\let\Tub\TUB

\title{Malcolm's Gleanings}
\author{Malcolm Clark}
\begin{Article}

\subsection{Ligature trivia}

In the \Tub \textbf{17}(2), Haralambous and Plaice, taking a slight diversion 
 present a whole galaxy of glyphs which could find a role in their
$\Omega$ system. In passing it is intriguing to read the following article by
Richard Kinch and speculate on the rivalries which must underlie 
that contribution. One of
Haralambous and Plaice's offerings are the ``french ligatures for st and ct''.
I was a little startled, since I hadn't realised that these \emph{were French}. I'd
seen them in  books from 1800 in English, and, although I've since not been able to
confirm it, I think that Eric Gill's Joanna had them too.

By an amazing coincidence, the topic of these ligatures cropped up on the
\texttt{typo-l} discussion list and this stimulated me to pursue a little research,
from which I concluded that Sweynheym
\& Pannartz' cut roman typeface in about 1467 which had the ct, and a long-st
ligature. I'll ignore the gothic faces which had as many ligatures as scribes
were used to using in hand lettering. Sweynheym \& Pannartz were German and
worked in Italy.  Like good type design, it's all in the
details.

\subsection{\Tub}

I usually manage to make some veiled comment about the timliness of \Tub, but
this time I am pleased to direct your attention to a \Tub\ Web page. Try out:
\url{http://www.halcyon.com/clcook/tugclndr.htm}

\subsection{The classic fonts}

Another discussion on the \texttt{typo-l} list involved the origin of the
`classic' fonts which were found on the first Adobe \ie\  \PS\ laser printers.
(Note I am using `classic' in the same sense that a Citro\"en 2CV might be
described as `classic'\Dash dangerous firetrap thought it undoubtedly was.)
Andrew Boag pointed out that the IBM~4250  600dpi electro-erosion printer shown
at DRUPA in 1982 had Monotype hand-edited  bitmap fonts which included 
Courier, Helvetica (sub-licenced from Linotype), Palatino and  Times NR.

David Lemon added that the basic LaserWriter fonts were selected in
discussions between Adobe and Apple. A representative from the Adobe Type group
tried to keep it `reasonable', but , Steve Jobs
had to be talked out of including ITC Gorilla, and ITC American Typewriter
almost became the ``typewriter'' design, until Adobe pointed out
that it is not monospaced. When the other fonts were added some time later, 
Jobs had his revenge in the form of ITC Avant Garde. Still, he was and may
still be one of the most gifted computer designers of the last 20 years: he
gets to screw up in chosing fonts.

\subsection{Slip between cup and lip}
A while back I wrote about the proposed math handling of HTML. When the
standard was published, the maths had disappeared. Nevertheless, Dave Raggett
does describe some of the markup and the hopes in his book \textsl{HTML3, electronic
publishing on the World Wide Web}, Dave Raggett, Jenny Lam \& Ian Alexander, Addison-Wesley.
I enjoyed the book's informal style, though I wouldn't wish to be seen in
socks like those.

\subsection{\TeX\ lauded at Seybold}
I exaggerate slightly. Conrad Taylor, writing for the Seybold Report on
Publishing Systems \textsl{What has wysiwyg done for us?}, suggests that ``most
of the H \&~J (hyphenation and justification) algorithms in desktop publishing
programs are lamentable, particularly when compared with \TeX''. We knew that,
but a small accolade to that man.

\subsection{TB-L}
Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, was recently made a 
Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. I was
surprised that he is \textbf{not} seven feet tall. 

After his presentation Tim gave a talk on ``The World Wide
Web\Dash Past, Present and Future''. A transcript of the presentation is
available as \url{http://www.bcs.org.uk/news/timbl.htm}

I was able to ask TB-L a little about the incorporation of HTML
into the Web. I asked why he chose this way of expressing content (rather
hoping he would endorse the wisdom of separating form and content), but
apparently it was much more simple than that. People at Cern were accustomed
to those little angle brackets, so he gave them something with 
which they were familiar,
and which was simple. Thank goodness Cern wasn't using Wordperfect!

\end{Article}
