Digital Book World, 2014. First, Do No Harm: Best Practices for Typography in Ebooks with Charles Nix, Co-Founder, Scott & Nix, Inc. Nix will present fundamentals and techniques for superior ebook typography: choosing type for ebooks; typographic dos and don’ts; and a step-by-step guide to grooming text for an optimal reading experience.
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1. First, do no harm. Best practices for typography in eBooks
Sunday, January 12, 14
2. 1. Read the text. Stop. 2. Study the design memo. 3.
Research. 4. Make samples. 5. Read the samples. Share the samples.
6. Reiterate. Repeat 4 & 5 as necessary. 7. Prepare to fallback
gracefully. 8. Press for better book design. Sunday, January 12,
14
3. Typography = History + Form + Use Sunday, January 12,
14
4. 1. Read the text. Stop. 2. Study the design memo. 3.
Research. 4. Make samples. 5. Read the samples. Share the samples.
6. Reiterate. Repeat 4 & 5 as necessary. 7. Prepare to fallback
gracefully. 8. Press for better book design. Sunday, January 12,
14
5. 1. Read the text. Stop. 2. Study the design memo. 3.
Research. 4. Make samples. 5. Read the samples. Share the samples.
6. Reiterate. Repeat 4 & 5 as necessary. 7. Prepare to fallback
gracefully. 8. Press for better book design. Sunday, January 12,
14
6. 1. Read the text. Stop. 2. Study the design memo. 3.
Research. 4. Make samples. well. a. Choose type 5. Read the
samples. Share the samples. 6. Reiterate. Repeat 4 & 5 as
necessary. 7. Prepare to fallback gracefully. 8. Press for better
book design. Sunday, January 12, 14
7. Typography = History + Form = Choosing type well + Use
Sunday, January 12, 14
8. 1. Readability and legibility 2. Aesthetic (novelty, grace,
style, etc.) 3. x-Height, Proportions, and Color 4. Character set
5. Family members 6. Font format 7. Price and licensing Sunday,
January 12, 14
9. 1. Readability and legibility 2. Aesthetic (novelty, grace,
style, etc.) 3. x-Height, Proportions, and Color 4. Character set
5. Family members 6. Font format 7. Price and licensing Sunday,
January 12, 14
10. Hanalei (Astigmatic/Google Fonts) Sunday, January 12,
14
11. PT Sans (ParaType/Google Fonts) Sunday, January 12, 14
12. 1. Readability and legibility 2. Aesthetic (novelty, grace,
style, etc.) 3. x-Height, Proportions, and Color 4. Character set
5. Family members 6. Font format 7. Price and licensing Sunday,
January 12, 14
13. Priva Sans One (DSType) Helvetica Neue Light (Linotype)
Sunday, January 12, 14
14. Augereau (Abrams Legacy Collection/MyFonts) Sunday, January
12, 14
15. 1. Readability and legibility 2. Aesthetic (novelty, grace,
style, etc.) 3. x-Height, Proportions, and Color 4. Character set
5. Family members 6. Font format 7. Price and licensing Sunday,
January 12, 14
16. Garamond 3 Sunday, January 12, 14 Minion Pro Helvetica
17. Sunday, January 12, 14
18. Glegoo Sunday, January 12, 14 Linden Hill
19. Georgia Sunday, January 12, 14 Iowan Seravek
20. 1. Readability and legibility 2. Aesthetic (novelty, grace,
style, etc.) 3. x-Height, Proportions, and Color 4. Character set
5. Family members 6. Font format 7. Price and licensing Sunday,
January 12, 14
21. Garamond (MicroSoft / Monotype) - Minion Pro
!"#$%&()*+,-./0123456789:;?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[]^_abcdef
ghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~'` Rp K R a e k m n r Th ch ck ct fb ff ffb
ffh ffi ffj ffk ffl fft fh fi fj fk fl ft sp st b h i k l t i l 0 a
b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
i&!?0123456789$#%01234567890$#0123456789$
#abdeghilmnorst0123456789.,$-()0123456789.,$-()0123456789.,$-()0123456789.,$-()
@-{}[]() G h g ` g ` A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W
X Y Z G i/ Sunday, January 12, 14
22. 1. Readability and legibility 2. Aesthetic (novelty, grace,
style, etc.) 3. x-Height, Proportions, and Color 4. Character set
5. Family members 6. Font format 7. Price and licensing Sunday,
January 12, 14
23. ITC New Baskerville family Baskerville Roman Baskerville
Italic Baskerville Bold Baskerville Bold Italic Roboto (Christian
Robertson/Google Fonts) family Roboto Thin Italic Roboto Light
Italic Roboto Regular Roboto Italic Roboto Medium Roboto Medium
Italic Roboto Bold Roboto Bold Italic Roboto Slab Thin Roboto Slab
Light Roboto Slab Regular Roboto Slab Bold Roboto Black Italic
Roboto Condensed Light Roboto Condensed Light Italic Roboto
Condensed Regular Roboto Condensed Italic Roboto Condensed Bold
Roboto Condensed Bold Italic Sunday, January 12, 14
24. 1. Readability and legibility 2. Aesthetic (novelty, grace,
style, etc.) 3. x-Height, Proportions, and Color 4. Character set
5. Family members 6. Font format 7. Price and licensing Sunday,
January 12, 14
25. OpenType TrueType SVG Sunday, January 12, 14
26. 1. Readability and legibility 2. Aesthetic (novelty, grace,
style, etc.) 3. x-Height, Proportions, and Color 4. Character set
5. Family members 6. Font format 7. Price and licensing Sunday,
January 12, 14
33. 1. Read the text. Stop. 2. Study the design memo. 3.
Research. 4. Make samples. 5. a. Use type well. Share the samples.
Read the samples. 6. Reiterate. Repeat 4 & 5 as necessary. 7.
Prepare to fallback gracefully. 8. Press for better book design.
Sunday, January 12, 14
34. Use: Typographic Dos and Donts Sunday, January 12, 14
35. Dos Use and ligatures Use true apostrophes Use true
quotation marks Use true ellipsis Use true italics Use true
fractions Use true small caps Use old style gures in text Use
en-dashes for ranges Sunday, January 12, 14 Judiciously letterspace
capitals Reduce abbreviations Set ush left, ragged right Set
readable sizes Set readable line lengths Dene size and leading in
ems
36. fi fl Sunday, January 12, 14
37. ' " ... Sunday, January 12, 14 / /
38. Sunday, January 12, 14
39. 1/2 1/4 3/4 Sunday, January 12, 14
40. Excelsior: Lining Figures Xx1234567890 Xx1234567890
Georgia: Old Style Figures Sunday, January 12, 14
41. Sunday, January 12, 14
42. 10-20 June-Aug Sunday, January 12, 14 1020 JuneAug
43. FAKE SMALL CAPS True Small Caps Sunday, January 12, 14
44. ARISTOTLES ETHICS Every art and every inquiry, and
similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good;
and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that
at which all things aim. But a certain difference is found among
ends; some are activities, others are products apart from the
activities that produce them. Where there are ends apart from the
actions, it is the nature of the products to be better than the
activities. ARISTOT LES ETH IC S Every art and every inquiry, and
similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good;
and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that
at which all things aim. But a certain difference is found among
ends; some are activities, others are products apart from the
activities that produce them. Where there are ends apart from the
actions, it is the nature of the products to be better than the
activities. Sunday, January 12, 14
45. OBTAINING FBI RECORDS You can see our full range of online
records by visiting our Reading Room at FBI Headquarters at 935
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW in Washington, DC The hours are from 8:30
am to 2:30 pm. You are required to make an appointment 48 hours in
advance of arriving by calling (202) 324-4682. However, if you
would rather review the material in your own home, all Reading Room
documents have been converted to CDs that are available for $15
each. You can pay the FBI by check or money order, or make a debit/
credit card or ACH payment via pay.gov, a secure, web-based
application hosted by the US Department of the Treasury. The
information on the CDs is of the same quality as the original
materials in the Reading Room. To obtain these records, you must
submit a FOIA request either by e-mail, mail, or fax. Upon receipt
of your request, we will mail you a letter requesting prepayment of
$15 per CD. Upon receipt of payment, we will mail you a CD(s).
Sunday, January 12, 14
46. OBTAINING FBI RECORDS You can see our full range of online
records by visiting our Reading Room at FBI Headquarters at 935
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW in Washington, DC. The hours are from 8:30
am to 2:30 pm. You are required to make an appointment 48 hours in
advance of arriving by calling (202) 324-4682. However, if you
would rather review the material in your own home, all Reading Room
documents have been converted to CDs that are available for $15
each. You can pay the FBI by check or money order, or make a debit/
credit card or ACH payment via pay.gov, a secure, web-based
application hosted by the US Department of the Treasury. The
information on the CDs is of the same quality as the original
materials in the Reading Room. To obtain these records, you must
submit a FOIA request either by e-mail, mail, or fax. Upon receipt
of your request, we will mail you a letter requesting prepayment of
$15 per CD. Upon receipt of payment, we will mail you a CD (s).
Sunday, January 12, 14
47. Donts No condensing or expanding of letterforms No spaces
around em-dashes No spaces around en-dashes No spaces around
ellipsis No spaces before colons or semicolons No indents on rst
paragraphs No widows or orphans Sunday, January 12, 14
48. Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and
pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the
good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.
But a certain difference is found among ends; some are activities,
others are products apart from the activities that produce them.
Where there are ends apart from the actions, it is the nature of
the products to be better than the activities. Sunday, January 12,
14 Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and
pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the
good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.
But a certain difference is found among ends; some are activities,
others are products apart from the activities that produce them.
Where there are ends apart from the actions, it is the nature of
the products to be better than thelactivities.
49. Use: Grooming Text Sunday, January 12, 14
50. Type Size Intervals Sunday, January 12, 14
51. Sunday, January 12, 14
52. Largest Larger Regular Smaller Smallest Sunday, January 12,
14
81. Typography = History + Form + Use Sunday, January 12,
14
82. Read the text. Research (Choose type well). Make samples
(Use type well). Read the text again. Share. Reiterate. Fallback
gracefully. Advocate better eBook design. Sunday, January 12,
14
83. Readability and legibility Aesthetics (novelty, grace,
style, etc.) x-Height, Proportions, and Color Character set Family
members Font format Price and licensing Sunday, January 12, 14
84. Dos Use and ligatures Use true apostrophes Use true
quotation marks Use true ellipsis Use true italics Use true
fractions Use true small caps Use old style gures in text Use
en-dashes for ranges Sunday, January 12, 14 Judiciously letterspace
capitals Reduce abbreviations Set ush left, ragged right Set
readable sizes Set readable line lengths Create eective hierarchies
Dene size and leading in ems
85. Donts No condensing or expanding of letterforms No spaces
around em-dashes No spaces around en-dashes No spaces around
ellipsis No spaces before colons or semicolons No indents on rst
paragraphs No widows or orphans Sunday, January 12, 14
86. Printing Types by Daniel Berkeley Updike The Elements of
Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst The Chicago Manual of Style
tdc.org/helpful-resources Better Type by Betty Binns Sunday,
January 12, 14 Layout in Advertising by W.A. Dwiggins
87. Thank you. Charles Nix twitter: @chasnix instagram: chasnix
scottandnix.com Sunday, January 12, 14
