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.)
Classes are MWF 3:30-4:40 in Porter 241 (NOT Soc Sci II as originally
scheduled). 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.
I'll give a demo in the Porter lab (D-240) Mondays 5-7 (right after class),
and will be available to answer questions Wednesdays 5-7.
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.
There are (or at least were in 1996) some CD-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.
Kevin has office hours in 315B Applied Sciences Fridays 12:30-1:40, or
you can try talking to him durin glab hours (MW 5-7). I work from
home on Tuesdays and Thursdays, to help take care of the baby, so
those days are out.
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.
One of your ongoing assignments is to turn in a page of notes
(handwritten is ok) for each chapter of Digital Typography on
the day listed in the schedule.
Again, I expect you to turn in hand-written (or typed) notes for each
chapter, though the notes can be much shorter for this book, since the
chapters are pretty lightweight.
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 early 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 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,
even when the class is large, 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.
Classes
Lab demos
Office Hours
Newsgroup
Required Texts
Richard Rubinstein
Digital Typography, An Introduction to
Type and Composition for Computer System Design
Optional Texts
Evaluation
assignment | analysis due | design due |
---|---|---|
Letterhead or resume | Fri 16 Jan | Wed 21 Jan |
Business card | Fri 23 Jan | Mon 26 Jan |
Copy editing | Wed 28 Jan | |
Library puzzle | Mon 2 Feb | |
Folded self-mailer | Fri 6 Feb | Mon 9 Feb |
Short newsletter or children's story | Fri 13 Feb | Tues 17 Feb |
LaTeX or HTML tutorial | Mon 23 Feb | |
Proposal for final project | Mon 23 Feb | |
BibTeX tutorial or HTML project | Fri 27 Feb | |
First draft of paper | Fri 6 March | |
Final draft of paper | Mon 16 March | |
Final project | Wed 18 March |
Reading
Required reading. Turn in a page of notes from the reading on the
specified days.
read before | Digital Typography | Non-Designer's Design Book |
---|---|---|
Mon 12 Jan | Chapter 1 | Chapter 1 |
Wed 21 Jan | Chapter 2 | Chapters 7--9,13 |
Mon 26 Jan | Chapter 3 | Chapters 3--5 |
Mon 2 Feb | Chapter 4 | Chapters 6,10 |
Mon 9 Feb | Chapter 5 | |
Tues 17 Feb | Chapter 6 | |
Mon 23 Feb | Chapter 7 | |
Mon 2 March | Chapter 8 |
Optional readings (required for those learning LaTeX)
read before | LaTeX2e manual |
---|---|
Fri 23 Jan | Chapters 1 & 2 |
Fri 30 Jan | Sections 3.1--3.2, 6.1--6.3 |
Fri 6 Feb | Chapter 4 & Appendix B |
Fri 13 Feb | Sections 3.5--3.7, 5.3 |
Fri 20 Feb | Sections 6.4--6.7 |
My background is as a computer scientist with an interest in book
design and typesetting.
I created this course in 1991, and have taught it annually since.
I am skillful at getting TeX and LaTeX to do what I want and have
designed style files for LaTeX.
I have used PageMaker a few dozen times (mainly for the Comic
News inserts created by People Power, a few brochures, and
materials related to this class).
I have used PageMaker 4.0, 4.2, 5.0, and 6.0, and am most comfortable
with 5.0, though 6.0 is not so different as to cause me problems.
I am not a graphic artist, though I am familiar with most of the
standard layouts.
I have also used Adobe Photoshop a fair amount for producing
black-and-white images for photocopying and color images for the web.
Each paper you turn in must have only one author or designer---you
(except for assignments deliberately set up as team projects, in which
case the work should be of all, and only, the team members).
Anyone caught using a term paper service or copying from books,
journals, or fellow students will be punished as severely as the
University allows. Flunking the course is an absolute minimum.
We encourage you to have someone else read your drafts, point out
errors and unclear passages, comment on the formating, and make
suggestions, but not do re-writing or re-formating for you. We
encourage you to ask classmates for help in getting the tools to do
what you want---again, they can show you techniques, but you have to
actually execute them.
Anyone whose help you use (including the instructors, tutors,
classmates, spouse, ... ) should be acknowledged in writing in the
turned-in assignment. Of course, any books or journals you use as
sources should be properly cited.
If you are not certain about how much help is permitted, how much is
encouraged, and how much will be considered cheating, please talk with
us. You may be pleasantly surprised to find out that I allow more
assistance than you thought. Collaboration is a fine academic
tradition, but claiming someone else's work as your own is the
greatest academic sin.
There are several other courses at UCSC related to this one.
Here is a partial list:
My background
Collaboration
Related Courses
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 |
Cowell 132 | History of Important Presses | George Kane |
Psychology 124 | Psychology of Reading | Alan Kawamoto |
If you are not familiar with UNIX, with Macintoshes, or with an Macintosh word processor (such as Word), you may want to take a non-credit short course from Computing and Telecommunications Services. Check with their office (459-3808) the newsgroup ucsc.messages for the schedule of when they offer courses. Even better, check out their web site: http://www2.ucsc.edu/cats/sc/help/classes/
HTML assignment
Click for the actual assignment.
This year I'm including HTML (the native language of the World-Wide Web) as an alternative to learning LaTeX. Both languages are "intentional"---that is, they specify what the authors intent is, rather than giving detailed typesetting instructions. LaTeX allows more control of the typesetting, and is currently the best tool for writing academic papers. HTML allows one to create hypertext documents on the worldwide web, which is currently very fashionable.
For more information on HTML, click here.
It is now possible to have a semi-permanent web page on the CATS computers. Click here for more information.
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.
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.
Save your work on floppies
Computer Engineering
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
USA
karplus@cse.ucsc.edu
(408) 459-4250