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History of Desktop Publishing
Physical description based on hardcover.
399 pages, Unknown Binding
Published August 1, 2019
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February 25, 2020
Most people would agree that desktop publishing started in earnest in 1985 when three companies, all beginning with the letter A, come together with a solution for a new way to prepare artwork for publishing. Adobe provided the device independent page description language PostScript, Aldus provided the ground-breaking layout software PageMaker and Apple provided both the computer, the Macintosh, and a revolutionary operating system with an intuitive user interface to the job. Apple also (together with Canon) launched the compact Apple LaserWriter to print the proofs, sometimes used for the final print production. But Frank brings us all the way back to the roots of what came before, the foundations to what much later was coined by Paul Brainerd at Aldus as DTP, Desktop Publishing. Among the milestones is Steve Jobs visit to the Xerox research facility PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) in 1979, when he first saw an icon based and very visual user interface on a computer, coupled with a digital pointer later called a “mouse”. But Mr Romano of course then digs deeper, and leads us through what happened in both computing and publishing before this.
Few people are better suited to write this type of book, and if you want exhaustive details on the topic, Frank is your man. For someone who would prefer a bit less details, Frank provides summaries here and there, and you can come back to the details later if you prefer – in that way the books work much like an encyclopaedia.
Professor Frank Romano has published in all 63 books to date, and this book is the third part of a trilogy about typesetting. The previous books were “The history of the Linotype Company” (2014) and “History of the Phototypesetting Era” (2014).
Few people are better suited to write this type of book, and if you want exhaustive details on the topic, Frank is your man. For someone who would prefer a bit less details, Frank provides summaries here and there, and you can come back to the details later if you prefer – in that way the books work much like an encyclopaedia.
Professor Frank Romano has published in all 63 books to date, and this book is the third part of a trilogy about typesetting. The previous books were “The history of the Linotype Company” (2014) and “History of the Phototypesetting Era” (2014).
Displaying 1 of 1 review