Product Description
One of the most popular Macintosh books ever published (over 300,000 now in print), The Mac is not a typewritercovers the top twenty things you need to know to make your documents look clean and professional: em dashes, curly quotes, spaces and indents, white space, etc. It’s a primer that novices can pick up quickly, and that pros can keep going back to. Winner of the 1991 Benjamin Franklin Award, Computer Book Category. … More >>
The Mac is Not a Typewriter: A Style Manual for Creating Professional-Level Type on Your Macintosh
Tags: benjamin franklin, benjamin franklin award, book category, computer, computer book, Creating, Macintosh, macintosh books, Manual, professional level, ProfessionalLevel, quotes, Style, Type, Typewriter, white space
#1 by Dave on February 5, 2010 - 12:15 am
Robin Williams knows typography, and this is a textbook in typography. For the professional creating hard copy documents this is an exceptional source. For the rest of us, it contains a lot of techincal (unimportant information.
The differences between an en dash and and an em dash are important for professionals. For the vast majority of us, it is a subtletly we needn’t worry about.
Moreover there are typographical issues (such as kerning) covered in the book that you CANNOT acheive on home computer with one of the standard word processing programs.
What is important for the non professional typist to know (use “smart” quotes, don’t space twice after a period, italicize instead of underlining, create a long (em) dash by typing shift + option + -) are widely discussed in other places.
Rating: 3 / 5
#2 by Paul Mason on February 5, 2010 - 2:56 am
I agree entirely with Anthony Reimer. I _am_ teaching a ‘word processing 101′ course (though not under that title), and this is an excellent choice… except for its exclusivity.
Rather than following up with ‘Beyond The Mac is Not a Typewriter’, I believe Williams should have stepped into the modern age by recognising that there doesn’t have to be a gulf between Mac and PC users. If she were to produce a second edition, a ‘The Computer is Not a Typewriter’ junking the out-of-date technical detail, but retaining the no-nonsense advise, I would hail her as the Saviour of Civilisation! (and of course insist on all my students buying her book).
Until that day I am forced merely to use her book for inspiration with my class, some of whom own PCs, some of whom own Macs.
Rating: 4 / 5
#3 by Mike Gunn on February 5, 2010 - 3:54 am
I have had a copy of this book for about 10 years and it is a great resource for clear and concise layout guidelines.
Last week, I took a look at my son’s yearbook committee drafts. Yikes! I just got a copy for them!
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Isabelle Naessens on February 5, 2010 - 4:18 am
A real gem for type novices: brief and structured overview in a non-technical language, with plenty of examples to compare the difference in effect. In my opinion: a must for everyone creating copy (be it a club newsletter, an invitation to a party or a corporate brochure).
Rating: 4 / 5
#5 by Elena C. on February 5, 2010 - 7:03 am
This is a must have easy to read book that Mac users should have in their library. It provides helpful tips on how to make your designs look professional and help out with the work flow.
Rating: 4 / 5