Design philosophy: all information in this web site should be accessible to the intended audience regardless of platform, browser, or size of screen. Graphics are kept to a minimum to reduce download times. If you see a frame or an animated GIF, feel free to flame me mercilessly.

This site uses fully compliant cascading style sheets (CSS). Older browsers should display text in their default fonts, while more recent browsers will all display fully formatted text. (However, the styles sheets will look best viewed in Internet Explorer 4.0 or above.) The site also complies with major accessibility standards.

Colophon

The base font for this page is Trebuchet MS, a free font from Microsoft designed for on-screen readability at small point sizes. The headlines are 32 pt Times bold italic, combining elegance, classical proportions, and compactness.

The logo is variation on the original logo from Aldus PageMaker and depicts Aldus Manutius, a student of Johannes Gutenberg and inventor of italics. This is to echo the roots of desktop publishing, both in the 1450s and the 1980s. The logo uses Courier from ITC to evoke the feel of metal type and Poetica from Adobe Systems to evoke the era of hand lettering.

Made on a Macintosh using Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia DreamWeaver.

Typographically Correct Fractions in PageMaker

by Pete Masterson

One option is the fraction script, which was in my copy of PM 5, but not in PM 6.52, though it still works. It gives a slanted line, though I think there's another version which uses a horizontal line as well.

Note: the virgule looks rather like the slash, but is tilted slightly more and makes a better looking fraction.

While the old script still works, with the control palette, it's not particularly necessary. To make a diagonal fraction, simply type the numerator "1", then type the virgule (not the slash) [opt-shft "I"] followed by the denominator.

Select the numerator and set it to 'superscript,' select the denominator and set it to 'subscript.' Finally, adjust the 'baseline offset' of the denominator and tweak the kerning of the two figures in relation to the virgule.

With some typefaces, you might want to adjust the character size as a percent of the base font point size. Also, this takes far longer to describe than to do.

Once you've created a fraction, you can copy it to the Library for future use.

MORE TIPS

STEPPS -- Stop Tax Exempt Private Property Sprawl -- Framingham