5 ms·

Layout 101

195 points by kick 7y ago

saagarjha 7y ago
Question: what's up with the strange apostrophes and quotation marks? Is this some non-American English thing that I'm unaware of?
- ronyeh 7y ago
  I don't know where the author is from, but there are many ways to do quotations. For example, in German: https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/117/what-is-the-correct-way-to-denote-a-quotation-in-german https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/117/what-is-the-c...
  - OskarS 7y ago
    I'm very fond of »inward-pointing guillemets«, personally.
- minitech 7y ago
  German quotation marks, so not really correct for English. And the backwards apostrophes I don’t think would even be correct in German?
  - benatkin 7y ago
    According to Wikipedia, there are a lot of other languages that use that style, including countries that have much higher rates of fluency in English than Germany. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the author is dutch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark
    - disillusion 7y ago
      The style of question marks used, while perhaps correct, is extremely uncommon in Dutch. It's also not easy to type, even with a Dutch keyboard layout. I'd bet that the author is German.
      - viraptor 7y ago
        They depend on your locale/editor rather than keyboard. If you switch to Polish for example, Word will auto-correct the first quotation mark to the lower version. (Or did years ago) I've never had to type one explicitly.
      - dewey 7y ago
        The name of the "owner" of the Google Drive document is Dylan. Not sure if that's the original author though.
    - hoyd 7y ago
      We would sometime use that in Norway too. Don't do myself, but feels more natural to keep both at top.
- LoLFactor 7y ago
  We use the same style in Romanian.
- larusso 7y ago
  We in Germany use the so called 99/66 style quotes. But in typography it’s also possible to use >>/<< style. But as a single font character. In the Field of layout the selection and usage of the right quote and space characters etc. is known as micro-typography. To know and being able to apply typography rules from different regions of the world must be an art form.
  - weinzierl 7y ago
    In Germany we like to use >>/<< sometimes and we call them Chevrons. In France and Switzerland they use <</>> and they call them Guillemets.
drewcoo 7y ago
Seems like an attempt to squeeze some Tufte into quick classrooms focused on graphic design. That should happen more often. https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/ https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/
- banachtarski 7y ago
  I'm pretty familiar with Tufte's work and used the LaTeX packages quite extensively. That said, I find the disarray of his website strikingly ironic.
  - jcelerier 7y ago
    interesting, I quite like the information density on that one.
- kick 7y ago
  The reason it does so is because it didn't come from a classroom: it came from /gd/, which is an anonymous image board for graphic design. Image boards are great for bootstrapping skills, and the people who participate within are usually better-than-average at both teaching and doing.
needle0 7y ago
The Non-Designer's Design Book is also recommended: https://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-4th/dp/0133966151 https://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-4th/dp/0133...
- turingbook 7y ago
  I really like this book. CRAP principles are very clear and easy to follow.
chrisweekly 7y ago
If you're looking for expert guidance on layout design, https://every-layout.dev https://every-layout.dev is superb. It includes axioms (fundamental rules or precepts) and a coherent, standards-based system for implementation, based on first principles. Highest possible recommendation.
- kpennell 7y ago
  thx
- pdamoc 7y ago
  The information on that site is amazing, I just wish there was an open source version of it.
dewey 7y ago
Was curious who created it but there doesn't seem to be any information. Google Drive says the author is "Dylan". Not sure if that's the original author though and it was created on Adobe InDesign CS6 (Windows). Reminder that files (Especially PDF) leak a lot about an original author if not scrubbed: https://gist.github.com/dewey/2b2987e06c0a292364a9ae783885b848 https://gist.github.com/dewey/2b2987e06c0a292364a9ae783885b8...
- kick 7y ago
  It's from the /gd/ wiki: 4chan.org/gd/

195 points by kick 7y ago

Question: what's up with the strange apostrophes and quotation marks? Is this some non-American English thing that I'm unaware of?

ronyeh 7y ago
I don't know where the author is from, but there are many ways to do quotations. For example, in German: https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/117/what-is-the-correct-way-to-denote-a-quotation-in-german https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/117/what-is-the-c...
- OskarS 7y ago
  I'm very fond of »inward-pointing guillemets«, personally.
minitech 7y ago
German quotation marks, so not really correct for English. And the backwards apostrophes I don’t think would even be correct in German?
- benatkin 7y ago
  According to Wikipedia, there are a lot of other languages that use that style, including countries that have much higher rates of fluency in English than Germany. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the author is dutch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark
  - disillusion 7y ago
    The style of question marks used, while perhaps correct, is extremely uncommon in Dutch. It's also not easy to type, even with a Dutch keyboard layout. I'd bet that the author is German.
    - viraptor 7y ago
      They depend on your locale/editor rather than keyboard. If you switch to Polish for example, Word will auto-correct the first quotation mark to the lower version. (Or did years ago) I've never had to type one explicitly.
    - dewey 7y ago
      The name of the "owner" of the Google Drive document is Dylan. Not sure if that's the original author though.
  - hoyd 7y ago
    We would sometime use that in Norway too. Don't do myself, but feels more natural to keep both at top.
LoLFactor 7y ago
We use the same style in Romanian.
larusso 7y ago
We in Germany use the so called 99/66 style quotes. But in typography it’s also possible to use >>/<< style. But as a single font character. In the Field of layout the selection and usage of the right quote and space characters etc. is known as micro-typography. To know and being able to apply typography rules from different regions of the world must be an art form.
- weinzierl 7y ago
  In Germany we like to use >>/<< sometimes and we call them Chevrons. In France and Switzerland they use <</>> and they call them Guillemets.

drewcoo 7y ago

Seems like an attempt to squeeze some Tufte into quick classrooms focused on graphic design. That should happen more often. https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/ https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

banachtarski 7y ago
I'm pretty familiar with Tufte's work and used the LaTeX packages quite extensively. That said, I find the disarray of his website strikingly ironic.
- jcelerier 7y ago
  interesting, I quite like the information density on that one.
kick 7y ago
The reason it does so is because it didn't come from a classroom: it came from /gd/, which is an anonymous image board for graphic design. Image boards are great for bootstrapping skills, and the people who participate within are usually better-than-average at both teaching and doing.

needle0 7y ago

The Non-Designer's Design Book is also recommended: https://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-4th/dp/0133966151 https://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-4th/dp/0133...

turingbook 7y ago
I really like this book. CRAP principles are very clear and easy to follow.

chrisweekly 7y ago

If you're looking for expert guidance on layout design, https://every-layout.dev https://every-layout.dev is superb. It includes axioms (fundamental rules or precepts) and a coherent, standards-based system for implementation, based on first principles. Highest possible recommendation.

kpennell 7y ago
thx
pdamoc 7y ago
The information on that site is amazing, I just wish there was an open source version of it.

dewey 7y ago

Was curious who created it but there doesn't seem to be any information. Google Drive says the author is "Dylan". Not sure if that's the original author though and it was created on Adobe InDesign CS6 (Windows). Reminder that files (Especially PDF) leak a lot about an original author if not scrubbed: https://gist.github.com/dewey/2b2987e06c0a292364a9ae783885b848 https://gist.github.com/dewey/2b2987e06c0a292364a9ae783885b8...

kick 7y ago
It's from the /gd/ wiki: 4chan.org/gd/