7 Terrible Mistakes in Professional Typesetting

The emergence of typesetting goes way back to an era where we could barely think of human civilizations. But let’s not get into history now because that’s not what we are here for! However, the most important aspect we need to come to terms with is that typography is as significant and influential in the digital age as it was back then. With the digital technology we have today, it is easier to access to professional typesetting services!

Once upon a time, people depended solely on physical books and other tangible materials, but now everything has gone digital with desktop publishing (DTP). Nevertheless, we still give emphasis on professional typesetting services because certain things never change and will never!

Have you ever stopped reading a book or any other written material not because the content was boring, but due to a poor layout or a hardly readable or ugly text? Well, that’s what we are gonna talk about at length here. But before we get into that you need to know what typesetting is.

“Typesetting is all about incorporating text on a page”. It is not as simple as it may sound with this one line. However, it is a process that needs to be meticulously looked into so that the whole text is readable and doesn’t give a headache to the readers. 

When not done right, typesetting can look really cheap, substandard, and mortally horrible even on desktop publishing (DTP). Even a layman can point out the mistakes of unprofessional typesetting and that’s why you cannot afford to make mistakes.

Let’s check out some common consequences of professional typesetting services gone bad.

1. Major Crises in Fonts

Fonts play the most significant role in typesetting. When the texts are not set properly in a font that’s not intelligible, the entire essence of good typesetting is lost. When the font is not readable and when it does not possess all the characters of the language, the entire readability of the content is gone down the drain and it becomes a miserable output. 

Multiple languages have different writing styles. For example – In the Hindi script, there is a line that goes above every word, when the typesetting misses out on that the content can no longer be deemed as Hindi. 

Also, one of the major consequences is that most of the typesetters forget the fact that MS Word displays content thoroughly without any errors, but when the same file is put on other video editing software the font gets corrupted and the uniformity is lost. Ultimately, the corrupted font gets printed which results in a major mishap! This is quite common in desktop publishing (dtp).

2. Poor Spacing and Line Breaks

Ahh!! This is one terrible mistake that happens most of the time. 

Before going ahead with multiple language typesetting, many typesetters do not understand that the spacing between words differs for every language. 

In the language Thai, spaces are not used to identify when one word ends and the other begins. So if the typesetter puts spacing between every word, it will be blunderous! The same rule is applicable to Chinese, Japanese, and other languages as well. So it is very much essential to know where to break the line and give the right spacing before you head to the next paragraph. 

3. Horrible Margins

When the margins are not in the right manner, it is such an eyesore. We are sure most of the people would toss aside the book with horrible margins and carry on with what looks more exciting than it. 

Margins are the white space around the content on a page. It gives our eyes more freedom to move between words in a relaxed manner. When it is lost, letters look all clung together and we are unable to move to the next line without any strain. 

4. Terrible Alignment 

Some typesetters believe all the languages in the world to follow the same rules and norms of English. This is a common error seen in desktop publishing.  But that isn’t the case! 

There are several examples to quote. Chinese needs to be justified on both ends and Arabic is written from right to left. So when content is translated to Arabic even the logos and designs of the matter need to be properly aligned from right to left. The logo cannot be left anywhere in the middle or left. 

So these are real cases that need to be looked into. If not, the output is going to be depressing. 

5. Punctuations Used Wrongly

As a rule of thumb, always follow the grammar!

Since the English language has been the main source of communication around the world, everyone believes the punctuations used in every language are also the same. But that’s not the case. Certain languages DO NOT have punctuations at all. Is it surprising?

Languages such as Urdu and Arabic do not use punctuations at all. They do not have hyphens, commas, etc. In the Greek language, a semicolon is used as a question mark. There are many materials where commas are used in Arabic and question marks are used in the Greek language. So know that if you don’t get the facts right, you are making a grave mistake. 

6. Incomprehensible Paragraph Structure

Would anyone like to read an essay without any paragraphs? Ah! That’s foolishness at its peak and we were surprised to see such content on some sites. At times there are even inconsistent headings where the reader is totally unable to make the head and tail of what it is.  

It is so mandatory to neatly paragraph the whole content with headings and subheadings. As a rule of thumb, never ever ignore the importance of heading 1 and heading 2 in the digital world. When you neglect this, it is really difficult for the reader to comprehend what is being conveyed and the essence of the writing is lost. 

7. Trim Size Being Neglected

Not many know trim size’s enormous importance in typesetting! It is the dimensions of a page when it is cut down to a readable size before it goes for binding. 

There are plenty of books that have made the terrible mistake of not paying heed to the trim size. As a result, one-fourth of the page gets trimmed and omitted. Finally, the book looks awkward and unable to read. 

Tip – Trim size is always measured in inches. Always follow a standard trim size for books and never go for anything which is smaller than 5 * 8.

To Conclude

These aforementioned 7 terrible mistakes in professional typesetting services rendered by many and it has to be pointed out to prevent any such distortions and mistakes in the future. By paying heed to these mistakes and rectifying it, professional typesetting will never lose its value and demand.