Typesetting

Typesetting involves the presentation of textual material in an aesthetic form on paper or some other media. Before the development of innovations such as the dot matrix, inkjet, and laserjet printers, printed material was produced in print shops.

Related Topics:
Media - Dot matrix - Inkjet - Laserjet

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In spite of centuries of innovation, the principle of printing remains the same: either a particular part of the page is marked or not marked with ink. This has remained true at the microscopic level even for halftone and four-color printing. Typesetting is the technology of deciding which parts of the paper should be marked, and printing is the technology of making the marks. However, the two are not rigidly separated: for example, ink flows during the printing process, and type design has to take into account the dynamics of ink on paper.

Related Topics:
Halftone - Four-color printing

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With early printing presses, individual letters and characters were on blocks (usually of metal, sometimes of wood), which would be assembled for each page.

Related Topics:
Metal - Wood - Page

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The setting of individual letters was rendered obsolete by hot-metal setting machines such as the Linotype machine. The Linotype, invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler, permitted one machine operator to do the work of ten hand type operators.

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