Page layout
[1] The high-level page layout involves deciding on the overall arrangement of text and images, and possibly on the size or shape of the medium.
It requires intelligence, sentience, and creativity, and is informed by culture, psychology, and what the document authors and editors wish to communicate and emphasize.
The result might be published as-is (as for a residential phone book interior) or might be tweaked by a graphic designer (as for a highly polished, expensive publication).
[2] With manuscripts, all of the elements are added by hand, so the creator can determine the layout directly as they create the work, perhaps with an advanced sketch as a guide.
With the Renaissance invention of letterpress printing and cold-metal moveable type, typesetting was accomplished by physically assembling characters using a composing stick into a galley—a long tray.
This process is called imposition, and potentially includes arranging multiple pages to be printed on the same sheet of paper which will later be folded and possibly trimmed.
Offset lithography allows the bright and dark areas of an image (at first captured on film) to control ink placement on the printing press.
As the graphics capabilities of computers matured, they began to be used to render characters, columns, pages, and even multi-page signatures directly, rather than simply summoning a photographic template from a pre-supplied set.
The advent of "flat screen" monitors (LCD, LED, and more recently OLED) in 1997 eliminated the distortion problems caused by older CRT displays.
Greyscale images must be either half-toned digitally if being sent to an offset press or sent separately for the print shop to insert into marked areas.
Modern web pages are typically produced using HTML for content and general structure, cascading style sheets to control presentation details such as typography and spacing, and JavaScript for interactivity.
Intertitles were used extensively in the earliest motion pictures when sound was not available; they are still used occasionally in addition to the ubiquitous vanity cards and credits.
Computer-developed presentations could be printed to a transparency with some laser printers, transferred to slides, or projected directly using LCD overhead projectors.
Consideration might be given to: Grids and templates are page layout design patterns used in advertising campaigns and multiple-page publications, including websites.
A page layout may or may not stay within those guidelines, depending on how much repetition or variety the design style in the series calls for.
Most desktop publishing software allows for grids in the form of a page filled with coloured lines or dots placed at a specified equal horizontal and vertical distance apart.
Text may freely be resized to provide users' individual needs on legibility while never disturbing a given layout's proportions.
In this case, the front-end may be designed using an alternative page layout technology such as image editing software or on paper with hand rendering methods.
WYSIWYG editors and desktop publishing software allow front-end design prior to back-end coding in most cases.
Interface design and database publishing may involve more technical knowledge or collaboration with information technology engineering in the front-end.
Page layout might be prescribed to a greater or lesser degree by a house style which might be implemented in a specific desktop publishing template.
Floating blocks are normally labeled with a caption or title that describes its contents and a number that is used to refer to the figure from the main text.
A common system divides floating block into two separately numbered series, labeled figure (for pictures, diagrams, plots, etc.)
Other kinds of floating blocks may be differentiated as well, for example: A mockup of a layout might be created to get early feedback, usually before all the content is actually ready.
Lorem ipsum text is often used to avoid the embarrassment any improvised sample copy might cause if accidentally published.
