Product Description

One of the most popular Macintosh books ever written, The Mac is not a typewriter has been called the "Strunk and White of typography." Best-selling author Robin Williams's simple, logical principles for using type to produce beautiful, professional documents are as true now as they were when the original edition was published in 1989. This updated edition includes new examples and expanded information dedicated to the practical advice that made the first edition an enduring bestseller. Throughout, Robin shows you the small details that separate the pros from the amateurs: typographer versus typewriter quotation marks, en and em dashes, tabs and indents, kerning, leading, white space, widows and orphans, and hanging punctuation. If you prepare documents, you'll find The Mac is not a typewriter, Second Edition an indispensable guide. And those who read your documents will recognize the work of a pro, even if they don't know a curly quote from curly fries.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59989 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

From the Back Cover

One of the most popular Macintosh books ever published, The Mac is Not a Typewriter has been referred to as the "Strunk and White of typography." The revised edition continues in the tradition of the original by providing simple, logical principles for using type to produce beautiful, professional documents. It's updated to include a revised chapter on fonts and also reflects changes in software and hardware since the original edition published in 1990. Some topics include: real vs. generic quotation marks, en and em dashes, tabs and indents, kerning, leading, white space, widows and orphans, and hanging punctuation. Anyone who needs to prepare documents for print will find this guide indispensable. It's a primer that novices can pick up quickly, and that pros can keep going back to.

About the Author

Robin Williams is the author of more than 20 best-selling and award-winning books, including The Little Mac Book, The Non-Designer's Design Book, The Non-Designer's Web Book, and Robin Williams Design Workshop and Web Design Workshop. Through her writing, teaching, and seminars, Robin has influenced an entire generation of computer users in the areas of design, typography, desktop publishing, the Mac, and the World Wide Web.

Customer Reviews

All your documents will look better because of this book.
The information in this particular book is indispensible to ANYONE who prepares documents for print, whether it is a newsletter, a poster, or a simple business letter. Even things as simple as pointing out how to create an em dash will make all your documents look better. Robin Williams has an excellent writing style that lends itself to repeated readings. She has written many books since, many of which elaborate on the points in this book, but this is still the one I recommend to people who want to know more about type. I gave this book to someone who was producing a school newsletter, and the publication went from ransom note to cohesive publication overnight! If I was teaching a "Word Processing 101" course, I'd use this as the textbook.

Both stylish and technical
A lovely little book with a handle on style as much as technique - concise and to the point - the book itself is an exemplary product of the author's views: plain but not simple.

An indispensible resource
This book is the gold standard of the basic professional standards of the printing industry. It is an indispensible resource for anyone who does desktop publishing or who coordinates graphic and layout projects. Small businesses and people in the graphics field need to know the lessons in this book to establish themselves as educated professionals with high standards. Every day I see sloppy desktop publishing work, even by national advertising agencies: many, many more people need to know about this book.

I'm going to buy a stack of them and pass them out to friends and associates who can benefit from it.