Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, publisher and most importantly a printer. He introduced moveable type into Europe and by doing so started the ‘Printing Revolution’
This invention is regarded as being the most important event of the modern era. It allowed books to be mass produced and empowered the average person to attain knowledge.
Gutenberg’s first publication was in 1439, a bible set in a German Blackletter font. The importance of his invention was quickly recognised and typographers very soon developed new typefaces to work with this groundbreaking technology.
Within a few years hundreds of type styles were available in movable fonts.
Today’s designers are able to choose from tens of thousands of fonts when they want to print conventionally (Ink on paper).
This isn’t the case with web design.
Due to the restrictions of HTML, the language that is used to program web pages, screen quality and computer platforms, the web designer is limited to a hand full of font styles.
Google Websafe Fonts are touted as the answer but even these are subject to vagaries of technology.
A font that works well on Safari looks like crap on Firefox.
Hayden and I had a discussion the other night that followed the usual banter between a programmer, who follows logic, and a dreamer, who just wants it to be the way they want it to be.
Here is a part of the transcript of that chat.
Bruce:
G’day
Hayden:
Hey
Bruce:
We seem to have issues with Google Fonts. They look different between the Mac and PC.
Hayden:
Hmmm. What browser is Thea using?
Bruce:
Firefox.
Hayden:
Right, don’t worry, that’s normal.
Bruce:
Thea is showing me how the Google Fonts don’t work on her monitor.
So what’s the answer – Times New Roman?
Hayden:
Helvetica, Verdana.
Bruce:
Bugger that, I thought that we had some creative flexibility.
Hayden:
Well, you do.
Bruce:
But not with the fonts I want.
Hayden:
The problem is crappy font support in some browsers on Windows by the look of it.
Bruce:
This sucks. I think we should go back to HTML websites (Sites that are not WordPress) where the designers have the say and the clients just have to pay for it.
Hayden:
But these are HTML websites.
The problem is that you don’t have control over the browser used to view the sites.
Bruce:
Well they should be done in InDesign.
The smarty that develops that interface will make a fortune.
Hayden:
You can’t design a proper website in InDesign. Because InDesign doesn’t move.
Bruce:
I am talking figuratively, in that we (Designers) need to have flexibility to design.
Hayden:
Complain to Firefox, Microsoft, Google and Apple, plus the mobile manufacturers.
It’s due to incompatibility that there are so many issues.
Bruce:
If the computer industry hadn’t embraced film editor’s thinking when they designed editing software, we would still be doing it on a Steenbeck (old film editing machines that were first developed in the 1930s’).
Hayden:
Yes but every format has its limitations.
I am still sure that there must be a way to get better fonts on here. But I’m not sure how.
I mean Titanium (A Google Websafe Font) looks okay, except on Chrome.
Bruce:
But isn’t Chrome a Google interface and if so why doesn’t it support Google Fonts?
Hayden:
I have no idea. At the end of the day the fonts are probably handled by the operating system.
Bruce:
It’s not your fault, it’s that the industry is still run by the geeks and and not by the designers. Once it’s controlled by the creatives, not the techos, it will improve. That’s just history.
Hayden:
I’m not sure. Because at the end of the day, you’re frustrated because you’re used to a different system.
Younger designers have grown up with the current limitations. In fact they’ve grown up with more restrictions than currently exist.
So, perhaps they’ll never know.
Bruce:
Ah, but there in lies the solution. Develop a system that has unlimited creative possibilities.
Hayden:
Technically impossible.
Look at Adobe products. They don’t allow unlimited creative possibilities and they’ve been in development for over 20 years.
Bruce:
I disagree, they allowed the designer to experiment with thousands of fonts, on as many layout options as they could imagine, and they did it all in a fraction of the time it took them to do it conventionally.
Hayden:
Perhaps I’m being pessimistic.
Bruce:
Remember I was there when there was only hot metal type and a layout pad….
it’s come a long way since then.
Hayden:
Yes it has.
Bruce:
We should have this discussion in 5 years time. I think it will have changed a lot by then.
Hayden:
And you’ll be complaining that you can’t do everything you want to. (-:
Bruce:
But that’s what it’s all about. If we don’t aspire to do it differently, it will never happen.
Letterset (Rub-down letters) came into existence because typographers couldn’t kern type tightly enough with hot metal. Then when computers took over Quark had a kerning option. The same thing will happen to web design, someone will come up with a better way, they always do.
So getting back to basics, I’m stuck with Helvetica? It’s a bit like being stuck in the 60s’
Hayden:
Well now. Google fonts should work okay. I don’t know why they don’t. Perhaps you could search for the best way to use a wide range on fonts on web sites.
I’ll have a look a bit later. But I’m in the middle of some IOS development at the moment.
Bruce:
It’s not your problem, it’s just that I thought that Google Fonts were the answer but apparently there are still many issues.
Hayden:
Well I’m the programmer for Caffeine Concepts, so it’s at least partly my responsibility.
Bruce:
Touche.
That’s the extent of my French, so I will leave you to earn a Euro/Dollar.
Hayden:
You missed out the accent I think.
Touché.
Bruce:
My French isn’t that good.
Hayden:
Neither is mine.

For Turkey’s sake, I hope history repeats itself.
June 7th, 2013In our 12 months of travelling, Turkey was high on the list as being our favourite country.
The people were friendly and open, the country was beautiful, easy to get around and we always felt safe.
What also impressed us as tourists was the secular society, where religion didn’t dominate life and the freedom of the people.
Secularism was a primary principle of Mustafa Kemel Atatürk (1881-1938), the first President of the Republic of Turkey.
An excellent example of Atatürks strategy of unification and conciliation, was the way he dealt with the sensitive subject of Hagia Sophia.
Built in 537 as an Eastern Orthodox Cathedral, Hagia Sophia was to become a Roman Catholic Cathedral an Orthodox Cathedral again, and then in 1453 an Imperial Mosque.
In 1935, under the direction of Atatürk, it became a museum and it still is today. Thus diffusing the divide over what religion this ancient and important building should represent.
Atatürk transformed the Republic of Turkey into a modern state by introducing social reform and separated politics and religion.
As we travelled throughout Turkey we spoke with many Turks about their society and the possibility of them joining the European Union. The consensus was that their country was doing well, especially compared to the EU, and that they might be better off staying out of the partnership. There was also a feeling of disquiet about the current regime of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Especially his desire to move Turkey from a secular, Eurocentric society to a more Islamic, Middle Eastern one.
When we travelled to Gallipoli we were overwhelmed by the Turks love of all things Atatürk. There are quotes, statues and monuments everywhere on the peninsula. It’s therefore not surprising to hear that the average Turkish citizen is mistrustful of a government that seems to want to distance itself from the legacy of what many see as their founding father.
In fact the name ‘Atatürk’ was bestowed on Mustafa Kemel in 1934 by the Turkish Parliament and means “Father of the Turks”
This name is forbidden to any other person.
The last 10 years have seen the economy strengthen under the rule of the AKP, but this growth seems to have been at a cost.
It would be a disaster for Turkey if this current civil unrest plunges it into the rule of fundamentalism and it goes the way of many other countries in the Middle East.
It must be remembered that Turkey is a democracy and the current government have been elected to power.
What is going on right now is a struggle for that power.
The only real way change should take place is by the democratic process, but that requires an opposition capable of winning the vote.
Currently this doesn’t exist, which has allowed the present government, feeling invincible, to deal harshly with any form of dissent.
However what does appear to be a bi-product of this conflict is the emergence of a meaningful opposition. It’s to be hoped that they will find a leader that has the intelligence and vision of Mustafa Kemel Atatürk.
Right now, Turkey needs him again.
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