Kevin Karplus
Table of Contents
A course in desktop publishing using PageMaker and LaTeX. Assumes
familiarity with Macintosh computers, and willingness to learn enough
Unix to install a web page (or edit text and run LaTeX). Emphasis is
on analysis and design of page-layout, but copy-editing, font choices,
half-toning, and some history of printing are included.
One of the major goals of the course is to bring together sometimes
artificially separated cultures of the arts, sciences, and humanities.
Note: much of the student time is spent learning to use the computer
tools, but the class focuses more on what is to be done with the tools
than on the tools themselves.
We will use Photoshop to include scanned images in various documents,
but will not give it nearly as much attention as PageMaker.
Students who wish to use Quark Xpress instead of PageMaker are welcome
to do so, but are completely on their own for learning to use the tool.
(Students with access to FrameMaker are welcome to use that also,
but the class computers don't have FrameMaker available.)
There are (or at least were last year) some CR-ROM demo films available for
individual viewing under
/stationxx/desktop publishing/adobe pagemaker
6.0/pagemaker 6.0 training
These films may be useful for learning techniques not covered in the
lab demos. The manuals for PageMaker are also available in the lab.
It is worth spending an hour or two reading the introductory parts of
the manual, and browsing at least the section headers for the rest.
Knowing where to find things in the manual can save you many hours of
frustration.
The manuals are the best single source of information about PageMaker,
surpassing any of the third-party books I've reviewed. Unfortunately
they are not available separately from the software, which is too
expensive to require.
Classes
Classes are MWF 3:30-4:40 in Porter 144. You are required to attend
class, as the discussions and presentations in class are an important
part of the course and are NOT covered by the reading and exercises.
Lab demos
I'll give a demo in the Porter lab (D-240) Mondays 10-12.
It was intended that the demo would be repeated by the TA Tuesdays
12-2 and Wednesdays 5-7, but it seems that we don't have a TA this
quarter. We'll try to find an undergrad lab assistant with the skill
to give the demos (say, someone who has done well in this class in the
past). We may have to cancel the Tuesday sections if an assistant
can't be found.
Students may attend any of the lab sections, and may attend repeatedly.
Generally only about half the time will be used for demos--the other
half of the time will be used for answering student questions and
giving individual help with the tools.
Office Hours
Kevin has office hours in 315B Applied Sciences
Wednesdays 1-2, or you can try dropping in almost any MWF afternoon.
I work from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays, to help take care of the
baby, so those days are out.
Newsgroup
There is a newsgroup (
ucsc.class.cmp80k) for the class. For posting to the
newsgroup, it is generally better to be working from a UNIX machine,
so that proper mailing addresses are generated.
Required Texts
Richard Rubinstein
Digital Typography, An Introduction to
Type and Composition for Computer System Design
Optional Texts
Evaluation
There will be no mid-term or final exams, and I will evaluate you
primarily on the homework and projects you turn in, though class
participation and handing in notes on your reading will also be
considered.
There will be one paper (about 5--10 pages) required, on a topic
related to digital typography---start thinking of something you would
like to research this quarter, and consult me about the
appropriateness of the topic. The paper will be judged on both the
content and the typesetting.
You will be graded on several aspects of typesetting on every assignment.
This includes, but is not limited to,
Because of the size of the class and my poor memory for names, I may
not be able to evaluate class participation during lectures as much as
I would like, but I hope that people ask lots of questions---I
generally lecture better when there is a lot of immediate feedback.
In the past, I've generally managed to get good discussions in class,
despite the size, and I hope this continues.
There will be an open-ended final project.
This can be a newsletter, a poetry magazine, forms and brochures for a
non-profit organization, a children's book, a complete corporate image
package, or any of several other design and layout projects.
Please start thinking about your final project now---we'll want to
know what the project is by the middle of the term.
Note: the final project is entirely separate from the research
paper---both are required.
Homework
There will be a LOT of homework for this course, of three types:
reading, writing, and design exercises. Some of the exercises will be
posted on the Web, others will be handed out in class.
There will be a list here as the Web-available assignments are released.
Some of the homework assignments will be posted to the Web, others
will be given out in class.
The total amount of work expected of students for this class is
high---the full 15 hours a week, every week (including classes,
reading, and assignments).
Because student backgrounds vary so much in this class, some students
will find it takes them significantly longer than others to finish the
work.
Please record the time you take each week. If you find yourself
spending well over 15 hours a week, please let me know---I may be able
to help you finish the work quicker. I'm not intending to overwork
you, but there's so much to learn!
Because this class is interdisciplinary and has no prerequisites, I
expect students with very different backgrounds.
Some of the later assignments can be team projects---try to find
people in the class whose skills complement yours, so the team is not
all programmers, all visual artists, or all poets.
The final project may be either an individual or a team effort.
Note: team projects are particularly appropriate if you find that the
earlier assignments are raising your workload above the nominal
fifteen hours a week.
Tentative Schedule (due dates)
The following schedule lists the assignments with due dates. If the
due dates are changed, I will inform you in class. There will be
handouts or web pointers detailing all assignments (except, perhaps,
the research paper and the final project, both of which will vary
considerably).
On all design assignments, you must turn in a cover sheet describing the
document design and typesetting: what fonts were used, margins,
leading, and so forth.
You should not only give the technical information, but give some
reasons for the design choices.
If there are aspects of the design that you feel are not complete, or
not as good as they might be, point them out.
If there are parts you are particularly proud of, point them out also.
The class discussion and feedback on graded assignments will give
you some idea what sort of commentary we are looking for.
Please complete your assignments on time. Free computers become
harder to find later in the quarter, and it is unfair to the other
students for you to tie up the machines doing work that should have
been done weeks earlier. Furthermore, I may refuse to grade anything
that is significantly late, unless you have medical or other very
reasonable excuses.
If you find the assignments to be difficult, please ask for help
immediately---we don't want to find out that you are weeks behind at
the end of the quarter. It'll be too late to help you then.
Please pick up the assignments after they have been graded---this is
the main feedback from me on your work.
I'd like to see that you correct any problems that I identify in
your future assignments.
I'll try once to return assignments during classes, then put them
in a box opposite the CE/CIS Board office on the second floor of
Applied Sciences.
If you are unsatisfied with your work on any assignment, you may redo
the assignment and turn it in again.
You must turn in the original assignment with the redone assignment.
Save your assignments after I return them to you! I
will ask you to turn them all in at the end of the quarter, so that I
can write a fair evaluation of your work. In a class like this with
such varied assignments, it isn't possible to record all the
information that might be needed about each assignment. Having the
portfolio of the entire quarter's work allows me to look for repeated
problems, improvements, and trends when I write the narrative
evaluations.
Keep a time log of how many hours you spend on the class each week
(including class time and reading), and turn it with each assignment,
so that I can adjust the workload in the class as needed.
| assignment | analysis due | design due |
|---|---|---|
| Letterhead | Fri 10 Jan | Wed 15 Jan |
| Business card | Wed 22 Jan | Fri 24 Jan |
| Copy editing | Mon 27 Jan | |
| Library puzzle | Fri 31 Jan | |
| Folded self-mailer | Fri 31 Jan | Wed 5 Feb |
| Short newsletter | Mon 10 Feb | Fri 14 Feb |
| LaTeX or HTML tutorial | Tues 18 Feb (exchange day) | |
| BibTeX tutorial or HTML project | Mon 24 Feb | |
| Proposal for final project | Mon 24 Feb | |
| First draft of paper | Fri 28 Feb | |
| Final draft of paper | Mon 10 March | |
| Final project | Fri 14 March |
| read before | Digital Typography | Non-Designer's Design Book |
|---|---|---|
| Wed 8 Jan | Chapter 1 | Chapter 1 |
| Fri 10 Jan | Chapter 2 | Chapters 7--9,13 |
| Fri 17 Jan | Chapter 3 | Chapters 3--5 |
| Fri 24 Jan | Chapter 4 | Chapters 6,10 |
| Fri 31 Jan | Chapter 5 | |
| Fri 7 Feb | Chapter 6 | |
| Fri 14 Feb | Chapter 7 | |
| Fri 21 Feb | Chapter 8 |
| read before | LaTeX2e manual |
|---|---|
| Fri 24 Jan | Chapters 1 & 2 |
| Fri 31 Jan | Sections 3.1--3.2, 6.1--6.3 |
| Fri 7 Feb | Chapter 4 & Appendix B |
| Fri 14 Feb | Sections 3.5--3.7, 5.3 |
| Fri 21 Feb | Sections 6.4--6.7 |
| number | name | instructor |
|---|---|---|
| Art 70 & 111A | Book Arts | George Kane |
| Art 118, 119, 120 | Computer Art | |
| Art 112--113 | Relief and Intaglio Printmaking | |
| Art 114--115 | Lithography | Paul Rangell |
| Art 116A--116B | Senior Studio in Printmaking | |
| Art 117 | Special Topics in Printmaking | |
| Computer Science 80c | Computer Arts and Graphics | Jane Wilhelms, Suresh Lodha |
| Computer Science 160 | Intro to Computer Graphics | Alex Pang, Suresh Lodha, Jane Wilhelms |
| Computer Science 186 | Online Publishing Design Laboratory | Marti Atkinson |
| Cowell 132 | History of Important Presses | George Kane |
| Psychology 124 | Psychology of Reading | Alan Kawamoto |
If you want to do a bicycle-related web-site, there is a free service
for posting your bicycle pages: the
Velonet Freeweb . Note that this is a commercial service
supported by advertising---if you don't want advertising on your web
pages, then don't use this service. There are many other commercial
services offering similar sorts of deals---free web publishing in
return for advertising on your pages.
Save your work on floppies
Files left on the computers in the lab (on the individual workstations
or the shared file server) can be deleted by anyone at any time.
Later in the quarter, fellow students desperate for disk space get
quite ruthless in discarding files that aren't their own.
Always keep a copy of every file you need on your own diskette!
It is a good idea to keep the floppies until after you get your
assignment back, so that you can re-create the work if it gets lost or
damaged.
Kevin Karplus
Computer Engineering
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
USA
karplus@cse.ucsc.edu
(408) 459-4250