Coder

Layout is the compilation of the pages of a book, newspaper, magazine from typed lines, headings, illustrations. This compilation takes place in accordance with a pre-approved layout (scheme) of the publication and is an integral part of the prepress process. In the simplest case, layout is simply typing on a computer. Of course, it may seem that everyone is capable of doing this, but there is an area of ​​human activity where it is precisely the layout designers that are needed. This area - printing, or print production.

In the books there are about a few dozen generally accepted rules for the arrangement and design of the text. So, for example, on one page there should be no more than three kinds of different fonts, the indent of the first line should be no longer than the end of the last, one piece of text can be selected in no more than one way, etc. Naturally, these rules are not observed in newspaper format publications. In addition, in each edition there are other, mandatory for him one rules.

Essentially, the coder is one of the initial positions with which many people begin their work in the field of printing. At an earlier stage is just a typesetter on the PC, however, these posts are often combined. A large number of experts in the field of printing design began their activities just layout makers. In principle, it is difficult to draw a clear distinction between the work of an artist - designer and layout designer. It is said that the artist-designer works (just as an artist) in any edition only the first months of its existence, while its individual style is and is being affirmed, when the artistic concept of the publication is developed. Having a polygraphic education (and often without it), an experienced layout designer may well claim to be the editor-in-chief or responsible for the publication. Strictly speaking, it is not the responsibility of the layout designer to create original layouts, work with drawings and photographs, but a layout designer with extensive experience is usually quite capable of replacing both the layout designer and the designer.

There are many graduates of technical colleges who are well versed in computer technology among layout designers. In small editions along with the layout, such a specialist takes over the maintenance of the computer park. The specialist knows that, starting with a certain number of pages (15-20), it is easier to work with a document not in the well-known Word editor, but in another - for example, in PageMaker. There is a kind of "gentleman's" set of programs that a computer layout specialist should own: QuarkPress publishing systems, Adobe PageMaker and Adobe Illustrator graphics software. It should be noted that printing works are usually done on Mac (Macintosh) platform computers, and not on the PCs that most users are used to working with. Cross-platform manipulations should be well known to the specialist.