Digital (start 1973-83)
The earliest computer-based typesetters were a hybrid between the above- mentioned photocomposition machines and later pure digital output. They each had their own command language for communicating with output devices. Although these machines had advantages, they also had problems. None of these early command languages handled graphics well, and they all had their own formats for fonts.
In the late 1980s PostScript gradually emerged as the
de facto standard for digital typesetting. This was due
to a variety of reasons, including its inclusion in the Apple
Laserwriter printer and its powerful graphics handling.
When combined with the Macintosh (the first widely used
computer with a what-you-see-is-what-you-get display)
and PageMaker (the first desktop publishing program),
the seeds were all sown for the current dominance of
computer-based typesetting.
Most high-end typesetting still involves printing to film,
and then making printing plates from the film. However,
the increasing use of high- resolution printers (600-1200 dots per inch) makes the use of actual printing presses unnecessary for some jobs. And the next step for press printing is the elimination of film altogether, as is done by a few special systems today, in which the computer can directly create printing plates.
Today, although PostScript predominates, there are a variety of competing page description languages (PostScript, HP PCL, etc.), font formats (Postscript Type One and Multiple Master, Truetype and Truetype GX) computer hardware platforms (Mac, Windows, etc.) and desktop publishing and graphics programs. Digital typesetting is commonplace, and photocomposition is at least dying, if not all but dead. Digital typefaces on computer, whether Postscript or some other format, are generally outline typefaces, which may be scaled to any desired size (although optical scaling is still an issue).
There has been considerable economic fallout from all this in typography. Although some digital type design tools are beyond the price range of the ``average'' user, many are in the same price range as the mid- to high-end graphics and desktop publishing programs. This, combined with the introduction of CD-ROM typeface collections, has moved digital type away from being an expensive, specialized tool, towards becoming a commodity. As a result of both this and the brief photocomposition interregnum, the previously established companies have undergone major shakeups, and even some major vendors, such as American Type Founders, have failed to successfully make the digital transition, and gone bankrupt instead (although at this time ATF appears to be undergoing a resurrection). More recently, even major digital type foundries have--dare one say foundered?--on the shoals of ubiquitous cheap typefaces (even a licensing deal with Corel Corp seems to have been insufficient to save URW).
