2. Publishing Systems

To work confidently with text editors and desktop publishing systems, you need to master and understand some information from the publishing business.

Fonts are of particular importance in the preparation and formation of the text for publication. Fonts are the main visual means of publishing systems; they can make the text more artistic.

Fonts are distinguished by typeface (drawing), font type, size, and purpose. A headset is a set of fonts of the same pattern in all typefaces and pins. Size is the font size determined by the vertical dimension of a character calculated in points (1 point is 0.367 mm). The complete set of typefaces contains fonts of all typefaces and pins, and in each pin, there are Russian and Latin (and, if necessary, other) alphabets of uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as the signs related to them.

The differences between the letters of various fonts are explained by their different design. The elements of letter structure include:

• basic strokes (set the letter structure);
• additional strokes (play a complementary and connecting role);
• serifs;
• upper and lower outriggers;
• ovals and semi-ovals (with or without inflows);
• end elements.

The letters are arranged along the baseline. The ratio of the thickness of the main and additional elements determines the font contrast. There are non-contrast, low-contrast, high-contrast, and very high-contrast fonts. The shape of the font letters is determined by color and rhythm (the ratio of black and white, gaps, swells, etc.). The ratio of the letter height to its width is called the width of the font. There are ultra-­narrow, narrow, normal, wide, and ultra-wide fonts. The saturation of the font is determined by the lightness. There are extra-light, light, normal, semi-bold, bold, and extra-bold fonts. Fonts can be straight or slanted. A slanted version of the fonts is often referred to in italics. Fonts of the same type but of different width, saturation, and slope, are various typefaces of the same font. The typefaces of a single font make up a headset.

The font on a computer is a file or group of files that provide text output for printing with the style features of the font. Some programs allow you to create your fonts. As a rule, such programs are part of text editors and publishing systems. However, there is a fairly large range of standard (in computer terms) fonts developed by printers. Here are some of them:

The main text of this chapter is typed in Cambria.

The following headsets are most commonly used:

1. Literary — for a set of publications of all types, except for alphabets, encyclopedias, as well as a small-format, normative, periodical, and literary and artistic publications;

2. Ordinary new — for a set of book and magazine publications of all types, except for school textbooks, pocket, and regulatory publications;

3. Bannikovskaya and Academic — for a set of literary and artistic, scientific, educational, and popular science publications in humanities;

4. School — for a set of primary and secondary school textbooks, publications for children, fiction and popular science literature, normative publications, and mass illustrated magazines;

5. Baltika and the Times — for a set of fiction and popular science literature, university textbooks.

Each text ready for publication as a brochure or book must pass technical editing, which involves preparing the original layout of the finished publication. The published text original layout is a typed, compu­ter-generated text original printed on laser (or inkjet) printer, which is an exact prototype of future publication (in terms of a number of pages, paragraphs, font pattern) intended for production the printed form. The source material for the original layout is an edited, marked-up text original proofread by the author and the literary editor. Technical editing is a complex process, especially if the text contains tables, diagrams, formulae, and illustrations.

Publishing systems have standard rules for working with menus, commands, and service utilities.

Below are the standard names of keys and combinations to perform routine manipulations when working with most text editors and desktop publishing systems.

WINDOWS Programs:

Alt or F10 — activate command menu;

Alt + letter — invoke menu item (parameter);

Alt + F4 — exit the program;

Alt + Shift + Tab — switch to the window with the previous program;

Alt + Tab — open the window with the next program;

BkSp — delete the character in front of the cursor;

Ctrl + → — move the cursor to the word on the right;

Ctrl + ← — move the cursor to the word on the left;

Ctrl + Del — delete the document;

Ctrl + End — move the cursor to the end of the input box;

Ctrl + Enter — force new page;

Ctrl + Home — move the cursor to the beginning of the input box;

Ctrl + Ins — copy to clipboard;

Ctrl + N — create a new document;

Ctrl + О — open file (edit the existing one);

Ctrl+P — print;

Ctrl + PgDn — scroll to the bottom of the screen;

Ctrl + PgUp — scroll to the top of the screen;

Ctrl + Q — exit the program;

Ctrl + S — save File;

Ctrl + X — exit the program;

Del — delete the character or selected fragment;

Enter — perform action or command;

Esc — exit without saving the selected options;

Esc — cancel Execution;

F1 — help;

F4 — repeat the last command executed;

Ins — enable/disable insert/replace mode;