Electric typewriters

I could Victoria, but I haven't felt the need to use it for years, so haven't bothered. Thank you for the link though.

 

I think they are just neat ... no, I guess nostalgic ...

 

Electric typewriters bah humbug, cost me the chance of employment after leaving the forces
Being a competent tele-typist at 90wpm, and 75wpm on a manual IMPERIAL
I had passed all the exams, just the typing test to go Walk it no problem

They then sat me at an electric typewriter, a thing I had never used before
The job was Fire Engine despatch
Take the message type it as received and forward it to the station required

Head phones on commence message
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFIIIIIIRRRRRREEE AAAATTTT 2222887777766 rRERRIIMBLE LJKOAND PPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEERRRSSOOOOOOONS TTTTTRAAPPPPPPPPED

:-( Thanks but no thanks

Jack McH

 

Jack I have a similar problem with computer keyboards. I can touch type on any typewriter but find it impossible on a computer, although I've got a good speed with two fingers.

 

The very first thing I'd say is, forget trying to produce any sort of half-decent leaflet or anything like it with Word, it's just not possible, it's too set in it's ways, 'clunky' and resists all attempts to 'bend it around corners'. You might just as well save yourself the time, effort and frustration.

The second thing I'd say is that half the trouble with doing DTP these days is that any of the myriad programs you can buy or download will give you, literally, unlimited options when it comes to page layout, font choices and colour schemes etc., and unless you know exactly what you want, it's tempting to experiment with them all and thus, take 10 times longer to produce something which still looks a complete mess.

Speaking as one who, until a couple of years ago, spent half of their working life doing DTP, (producing printed matter for the FCO), and still do it in my 'spare' time - for two schools plus a tourist attraction which doubles as a wedding venue - I am appalled at the 'offerings' I get across my desk and through my letterbox ... not for nothing are these known as 'Ransom Notes', (you know the sort of thing - I've got 10,000 fonts on this CD and I'm going to use every one of them). The secret to good DTP is 'the rule of ⅓ rds' and a maximum of 2 different fonts, which of course you can re-size, italicise, embolden or colour for added impact.

For all the DTP I've done - and still do - I use exclusively MS Publisher and Serif Draw, both are good and although the latter is by far the cheaper of the two, my copy of Publisher would have to be surgically removed before I'd use anything else. You can, if you wish, save your particular page layout as a template, import pictures, scans or clip art and then crop or re-size them including to any irregular shape you choose. Because it's a DTP package the drawing tools are limited, which is why I use Serif Draw alongside.

Publisher will cost you around £95, it seems a lot yes, but there are no 'can I get the ribbon' worries and surely it's better to spend the money on a program for a piece of equipment you've got, than to buy another piece of equipment altogether? It's got built-in commercial printing tools and when you go to 'Save As', you can choose from an array of formats including PDF or PostScript (either of which most commercial printers will be able to use) and you can use a regular RGB colour model - which your printer will thank you for - or CMYK, as well as Pantone colours for spot printing.

Of course, I know I'm preaching to the converted, but commercial printing is expensive, mainly because if you're going to ask him to do you a short run of say 200, it's going to cost him non-productive time to clean down and re-set his machine both before he starts and after, time you'll be paying for - which is why a run of 10,000 would work out cheaper per copy.

Serif is around £30 although I'm sure there are cheaper drawing packages around.

Don't waste your time downloading the 'free' versions of either of these two progams, they are, obviously, the 'cut down' variants and are pretty much useless.

Finally, if you produce your leaflets on your own printer at home - and since you're selling them can factor in the cost of ink - unless you're doing silly long runs, then I think you're going to find it a lot less expensive than photocopying or commercial printing, with the added advantage that you can print off exactly the number you want, when you want with no boxes of unsold leaflets around the place!

 

I'd also recommend Publisher as an easy starter program.

Personally I'm stuck in my ways with legit Adobe Illustrator 9.0 that my Ma 'obtained' for me at work.

 

Thanks for all the info and advice. Software is of no use, though, as I can't use any of it. I might get a laptop with Word built in, otherwise its a waste of time for me. Typewriters are the only way for me.

 

I tried the Serif DTP free , its a very extensive bit of software similar to Paintshop. Its a little complicated if you want a simple desktop publisher to produce flyers.

 

What I actually want is to be able to type something up and either print it out there and then as I used to be able to do with typewriters - getting a local print shop to trim the edges and smooth out any glitches - and/or to be able to write something, save it, email it to the printer, who will then print out copies as pamphlets/books. This is all very simple - my bookshelves are full of clearly self-produced poetry books and so on - yet with modern technology it has proved virtually impossible. Modern computers have taken simple, easy things like printing and photography and made them difficult. Before we know it even gardening will go virtual, and it will not be possible to sow a seed without first saving it as a pdf, photoshopping it and spellchecking it backwards.

 

What about a USB typewriter? http://www.usbtypewriter.com/

 

I am at a total loss and cannot see a way round this whatsoever. As it appears even old fashioned typewriters are out of the question, and I currently have no access to Word, how do I edit a pdf that somebody has sent me? I want to delete a line of text from the pdf, then save it and email it to someone else. For complicated technical reasons I can't just ask the initial sender to delete and re-send. But as I have the pdf with the unwanted text I want to delete the unwanted line but the computer will not let me.

 

The whole point of PDF files is that they are meant to be secure, so you can't edit them unless you have PDF editing software AND the person who created the document tells you the password.

Your inability to edit one is deliberate. Portal Document Format by Adobe was designed to solve a specific problem. How to electronically transmit potentially sensitive and/or legal documents without significant risk of somebody editing them and then using the edited version in a claim that the original document said something else.

For example, lets say you agree to sell me your house for £150,000. You send me a document to that effect. Lets say you send it as a plain old unencrypted Word document. I then delete a few zeroes, then take you to court when you refuse to honour your side of the contract because now I'm trying to buy your house for £150. Better that the document is locked and encrypted and has built in checksums etc so that if I manage to edit it, which would be very difficult, you'd be able to prove in court that I'd done that because the checksums (a kind of digital signature) would be wrong.

 

Apparently I'm a poet,
Though I'm not sure I agree,
They say I didn't know it,
Poor modest me.
I don't have the word skill
to make somebody cry,
to make an old man laugh,
or a young man want to fly.
I can't even think of rhyming words
just half a sentence ahead
and I'm not inspired by singing birds
when its time to go to bed.
So you see there's there it is.
Proof I'm not a word smith.
So I give it up right now,
this instant, or forthwith.

 

Just open the PDF, HIGHLIGHT AND COPY the text, paste into a word document, edit and send as a word doc

Jack McH