That's a pretty cool graphic. I had to download it to fully appreciate it.
James
It's actually amazing, James, how much computer graphics have advanced in just the past couple of years. I'm old enough to remember when both the PC's and the Mac's visuals were nothing but crude letters on black and white or black and green screens. All I wish now is that I'd had these present-day tools 15 or 20 years ago!
But don't mind me, I'm also old enough to have learned mechanical pasteup (white foam-core board, blue pencils, Rapidograph drafting pens, steel rulers, X-Acto knives, hot wax, and plenty of White-Out). Also, how to use the Compugraphic Typesetting Machine, which was the size and shape of a clothes dryer, only it had a keyboard sticking out of the front. You'd change fonts by selecting one from a strip of film, and then, after wrapping it around a large rotating drum inside the machine and closing the lid, you could print out one line of type at a time. Which you would then paste up to the page that was going to the printer (at that time, the printer was a human being, not a little desktop box).
This was a high-paying skill when I was in my 20's and 30's, but now it's as exactly as useful as being a trained Model T Ford mechanic.
I used to put together the whole yearly phone directory for a major hospital, using just those primitive tools. It looked good, too, but
man, was it hard work! Plus, I needed two research assistants to verify all the phone numbers. If they got any wrong (inevitably they did, although they were very thorough), that's what went into the book.
Even before that technology, there was the Linotype machine, which used
molten lead to cast type! The operator had to wear thick work clothes and a canvas apron, just in case he got spattered with boiling lead. No, I'm not old enough to have used one of those, but I've seen a working one.
Excuse me, the night nurse is coming to give me my injection... and a warm glass of milk so that I'll doze off.
[attachment deleted by admin]