Re:Five minute guide to better typography
by coldtea on Sunday October 08, 2017 @08:15AM
(#15427929)
>For example, when aligning that header, they're moving the leftmost pixels into alignment with the body's leftmost pixels. The correct state is well-defined, it's just not understood by the program.
Most typographic programs can perfectly understand "align leftmost pictures of title wit leftmost pixels of body".
>The ideal spacing is a function not only of what's being separated and by how much, but also the gradients that border it.
Only there's no real "ideal width". Not only it depends on the look of the heading font as well -- some designs might ask for more or less space, but it also depends on other elements on the page.
Even more so, it depends on the desired intent / impression, which might not be the same when typesetting a math book, a poetry book, a news article, a lifestyle article, a kids story, and so on.
It also varies by culture (country) and by era -- things people thought OK in 1660 look garish today, and even things people though OK in 1970 or 2006 can look out of place today.
At best, the "mathematics" can give something that more or less looks appropriate for certain situations -- TeX does that for math papers.
It doesn't and can't solve a soft science like typesetting in general (not without designer AI).
Most typographic programs can perfectly understand "align leftmost pictures of title wit leftmost pixels of body".
>The ideal spacing is a function not only of what's being separated and by how much, but also the gradients that border it.
Only there's no real "ideal width". Not only it depends on the look of the heading font as well -- some designs might ask for more or less space, but it also depends on other elements on the page.
Even more so, it depends on the desired intent / impression, which might not be the same when typesetting a math book, a poetry book, a news article, a lifestyle article, a kids story, and so on.
It also varies by culture (country) and by era -- things people thought OK in 1660 look garish today, and even things people though OK in 1970 or 2006 can look out of place today.
At best, the "mathematics" can give something that more or less looks appropriate for certain situations -- TeX does that for math papers.
It doesn't and can't solve a soft science like typesetting in general (not without designer AI).
Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1831/