Not convinced I like th enew 'Threads I'm On' look; what do others think?

[KatyMac]

It's a bit, um, cramped I think

I may get used to it but I'm not sure I like it

Anyone else have any strong feelings about it?

Like with lead the metal, I assume?

If it was leading as in in front of then it's be about indentation not spaces between lines.

So you want me to answer that or someone who doesn't know?

I'm going to go and read all the words with ambiguous meanings as being the other meaning now.

Yep, it's a long thin line of lead the metal that separates lines innit? or rather wasnit?

Phew, what a relief when I signed on just now.

It is lead (ing) as in the metal. <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=type+set+printing+press+image&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1848&bih=864&authuser=0&tbm=isch&tbnid=CzbeVjfGoN5DeM:&imgrefurl=www.library.manchester.ac.uk/firstimpressions/From-Manuscript-to-Print/Technology-of-the-Book/Composing-how-type-was-set/&docid=aWTSo3qjGM3YqM&imgurl=www.library.manchester.ac.uk/firstimpressions/assets/images/content/composing2.jpg&w=220&h=293&ei=958iT_vXFI7C8QPpj6nSBw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=387&sig=113011295131999047978&page=1&tbnh=129&tbnw=96&start=0&ndsp=53&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0&tx=32&ty=56" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Love a bit of typography me.

Yup. As in the lead slugs that were placed between the lines of text when printing was done on a press.

So why is it called kearning?

So, "ledding"?

not long strips then? I knew they separated the lines...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning it is cognate with corners, and is about getting the individual bits of lead to overlap.

The strips where known as slugs.

Oops, kerning. Random 'a' there!

Okay smarties, why are the called upper and lower case?

oh i LOVE this shit. slugs... haven't heard of them in yonks.

isn't it something to do with the compartments that the moveable type were in before being loaded onto the plate?

composing stick! before being loaded onto the composing stick

ooh, we need my Dad. He was a compositor, so he should know all this stuff.

Wow MmeLindor, where did he work? (feel free to ignore if it outs)

I once set some type for a printing press in the Bodleian as an under grad and we had a tour of the archives < wistful >

I get stoopidly excited by this sort of thing, i may have to hide the thread or name change

He worked for a newspaper in Dundee, many many years ago when they still needed compositors.

When he was about 50yo, they changed the machinery, and made many of the compositors and copy editors redundant.

He is extremely good at crossword puzzles and reading mirror images.

It was such a hard job

The letters were kept in cases. Capital letters were in the, wait for it...upper case! Non-capital letters were in the, you guessed it...lower case!!!

That's really cool MmeL!

I had no idea you were all such typography geeks! Brill :) I've learnt alot!

Was it http://www.bitrebels.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Bugs-In-The-System-4.jpg bug in the system Rebecca?

You know you can get typography bits and pieces on eBay and NOTHS. So chic.

I am a total typography geek. Started in, I think it was, 4th Grade (US) when I made a model of a printing press, including the letters, out of clay. I was 9 or 10 years old.