm not arguing about whether or not technical folks can design pages; I
know many that can. What I am arguing is that typography is not as easy
as some technical people are trying to make it out to be. Since you seem
to be backing away from your original statement by stating that in the
"special case" some amateurs do a good job of producing technical documents,
I won't argue the point with you anymore since I agree with you on this point.

From what it sounds like, you have picked up the basic principles of
typographic design very quickly - and that's great; many people do. On the
other hand, many people pick up technical fields, like programming very 
quickly. I thought myself BASIC in about a week when I was twelve, and Pascal
in about a month when I was sixteen. Does that make programming any less of a
"craft" or "science" since it was so easy for me? I think not.

-Michael Wang

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