Hatrack River Writers Workshop: printing out using courier 12

This is topic printing out using courier 12 in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by arriki (Member # 3079) on :

Got a question here.

On ALL my printers these days courier point 12 prints out rather light. Is it just mine? I had a printer meltdown the other day and had to go to Office Max to get my WOTF mss printed out. They had the same result - a very light print out. The only way to get it darker was to print the entire mss in bold!

So, is the lighter printing okay for submissions?

Is anyone else having this problem?

[This message has been edited by arriki (edited December 15, 2009).]

Posted by Kitti (Member # 7277) on :

I've always thought courier was a rather light font, compared to TNR. I prefer the latter and only use courier if someone really insists on it.

Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :

Courier New typeface prints light on laser printers. Adobe and Hewlet Packard designed and released each their own Dark Courier typefaces to address that issue. Of course there are work-arounds, like all bold, converting text to objects, which makes a file inordinately large and takes tediously long to print out, and some laser printer drivers allow for altering how a printer rasterizes text. Also, default settings on inkjet printer printer drivers come set with full ink coverage. Settings might have been altered to lighter coverage.

One common issue is that inkjet printers treat text like fill objects and output as seen on screen, full stroke weight glyphs, while laser printers treat text like line objects and output narrower weight than seen on screen. Not all laser printers cause this problem.

The opposite happens with inkjet printers printing out Dark Courier. The text seems to be all bold, which can have a jarring effect on manuscript auditors who've been reading lots of roman text and one comes along that seems too dark, is the manuscript supposed to be entirely bolded? Like, it's yelling.

Others of the several standard weight monospace slab-serif typefaces can cause this issue on laser printers too. Monospace, Nimbus Mono, Prestige Elite.

[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited December 15, 2009).]

Posted by Teraen (Member # 8612) on :

have you tried a print shop like Kinkos? They let you pick your type and paper weight, and usually will print you off a test sheet so you can see it before you print the whole thing.

Otherwise, I like times new roman. I heard its more of a writing standard, while courier is used more for screenplays...

Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :

Standard Manuscript Format calls for a monospaced slab-serif typeface. Conformance to SMF is a hallmark of professionalism in a plain brown wrapper style. Proportional old-style typefaces like Times New Roman are an optional standard that's gaining acceptance in a few markets. However, proportional typefaces don't allow at-a-glance typesetters' word count estimations, nor are they as open-spaced for hardcopy copyediting and proofreading and publication markup. So SMF in monospace is still the widely accepted standard at print markets.

[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited December 15, 2009).]

Posted by arriki (Member # 3079) on :

Why would Kinkos be any different from Office Max?

I have two inkjet and one laser printer. All three printout light. No matter how dark I set the print, it comes out light.

It didn't used to years ago. I've been mailing stuff out in the light print. Is it going to matter? It's not like any publisher has noted on a returned mss TOO LIGHT as the reason for rejection. But might they have thought that?

Posted by babooher (Member # 8617) on :

Having once worked in a copy shop, I'd like to suggest an easy (albeit costlier) fix. Print off your file and copy it on a copier set on a darker setting. You keep the light copy and send out the dark copy.

Or lump it and send the light one.

Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :

In my opinion, because I've done it and observed others doing it, visualizing what screening readers do with a manuscript, they slip it partway out of its envelope. What's the first thing noted? The appearance. Dark Courier stands out. Too much? Courier New, too little? Papyrus or Comic Sans Serif, too decorative? Times New Roman, too interlinearly dense text? What do they see most often, that they're so used to they don't notice it? Courier New, but Dark Courier is gaining ground because a few accomplished authors have recommended it for its every iota, every dotted I and crossed T strategy of gaining any edge from every infinitesimal attention to detail.

Along with high paper brightness and heavy paper weights, I'm quite sure screeners are hip to that strategy anymore. It's no longer got any novelty factor for attention getting. Like, didn't screeners used to discourage including a bribe, perfumed manuscripts, ornamental or decorative envelopes, pages, and scripts? The bottom line, though, is maybe they'll give it a chance reading of a few lines regardless of typeface weight, even if it's handwritten in Latin with a pale blue Conté crayon and encased in 6 millimeter lamination. So, for me, it's all about being as standard plain as possible and letting the story speak for itself with the least amount of disruptive appearance.

Jack Kerouac submitted his manuscript for On the Road as a scroll of heavily marked up, taped together 12 pound onion skin typewriter paper (translucent) he'd received gratis from a benefactor. What a mess. A sample page image of the manuscript is available at Wikipedia. Onion skin used to be the standard manuscript paper for its lighter-weight ease on the postage budget and because its light weight provided better resolution detail on carbon submission copies.

Seemingly light appearing text could be a consequence of hyperacute attention to detail, optical illusion, or it could be a consequence of clogged ink jets or printer driver limitations or a host of other possibilities, a change in paper that alters contrast brightness or ink absorbtion--brigher finish papers are sized differently and absorb ink at slower rates than standard copy bonds, maybe the manufacturer changed their ratio of new fiber to recycled fiber content.

The old trial and error strategy might find an acceptable solution. Me, I'd try a heavier stroke weight typeface, like Dark Courier or Monospace or Prestige Elite. Prestige falls about halfway between Dark Courier and Courier New stroke weights. Free downloads available on the Internet. It is somewhat of an advanced user process, though, not for the average user, downloading Zipped ttf files, extracting and installing them in the operating system font catalogue where they're accessible by applications.

[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited December 15, 2009).]