什麼是排字

為不同印刷過程準備的排字動作。最早使用木版印刷的是11世紀的中國；可移動的金屬字模是13世紀時出現在韓國的。1450年代歐洲的古騰堡將之改良。在排版史中，排字和印刷向來都是由同一人完成。這個人負責移動字模，依照印刷品上每行字的順序，一次一個字模，並操縱手壓機將字模印在紙上。1880年代「熱金屬」過程出現所謂的活字印刷術（1884），使排字印刷術獲得革命性的改良。活字印刷術使用像打字機般的鍵盤，將要印刷的每一行排出；每一行再用專屬的金屬製字模排出來。蒙納排鑄機（1887）則是逐一鑄造每一個字而不是每一行。photocomposition指的是將所需文章直接印在底片或具光敏性的紙上，使用的是上用字型的迴轉桶或圓碟，可以讓光線穿透直接接收物表面－－這是20世紀的發明。現在字型印刷都是經由電腦。電腦的排版印刷系統包括可產生磁性線條的鍵盤，可以製作以連字號連線、排版和其他版面設定的電腦、供印刷輸出的印刷單位；雷射光束產生的脈衝可將影像傳到對光反應敏感的紙張或底片，進而根據電腦產生的電子脈衝形成每個字。目前發生的趨勢是需要印刷的案件都以電子檔的形式儲存，並將之傳輸到印表機輸出，而不再是傳送到紙張或底片上。電腦印刷每秒可傳10,000字。現代的影像印刷還可呈現包含影象及文字的版表。

typesetting

Setting of type for use in any of various printing processes. Type for printing, using woodblocks, was invented in China in the 11th cent, and movable type using metal molds had appeared in Korea by the 13th century. It was reinvented in Europe in the 1450s by Johannes Gutenberg. For much of its history, typesetting and printing were often performed by the same person, who arranged movable type, one character at a time, in rows corresponding to the individual lines in the publication, and operated the hand press to imprint the image on paper. Typesetting was revolutionized in the 1880s with the invention of the “hot-metal” processes: Linotype (1884), in which the lines of type were assembled by use of a typewriter-like keyboard and each line was cast as a single slug of molten metal, and Monotype (1887), which also used a keyboard but cast each character separately. Photocomposition—the composition of text directly on film or photosensitive paper, using a rotating drum or disk with cutout type characters through which light could be directed onto the receiving surface—appeared in the early 20th century. Today characters are generated by computer; computer typesetting systems include a keyboard that produces magnetic tape for input, a computer for making hyphenation, layout, and other page-makeup decisions, and a typesetting unit for output, which transfers the images to light-sensitive paper or film by pulses from a laser beam, which forms each character in response to computer-generated electric pulses. Increasingely, typesetting projects are simply saved electronically and sent to the printer as electronic files rather than on paper or film. A computerized typesetter can set over 10,000 characters per second, and modern imagesetters can set complex layouts that include a variety of graphic matter in addition to type.