Re: [dev] A lightwieight and working typesetting system.

Mate Nagy dixit (2009-09-05, 12:17):

> > High quality fonts, ligatures, proper hyphenation and other subtle
> > typographic elements (yes, with lots of added complexity, thank you very
> > much) are a *big* gain and make perfect sense when typeset at 2450 dpi;
> > pretending that text set on a 90 dpi PDA display by some quicky crap
> > pseudo-typesetting engine is equivalent in quality is preposterous.

> Books on paper are great, although the interface is a bit dated; I'd
> much rather have the 90dpi PDA screen that remembers my position in
> multiple books, and sometimes I can even search for stuff.

Position in books I read is remembered by a simple device called a
bookmark. No need for advanced tech on silicon+software on that. :)

> I can imagine a few uses where wasting trees and technology on 2450 dpi
> technology makes sense (literature), but for the majority of stuff
> (manuals, documentation, tutorials, journals, mail) this is completely
> ridiculous.

There are quite a few users in the world. I read books, I very much
enjoy this medium. Those who don't should not judge the world (claiming
print is obsolete) from their limited point of view.

> This is the same as why you don't see those beautiful, hand-made
> ironworks on buildings, bridges, etc. any more. They're all great
> craftmanship, but completely uneconomical in this age. So sorry it
> hurts ya.

I see them. I enjoy them. It makes my life in a mostly-modernist pre-war
suburb of Warsaw so much more enjoyable than if I had to live in those
boring run-of-the-mill post-Le-Corbusier apartment blocks (may they be
demolished ASAP). Economy is not everything.

It doesn't hurt me – contrary. I very much enjoy the pleasures of great
typography, good metalwork and slow food.

I do, too, read a lot technical documentation and papers online, and for
those things there are obviously other needs; still, they don't make
paper obsolete (and probably will not, as long as there are people with
enough hedonism to actually *enjoy* the items they interact with).

Regards,

-- 
[a]