K Mean Black

• Name: Printing Technology
• Branch: Printing Technology Diploma 1st Sem
• Published: May 17, 2025

Typesetting Technique - Hot Composing

 

INTRODUCTION

• Historical development of typesetting from Gutenberg to present: john Gutenberg invented movable type in the mid of the fifteen century. The second event in 1886, Ottar Mergenthaler developed the linotype machine and Talbert E. Lanston introduction the monotype machine in the year 1898.

• In 1911, Ludlow typographic company marketed its display type setting machine named Ludlow machine.

• In 1920, Walton Morey invented Tele-typesetting (T.T.S) machine. The T.T.S went through various stages of development and by the early 1950s, hundreds of newspaper used T.T.S keyboards.

• Although there are many different opinions on dates, places and people involved in the birth of phototypesetting, most sources indicate that phototypesetting had its beginning in France in 1944. Two French Engineers Rene A. Higonnet and Louis became interested in the use of flash tubes to expose characters on to photographic materials. Higonnet and Louis developed that projected light through spinning disc that contained a type font, and then onto photographic material. In 1946 Higonnet visited the U.S financial backing. He contact W.W Girth, president of Lithomat Corph, developers of Litho-plates. Development of phototypesetting continued and in 1949 their first machine was shown to the industry Litho-mat later changed its name to photon and by 1955 the 200 series of photon phototypesetting machine was introduced.

• Hyphenation, Justification and pagination and electronically performing and line and halftone graphics can be electronically inserted. Video display Terminal (V.D.T) can be used for editing corrections or revisions can be re-routed base to the computer. The output is generated on the face of a Cathod ray tube for recording onto a photographic material.

• Persons related to the industry and consultants started classifying the technological system into generations of phototypesetting machines.

 

VARIOUS TYPESETTING SYSTEMS:

Definition: The invention of typesetting, conventionally called ‘composing’.

Typesetting, setting the text matter mainly depends upon the method of printing. It has been divided into two group given below as:-

Hot composing			cold composing
Manual (hand)	machine (mechanical)		photocomposing	DTP
	1. Monotype		1. Mono
	2. Linotype		2. Lino

 

Hot composing

1. Manual:

a. measure the type

b. composing and justifying

c. table and tabular setting (space in between two table)

d. distribution

 

2. Mechanical:

a. mono type: single letter composing

b. Linotype: full line composed

 

A. Monotype: two parts (a) keyboard, (b) the caster

1. Keyboard: type face included roman, italic, bold, small caps (4 point to 14 point) 3red keys used for justified of lines. The buttons are numbered 1 to 15 and are arranged in two rows with each no. in duplicate exactly one above the other.

• The press keys make holes coded to each character in paper ribbon and records its unit width on the justified scale.

 

2. Caster: the flow of cold water, casting temperature, measure, placement of the correct mold, normal-wedge.

• As a spool is unwound on the caster after perforation, justified each line are presented first to govern. The mold blade is adjusted to the position.

• Set the matrix and the mold is connected nozzle fitted the metal pot. Caster contains 255 matrix arranged in 17 rows and 15 columns. Matrix are bronze metal one fifth of an inch square character punch at one end and other cone hole. Matrix has a side hole for supporting character are fit the rod in the die-case. It set width of each type last matrix can easily remove.  (Stereo, electro).
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• Matrix: a matrix is mold used to cast a letter, known as a sort. Matrices for printing types were made of copper).
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• Stereo: stereo was a “solid plate of type metal cast form a plaster mold taken from the surface of a forme of type and used for printing instead of the original.
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• Electro: it is as used to manufacture matrices that could be used as mold for individual pieces of metal type. (electroplating)
• Electro is a chemical method for forming metal part that exactly reproduce a model.
• It is an engraved steel or copper plate, woodcut.
• Electro was also used to produce entire printing plates directly from the forms composed from movable type and illustrations.

 

b. Line composing machine: full line casting and line produced on this machine is also called slug.

1. Normal range composing- 4 to 30 empica.

2. Two typeface use roman, bold, small cap.

3. Maximum measure of 36 emspica and maximum produced 42 emspica.

4. It has display work for 18 points to 36 point or type 18 to 48 point.

 

Working:

- Assembling of matrices and space bands in the assembler activated by the keyboard control.

- Justification line

- Casting slug

- Distribution matrices according original

 

c. Ludlow system: it combination of hand-setting and casting mainly used for casting of heading in bigger type size. It found in newspaper presses.

 

PREPARATION FOR TYPESETTING:

Unit system: the unit system is a measuring and counting system used by monotype and phototypesetting machines to determine when a line of type is ready to be justified. It is based on ready to be justified. It is based on the EM of any point size of type being divided into equal machine recognizable increments called units.

 

What is a unit: a unit is a sub division of the EM. The number of unit value to the EM vary. The size of the unit, like the size of the EM, varies from on type size to another. For eq: a unit of 72 pt. type will be larger than a unit of 36 pt. type. A simple method to determine the size of a unit is to think of it as 1/18 of the type size.

 

Measuring type in units: the set width of the individual characters and spaces must be measurable in units. Therefore, each character is designed with a fixed unit width or unit value. This unit value also includes a small amount of space in either side of the characters to prevent them from touching when set.

• To get an idea how this system works, let us set the word mat or an. 18 unit system. The cap M is 18 units wide, the lower case a 10 units wide and the lower case “t” 6 units wide. So the entire word is 34 units wide, by thus totaling the unit valued of characters and the spaces between the words, a counting mechanism (which can be part of the keyboard, computer or photo-setter) is able to measure a line of type in units and determine when it is ready to be justified.

 

Point system: point system is used for measuring types and all other printing industry. The method by which the point is used as a system of measurement is known as a pt. system. The width of point and its relationship with other units is as follows:

1 point = ½” or 0.013837” approx

1” = 72 points

12 pt. = 1 EM pica

6 EM pica = 1” approx (0.97576)”

1 EM = 2 Ens.

 

American pt. system: the American point system has two units: point and pica system.

The pica: body sizes are specified in points, the length of the lines and depth of the composed paged are measured in picas/or pica Ems. One typographic point is carried to six decimals i.e. 0.013837” twelve points are equivalent to 1 pica and measure in three decimals in equal to 0.166”. 6 picas measure in three decimals i.e. 0.996”.

 

Didot pt. system: this is the system which is used in outside the English speaking world like French. The French didot system is the most widely used one it is called in Germany the Didot Berthold system and is based on the didot point which is considerable larger than the American point. (Twelve didot points are known as a Cicero in German and as Cicero, measuring the 12, in French. This body is larger than our pica which is roughly equivalent to 11 didot points). The height to paper of the didot system, finally is also somewhat more than ours. The didot point is slightly larger than the British American, and didot typefaces frequently need to be cast on an English body one size larger. They are usually distinguished by suffering the point size with D e.g. qD on 10 pt. The following table shows the comparison between the didot and pica points.

 

Equivalent chart

didot	pica	didot	pica
4	4.3	9	9.7
5	5.4	10	10.7
6	6.4	11	11.8
7	7.5	12	12.9
8	8.6	14	15

 

Preparation of copy: manuscript those who are to passes press, invariably prepared in a haphazard manner in that case a lot of time is wasted during composing and proof reading. To avoid wastage of time in during working MSS are technical edited and marked by a professional typographer before they are sent to press for production.

• After MS/MSs is are accepted for publication, preparing it for the press begins and is called copy editing or copy preparation which help the author put his ideas into print form in the orderly and effectively. It saves the publisher time and helps production to go ahead without interruption.
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• In preparing MS/MSS for printing, he marks the MS/MSS for puntation, for correcting grammatical and factual mistakes if any keeping in mind the house style. It involves checking legibility, consistency, grammer and factual accuracy. To indicate clearly, if pages are to carry running head, type size and style, measure and heading separately, go through copy and mark all indentations, tables and footnotes etc.
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• Copy preparation is important in planned print production, if copy is prepared more carefully before it goes for typesetting (composing), the quicker, better and economical will be the production. Typed copy should be corrected before typesetting and if correction are extensive such portion should be re-typed. Press copy preparation include checking of consistency in language, house style ensure that all elements like pages and chapters are in sequence, number the pages, so that it will be kept in order, review copy for consistency in puntuation, capitalization, spelling and so on.
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• Character counting can be simlified if the copy is properly prepared. Copy should be typed double space on standard 8 ½ X 11” on good quality paper in a column about six inches wide, with a generous margin on the left for typesetting instructions. Each page should have approximately the same number of lines and characters per line. To prevent mix-up every page should be numbered and carry the job title. The word end should appear on the last page. All phases of editing a designing should be done on the original MS/MSS not a carbon or duplicate copy, if there are any corrections, they should be written clearly above the line, preferably in ink.

 

House style: many publishers have their own a house style may cover anything from the text (standard style for printing dates, addresses, chapter titles etc.) to every aspect of typographic design: type face, justified and unjustified setting, centered, asymmetrical and so on. The reason for a house style may be that a publisher wants his books to have a recognizable style, or that he just likes things done in that way. To avoid wasting his own time, the designer must always when working for a new client, fixed out what house rules, if any, are applicable.

• When books are produced series, the style may be rigid or flexible, but it is nearly always a requirement that all the books in a series is successful they help to sell each other. Book shop recognizability starts with the jacket, it takes much skill to design a jacket which instantly proclaims the series but is not boring or confusing.
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• Following is an outline of some of the points considered in a good house style.

 

Spacing: close spacing is avoided, paragraph, word division, use of capitals, figures, spelling, puntuations.

 

Typographic and graphic display systems: the monitor or screen showed ideally be capable of showing the detail as that of the final prints. A term commonly used in connection with desktop monitor is ‘What you see is what you get’ often abbreviated to WYSIWYG. This may be true in a general sense, but because of the limitations of the cathode ray tube, this description does not always stand-up to close examination.

• The face of the monitor should ideally show a full A4 page (2210mmX297mm) plus any marginal information. It is worth meting have that not all documents are upright or portrait and that the ‘Landscape’ format is quite commonly used.
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• The definition of fineness of detail which can be resolved on a monitor will be largely dependent on the number of line of dots which can be ‘scanned’ across the tube. This in turn will be related to the resolution of picture (pixel) which make up the projected image, resolution may be measure in pixels per inch or centimetres. Few monitors have a resolution better than 30 pixels per centimetre, which is significantly interior to the resolution of leaser print out devices which are rarely rated at less than 120 dots per centimetre.
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• The size of the screen may also influence the apparent sharpness of definition. If two screens of different sizes both have the same number of dot lives, then the smaller screened will have more dots per centimetre and the reduced images will appear to be sharper.
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• Colour reproduction on the screen may also not be what you get on paper, as the pattern of dots on the tube will pattern of match the toners or inks on the final documents.

 

Proofing: Detect of error and mistake.

Proofing is done for following purpose:

1. Clean picture at right place.

2. Clear idea to the customer as to how the job will look after printing.

3. In printing time for registration.

 

Kinds of proof:

1. Galley proof: it is uncorrected proof which is taken out form a newly composed matter.

2. Revised: after correction galley proof.

3. Page proof: text, running head, folio, titles, headlines, full page proof.

4. Final page proof: for client signature.

5. Machine proof: correct imposition.

 

Proof reading done by two person:

a. Proof reader: make the correct (good knowledge all).

b. Copy holder: read manuscript for proof reader. (Good pronounciation)

Some special proofing standard marked used.

 

Typesetting Planning

Typesetting Calculation –

Casting Up: the casting-up is the method of finding out the total amount of mechanical setting. That is, the overall en contents of the job. The total number of ens are found out by multiplying the number of pages with the number of ens per page. The depth of the page for casting-up is considered one or two lines more than in casting-off because in casting-up the depth of the page includes the headlines are folio numbers while in the casting-off the depth of the page is exclusive of headings and folio numbers.

The numbers of short lines in the manuscript are considered equal to the number of short lines in the printed page and hence no provision is given of these lines in the calculations.

Casting-OFF: it is the method of calculating the number of pages in a given type size and print area the manuscript shall make. Before starting with the casting-off calculations, it is important to know that:

1. One inch is equal to 6 picas.

2. One pica em is equal to 12 points.

3. One ems is equal to 2ens.

4. One centimeter is equal to 28.34 points.

5. One English word on an average consists of 3 ems or 6 ens of the type size inclusive of one after word space.

6. One word in Hindi or Indian regional languages on an average consists of 2.5 ems or 5 ens of the type size inclusive of one after word space.

7. Each lower case character, figure and a small capital letter on an average, occupies on en space while three capital letters occupy two em space of the set size of the type.

8. Unless otherwise specified the set size is the same as the body size.
 

The different methods of casting-off are: word count method, character count method, en count method. The en count method is more accurate and most commonly used in the printing trade.

 

1. En count method: in order to calculate the number of pages a given manuscript shall make in a given type and page size, the following steps should be followed:

 

a. Find the number of ens in the copy: in case of a good copy, the total number of ens can be found out by multiplying the average number of words in a line with the average number of lines in a folio. This will give the average number of words in a folio. The average number of words in a folio multiplied by the number of folio in the copy will give the total number of words in the copy. The total number of words in a folio multiplied by 6 will give the total number of ens in the coy since an English word on an average consists of 3ems or 6 ens. In case of a bad copy the total number of words are counted and multiplied by size to find the en content.

The average number of words in a line can be found out by counting the number of words in different lines on different pages of the copy. The total number of words divided by the number of lines counted will give the average number of words in a line. Similarly the average number of lines in a page of the copy can be found out. The total number of lines divided by the number of folio will give the average number of lines in a folio.

 

b. Find the number of ens in a printed page: the total number of ens in a printed page can be found by multiplying the number of ens of the given type in one line with the number of lines of the same type in a printed page.

For example, a 10pt. type has St= Bt= 10.pt: a 10 omn 12 pt/ type has St = 10 pt. and Bt = 12 pt. and a 8 pt. type with 2pt. leading has St = 8 pt. and Bt = 8+2 = 10 pt.

 

c. Calculate the number of printed pages: once the number of ens in the copy and the number of ens in a printed page have been found out. It is very easy to calculate the nuber of printed pages a coy shall make when composed and printed. Divide the number of ens in the copy by the number of ens in a printed page and to this add allowance for chapters, prelims, etc.

For example: a manuscript for the text of a book consists of 350 typed pages each with 22 lines and an average of 8 words to a line. It also contains 15 typed pages of appendix each with 20 lines and an average of 7 words to a line.

How many pages the book shall make in A5 size set to 24 pica measure and 40 ems pica depth. If the text is composed in 10 point Times Roman and the appendix in 8 on 10 pt. Times Roman Type? Give allowance for 10 chapters and 6 pages of preliminary matter.

 

1. No. of ens in the manuscript of text

= 8 X 22 X 350 X = 3,36,600

 

No. of ens in the printed page of the text              

24X12	X 2 X	40X12
10		10

= 2,764.8 say 2,765

 

No. of printed pages of text

3,69,600	=133.67
2,765

Say 134

 

2. No. of ens the manuscript of appendix

= 7 X 20 X 15 X 6

= 12,600

 

No. of ens in the printed page of the appendix

 

24X12	X 2 X	40X12
8		10

= 3,456

 

No. of printed pages of appendix

12,600

3,456

 = 3.65 say 4

 

3. No. of pages in the text          = 134

No. of pages in the appendix     = 4

No. of preliminary pages            = 6

Chapter allwance (10 x .5)          = 5

Total Number of pages in the book = 149

 

2. Word count method: in this method, the number of pages a given manuscript (MSS) shall make in a given type and page size is determined by dividing the total number of words in the manuscript by the total number of words in a printed page. The different steps involved in the method are:

a. Find the number of words in the copy (manuscript)

 

b. Calculation the number of words in a printed page: in order to calculate the number of words in printed page, first of all calculate the number of words of a given type in one line of a printed page and multiply it with the number of lines of the same type in a printed page.

 

c. Calculate the number of printed page (P): The number of printed pages can be calculated by dividing the total number of words in a copy by the number of words in a printed page. The word count method is simple to understand and involves less calculations.

Example: a manuscript contains 200 pages of 45 lines to page and 8words to a line. How many pages will it make in 10 pt type with 2 pt. leading in 20 X 38 ems pica page?

1. NO. of words in the manuscript

= 8 X 45 X 200 = 72,000

 

2. NO. of words in one line of a printed page

22X12	/ 3
10

=

 

= 838 say 9

 

3. NO. of lines in a printed page

38X12

(10+2)

 

 

= 38

 

4. No. of words in a printed page

= 38 X 9 = 342

 

5. No. of pages in a printed book

72,000	=210.53
342

 

 

 

 

Say 211 pages.

 

3. Conversion of type and page dimensions: it sometimes happens that the type size and page dimensions of a book are changed at the time of its revision because of certain reasons. The ultimate effect is that the total number of pages in the revised book either decrease or increase depending upon the revised type and page size. For calculating the number of pages a revised book shall make. There are two methods:

 

a. En count method: to ascertain the number of pages a book shall make in a revised type and page size, the total number of ens in the original version of the book are divided by the total number of ens page of the revised version of the book.

Example: what would be the number of pages of a new edition of a book in A5 size with 26 ems pica deep page size in 10 pt. type when its earlier consisted of 128 pages of 38 ems pica width and 56 ems pica depth in 10 pt type with 2 pt  leading in A4 size?

 

 

b. Area method: the formula for finding out the number of pages a book shall make in a revised type and page size by area method can be revised as shown below:

Example: calculate the number of pages a book consisting of 200 pagesin 20X34 ems pica in 10 pt. type shall make if recomposed in 24X42 ems pica in 8 pt type.

By using the above formula:

 

 

COPY FITTING: sometimes it happens that a given matter has to be accommodated in the given number of pages. Since the number of pages and the dimensions of the printed area for an ideal and uniform printing are fixed, the only way remains to change type size of the type to be the job. The method of calculating the size of the type to fill-up the given number of pages with a fixed printing area is called ‘copy fitting’.

There are many method of copy fitting but the method given below is most commonly used in the trade for calculation:

 

The area of the type size (Ta) serves as a guide in deciding the size of the type. For example, if Ta is equal to 122 square points then the type to be may be either 11 pt or 10 or 12 pt. type size.

 

For example: a book is required to make 144 pages in metric crown octavo size with a page print area of 22X33 ems pica. Find out the size of the type to be used if the number of words in the manuscript are 62,000.