If you are an avid reader, you might understand the importance of creating a seamless reading experience. No one will like to read a book that is shabby to look at and has no proper flow of words. This is the reason why there are typesetters to align the letters, punctuations and symbols for authors and publishers.
Need for Typesetting
A type setter’s job is not easy. You need to be familiar with the basics so that you can ace in your job. Typesetting helps to make the content more presentable to the readers. A lot of hard work and effort goes into arranging texts on a page and experimenting with different layouts and designs. Typesetting is also a useful tool for tracing plagiarism.
It takes into consideration not only spacings and alignments, but also checks for grammatical errors. In simple words, typesetters will proofread the document. They will also ensure that the flow of words is smooth and not stacking over one another. They will emphasize on the keywords and ensure that headings and the body of the documents have different font styles.
Modern V/s Traditional Typesetting Methods
Typesetting has evolved drastically. Nowadays we have different programming languages such as SCRIPT, Troff, TeX and LaTeX that can be used to typesetting. This saves on ample time and helps to finish the proofreading on time.
Prior to the digital era, some of the common typesetting methods include:
- Manual
- Phototypesetting
- Hot Metal Typesetting
Manual typesetting service, as the name suggest includes manually integrating letters, signs and symbols with the help of a heavy machinery. These later had to be made into sets of printed dies that later had to be set up for typesetting before sending them off to production.
In phototypesetting, texts, characters and symbols are exposed onto photographic material with the help of glass spin discs. Last but not the least, in hot metal typesetting, molten type metals were injected into molds representing different symbols, letters or characters.
Different Services Offered by Typesetting Companies
When it comes to hiring the services of typesetters, you need to do your homework. If you look online you might come across many typesetting companies that offer multiple typesetting services to their customers. Depending on what book or document you plan on publishing, you can enquire about such services.
Typesetters need to be proficient and efficient in their jobs. They should have good knowledge of various typesetting software. You can always ask for references or samples of their work.
Some of the common services offered by typesetting companies include:
- Books
- Journals
- Magazines
- Law and School Books
- Encyclopedia
- Catalogues
- Comics
- Cooking Book
- Directories
- Dictionaries
- STM based books
Ensure that you do not rely on one typesetting company for the job. Make a list of credible ones and do backgrounds check.
Conclusion
Typesetting truly brings out your creative side. You get to experiment with different layouts and designs which will make the documents more appealing and bring out their vivid imaginations while reading through the books.
