The Elements of Typographic Style
by Robert Bringhurst · first published 1992
63% recommend36% neutral1% critical
Why HN recommends it
Passionate, authoritative guide to typography that teaches the principles behind well-set text, especially running text and book design; suited to designers and web developers who want to make text look better.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A readable manual and reference on modern typography, exploring the art and history of the field as well as technical details. Includes b&w illustrations, a glossary, and reference appendices. This second edition includes a new chapter on digital typography, expanded information on typefaces and designers, and a deeper look into the history of lett
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Do people use things like this? I recently read Robert Bringhurst's excellent Elements of Typographic Style, but have no idea how to apply it to the web. (There is an effort to translate the work at webtypography.net, but frankly, most of the sections are some equivalent of "you should do X, but X is not possible…
on “Show HN: Kerning.js — Take control of your web typography” ↗…hope it helps explain. Also, lbotos posted an excellent example of hanging quotes and other non-bullet punctuation. If you find yourself liking typographic details like these, consider checking out The Elements of Typographic Style by Bringhurst. Old editions are cheap, and it's the best book on typography I've come across.
on “Simple steps to better typography” ↗…http://www.amazon.com/Grid-Systems-Graphic-Design-Communicat... or Emil Ruder's Typographie: http://www.amazon.com/Typographie-Manual-Design-Emil-Ruder/d.... There are many, many other good resources but those are important primary sources. So is The Elements of Typographic Style, by Robert Bringhurst: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0881792128/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_d....
on “Ask HN: Front-end “design patterns”?” ↗The Elements Of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst. Just enough to be dangerous, and a great read to boot.
on “Typography of 2001: A Space Odyssey (2014)” ↗…programming" or "idempotent" in a discussion of REST, nor would I expect a programmer to understand the technical language of typography. If you'd like to learn more, some excellent books are: - The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst - Detail in Typography by Jost Hochuli - The Stroke by Gerrit Noordzij
on “A few things I’ve learned about typeface design” ↗The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst is an amazing book. It is a very easy read and very educational. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Typographic_Sty...
on “Typography on the iPad” ↗…its own. Distinguishing between the hundreds of typefaces in the Bodoni/Didot genre is way beyond me. Anyway, if you want to learn more about typography, I heartily recommend picking up a copy of The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst - if you're a practicing graphic designer, it's got lots of useful information; if you're not, it's a book by a typographer with decades of experience who also happens to be a well-known…
on “Classic Fonts That Will Last a Whole Design Career” ↗Color of ink on a book != color you perceive, when compared to a monitor. The most pleasing books to read are on a cream stock (The Elements of Typographic Style comes to mind), and thus have a bit less contrast than #fff vs. #000.
on “Design for Hackers: Why Monet Never Used Black, & Why You Shouldn't Either” ↗…swiss-knife Memoir class for nearly everything and I have understood the importance of beautiful typesetting. Worth reading: http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/memdesign (the memoir manual of style) The Elements of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst (the bible)
on “What led you to TeX and LaTeX” ↗If you are really looking for some readability tips, might I suggest one? Via the incredibly influential, albeit dry, _The Elements of Typographic Style_ by Robert Bringhurst[1] concerning the "comfortable measure," which I find to be the most important aspect of readable text: > Anything from 45 to 75 characters is widely regarded as a satisfactory…
on “Mistakes Web Designers Make” ↗An excellent read is Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style"[0], for both history and theory. 0: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...
on “Comic Sans, meet Comic Neue” ↗…to the potential of an electronic medium. Wh we continue to anchor web technologies to print idioms is beyond me. I'm not saying there are no classically useful concepts from print. Robert Bringhurst's Elements of Typographic style does a great job of educating one on the value and thinking of techniques from the print world. There are timeless principles that are directly transferrable to the present unchanged, but there are principles…
on “CSS One-Liners” ↗…one of my most common annoyances on web, and I am glad more and more people are taking an interest. For those with an interest in a deeper understanding of typography in general, I can't recommend The Elements of Typographic Style enough. Web is still primitive in the way it handles a lot of this, but there are some shining examples out there. The New Yorker is my favorite of these. To understand why, find a text hyperlink containing…
on “Why Is Vertical Rhythm an Important Typography Practice?” ↗…using pageranking rather than humans to determine results. If you want to understand and do minimalist design learn typography first. Besides practicing a lot, a great book to do so with(a classic) is "Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert Bringhurst. It wont teach you typography on the web but it will teach you about typography which is one of the keys to understanding minimalism on the web. Would also recommend Grid Systems…
on “A guide to Minimalist Web Design” ↗I learned a lot from "The Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert Bringhurst. I sometimes find it a bit hard to read casually, but there's a lot in there I enjoy absorbing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Typographic_...
on “Sublime Text 3 now has font ligature support” ↗