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% \enablemode[print]
\usemodule[pre-stepwise,present-tiles,abr-02]
\definecolor[maincolor] [s=.6]
\definecolor[othercolor][s=.2]
% \setupinteractionscreen
% [option=max]
\startdocument
[title={How about those\\typographic virtues:\\do they still make sense?},
subtitle={Hans Hagen\\EuroBacho\TeX\\May 2013}]
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=Typesetting]
\FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem somehow we turned sounds into speech into language \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and after that it may have started with writing in the sand \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem followed by painting on cave walls \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem or maybe carving symbols in wood \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and figuring out some writing system \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem that made it possible to chisel thoughts in stone \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and eventually putting blobs on paper \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem that we somehow managed to map onto pixels \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
but \FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem typesetting only happened very lately \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=In the process]
\FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem mankind optimized the basic shapes (to suit the language) \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and kept inventing new symbols \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem more and more automated typesetting and rendering and printing \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and of course this went with all kind of silly arguments \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
think of this: \FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem for ages scribes were the only way to get high end arabic typesetting \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and now we can do this mostly automatic (in good and bad ways) \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem so we endangered yet another craft \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=But eventually]
\FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem new interfaces will bring new ways of reading (how about leap motion) \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and we'll go from manual to visual (glasses, look at gaming) \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem so information will be pushed more or less directly into our brain \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem while high quality rendering moves to the arts department \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and in the end probably not much gets printed any more \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem so we will share, stare at and discuss books no longer the way we do now \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem just look at how kids deal with information nowadays \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=Targeting paper]
\FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem we kept trying to save space by combine shapes and using umlauts and accents \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem we can make it look better, using ligatures, alternative shapes \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem color comes cheap, as does mixing fonts \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem went from left to right and vise versa and top to bottom and mixed all this \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem papers and magazines squeezed more into columns (in fact, we get less newspapers and magazines, but more advertising, so for a while there's as much print but more of dubious quality) \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and we even optimized the art of unreadability as in anti||smoke warnings \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem thanks to software we can tweak fonts, mess with kerning, fool ourselve with expansion and protrusion \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem we mess around with margins, aspect ratios, scaling, rotating, and justification \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and yes, we introduced conventions but also entered endless debates \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=Towards displays]
\FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem nowadays we can fake the old stuff on the screen and simulate paper \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem we have weird user interfaces as we still want to recognize the old e.g.\ funny borders and strange buttons \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and we're told how less pixels are actually needed to keep us happy \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem while we stare at ourselves on those mirroring and radiating displays \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem lack of detail gets nicely compensated with special reading compensation programs at school \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and still progress is hampered by copyrighting trivial properties and inventions that anyone can come up with given the machinery \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=The state of affairs]
\FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem we already lost (or maybe never reached) optimal quality \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem it looks like ragged right won the battle \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and messing with fonts beyond what designers had in mind is okay \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem the users start controlling the layout by scaling, rotating and setting properties \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
so \FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem why do we texies still bother about typography, hobyism apart \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem does paying so much attention and trying to be original still fit into rappidly changing times \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem we're not alone: the same is true for programs, apps, operating systems, etc \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=Take ligatures]
\FlushStep
\definefont[TestA][texgyrepagella-regular*default]
\definefont[TestB][cambria*default]
\definefont[TestC][dejavuserif*default]
\definefont[TestD][lmroman10-regular*default]
\startcombination[alternative=none,nx=1,ny=4]
{\hbox to \textwidth{\scale[height=.1\textheight]{\TestA fi ffi fl ffl ij}\hss}}
{\hbox to \textwidth{\scale[height=.1\textheight]{\TestB fi ffi fl ffl ij}\hss\tlap{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\TestB ffl\hskip.1emffi}}}}
{\hbox to \textwidth{\scale[height=.1\textheight]{\TestC fi ffi fl ffl ij}\hss}}
{\hbox to \textwidth{\scale[height=.1\textheight]{\TestD fi ffi fl ffl ij}\hss\tlap{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\TestD ffl\hskip.1emffi}}}}
\stopcombination
\FlushStep
Subtle kerning, partial substitution, different shapes: take your
choice. Can texies really claim that their ffi looks the best? Just
stare at it for a while.
\FlushStep
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=Accent battles]
\FlushStep
\startcombination[alternative=label,nx=5,ny=2]
{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[texgyrepagella-regular]š}}
{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[dejavuserif]š}}
{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[cambria]š}}
{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[texgyretermes-regular]š}}
{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[lucidabrightot]š}}
{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[texgyrebonum-regular]š}}
{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[texgyreheros-regular]š}}
{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[lmroman10-regular]š}}
{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[KozMinPr6N-Regular]š}}
{\scale[height=.25\textheight]{\definedfont[zapfinoextraltpro]š}}
\stopcombination
\FlushStep
\blank
Of course there are some conventions, but given that designs are \unknown\ well,
designs \unknown\ it's never going to be okay for all of us.
\FlushStep
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=Justification]
\FlushStep
% \externalfigure[chinese-courier.jpg][height=.7\textheight]
\externalfigure[chinese-courier.jpg][width=\textwidth]
\FlushStep
\blank
Intercharacter spacing, interglyph spacing, tightening symbols: why bother
any longer: let's play safe and from now on advice to use monospaced ragged
right.
\FlushStep
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=Backslashes]
\FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem you always need a way to escape formatting directives \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem so texies have the backslash and a few more special characters \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem coding in \XML\ seems to be too complex and awkward for most users \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem but \ASCII\ based quick and dirty formatting becomes a fashion (\type {*doc}) \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem of course influencing the makeup and making things nice involves even nastier escapes \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and in the process we eventually loose quality \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
but \FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem it fits nicely into quick and dirty often one||time markup \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and real markup, maybe targeted at reuse, becomes a speciality, craft, hobby or disappears \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem there is no reason why what we do now stays \unknown\ we have no copying monks left either \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=Endangered features]
\FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem ebooks are mostly single sided \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem but somehow we still care about pages (or can't look beyond them) \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem there is no longer room and need for multi||columns \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and also no need for footnotes as we can have roll||overs \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem paper size can still be different but can swap to landscape\FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem floats become cumbersome compared to paper books, so no floats \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem margins, they waste space and we already have hardware margins \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem a proper tables of contents still make some sense \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem indices can be replaced but searching in most cases \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem bibliographies can become pop||ups \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem readers are encouraged to choose and scale fonts so the design has limitations \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and why even bother optimizing the look and feel \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\StartSteps
\starttopic[title=The future of \TEX]
\FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem as it happens: these are all mechanisms that complicate the \TEX\ machinery and workflow \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and removing the need for them might as well remove the need for \TEX \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem but still, for a long time \CONTEXT\ \MKIV\ can fulfill the needs as demands probably only become more simple \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and I can start working on a simple version: twittertex™, monospaced, one paragraph fat most 140 characters, no pages, no structure, maybe random generated content, etc. \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem or maybe first make some intermediate version: markuptex™, geared at ebooks in some kind of \XML\ format \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and Luigi will make \type {livetex}, a dna based typesetting plugin that connects to our already built||in retina \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
however, \FlushStep
\startitemize
\startitem looking at the still active \TEX\ crowd we will stay around for a while \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem given that we manage to advocate the virtues of typographical traditions \FlushStep \stopitem
\startitem and for that, we might need to reinvent ourselves (a nice theme for a conference) \FlushStep \stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptopic
\StopSteps
\stopdocument
|
