TypeCast Webinar Series premieres with a bang!
December 26th, 2011
I am excited to announce that the premiere TypeCast Webinar was given on Thursday, December 15. This FREE session entitled Troubling Typesetting Mysteries: Solved at last! went off with a bang. We had a whopping 87 sign-ups even with the limited marketing we did via Twitter, Facebook, and our All Things Typographic enewsletter subscribers.
Klaus Heesch, my cohost, did an amazing job of introducing the session, as well as troubleshooting a slight sound glitch we had in the middle. Giving Webinars is a lot more than knowing your subject matter, preparing informative and engaging visuals, and a giving a lively delivery. You are at the mercy of microphone, digital sound and internet connection issues, with a lot of other variables that are out of one’s control. It takes a calm yet quick-thinking person to address any problems on-the-fly and assist in making a quick recovery.
Another challenge is that the presenter is virtually speaking to their computer alone in their office trying to sound animated, entertaining, and enthusiastic about the subject matter, without a live audience. It’s a little odd at first if you’ve never given a Webinar before, but having given a dozen or so myself, I was not unfamiliar with the process, and strived to make it sound as if I was presenting to real people, just of the virtual kind.
Having said that, the presentation went really well and got a lot of nice comments. But we did have a slight static problem in the middle, at which time Klaus interrupted the presentation so I could remove my microphone, change some audio settings, and then pick up where I left off. Since these are live performances, there is always the possibility of things happening beyond one’s control, just like any live stage, radio, or internet event. But I managed to stay calm while we resolved the problem, which only took a few seconds, and move forward.
The question and answer session was informative and a lot of fun, with a humorous contribution by the noted typographic illustrator, and future presenter, Gerard Huerta. The Q&A not only helped answer questions, but allowed for a more personal connection with the audience which was great!
All Webinars will be recorded and availabIe for viewing OnDemand, which included this past session, which is available here. This is an important aspect of the TypeCast program as it allows us to reach a broad audience, at their convenience, and in any time zone. I, personally, am very excited to be able to offer the kind of information and personal contact that I have only been able to give, up until now, in person in classes, workshops, and conferences.
We have a lot of great Webinar topics planned, as well as some talented, exciting guest presenters, including Gerard Huerta, Jeff Fisher, Jill Bell, James Montalbano, Jim Parkinson, Trevett McCandliss & Nancy Campbell, and a lot more. The next session is The 10 Worst Type Crimes on Thursday, January 12, So stay tuned, and sign up to stay informed if you have not already.
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After giving our premiere Typecast Webinar, Troubling Typesetting Mysteries: Solved at last! I heard from a respected colleague, Adobe Certified Instructor Scott Citron who offered several additions to the information presented.
- Paragraph Composer vs. Single-Line Composer Paragraph Composer looks at the entire paragraph when determining line breaks, not just three lines backwards and forwards.
- Changing Default Settings The best way to change default settings is to update the Basic Paragraph style with no docs open. Otherwise, changing the settings outside the Basic Paragraph Style will give you a plus (+) on the Basic Paragraph forever. By the way, quitting InDesign after changing your Basic Paragraph styles is not necessary.
- Hidden (Invisible) Characters I always advise users to leave Hidden Characters on. The reason this is important is because this way you can make sure that the end of paragraph mark (or pilcrow) is selected. Also, seeing Hidden Characters like tabs, soft returns, multiple spaces, and so forth will inform designers about why their text is behaving in a given way.
- To highlight a paragraph, click the Type tool four times anywhere in the paragraph, which will include the pilcrow. Don’t drag to highlight paragraphs, which makes it easy to miss the pilcrow and wind up with uneven line spacing.
- Command-Option-Q used to clear all character overrides, but does no longer. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts > Product Area > Text and Tables and look for Clear Character Overrides. Make your own. I used Control-Option-Command-Q and set Context to Text.
By the way, Scott will be presenting several TypeCast Webinars, so stay tuned.
Have a very healthy, happy holiday and New Year, and I look forward to seeing you, virtually of course, in the coming year!
Ilene
4 Responses to TypeCast Webinar Series premieres with a bang!
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Thank you for your kind words, Klaus. When you have done as many jobs as I have most of these become a distant memory. And as a person who has sometimes drawn complicated letter forms, I have always joked that the one people tend to point out (AC/DC) is the only piece of lettering I have done that is made up of entirely straight lines. Not exactly a virtuosic example…
Google AC/DC tattoo…you might see why I don’t wear it!
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Ok Gerard. Point taken. I made the mistake of googling “ac/dc tattoo” and the resulting imagery sent me into fits of convulsions followed by a depression so deep it could only be remedied by quitting the ‘web altogether for a few days (thus the delayed response).
That said, you are still my hero for having designed SO many memorable band identities and album covers. Freaking brilliant.
And I am really looking forward to your upcoming webinar!
Happy New Year to you and all the other type fanatics out there:0
Ilene, it is always a pleasure to work with you. I’ll be on even better alert now that I have a better idea of the talented peeps that you encircle yourself with. And they’re humble too! Like, if I were Gerard Huerta, I’d wear that darn AC/DC lettering as a tattoo and let the whole world know it! C’mon! He practically designed the lettering for all of the bands/albums I grew up on: Boston, Foreigner, Chicago…
I look forward to many more webinars with you and I am so glad to be working with you to educate the world on typography and the tools needed to execute it properly.
klaus