Multimedia Typesetting

What is typesetting?

In one simple sentence Typesetting is the process of compiling, composing or arranging text for print or for graphic digital use.

There are a few points to keep in mind

  • Spacing- Converting text from one language to another is one part, however conveying the same message from one language to another (in the same amount of space) sometimes means the length of the text increases; some non-English languages can take up more text/characters than English text, and vice-versa.
  • Page Layout- Keep enough of space in the page layout of the original text to allow for the increase of written characters. If while creating the original text this is not done, it may lead to compromising on font size and cramming of content.
  • Specialized software- Some languages have complex fonts as in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian etc. and in some the text is written from right to left as in Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew. These will require special software such as InDesign.
  • Style Sheets- If you intend to translate content into multiple languages it is advisable to produce a style sheet for the document. This will help maintain a consistent look across all languages.

At g11n when we process multimedia typesetting we follow a few very simple steps, and in order to make the process hiccup free we will gather some basic information such as

  • Single or Multiple languages- The number of languages you needed in the typesetting process is the first bit of information we require, as based on that the following steps would be customized.
  • Localized text –Is the text going to be localized, or do you need the text to be localized.
  • Localized Graphics- Does the text have graphics? And have the graphics been localized? This is important as we would require the original layered files to localize the graphics.
  • Format- This is important. We would need to know what format you would send the text to us in. You may provide us the text in any format, and request us to convert it into any format you prefer.
  • Deadline- This is always important as it sets the tone and pace of the typesetting process.