Coupling of computer processed indexes to a photocomposing unit to improve the readability

Abstract

<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">Presently available computer-assisted indexes and directories in India are reproduced on large scale by offset-printing the line printer output which is limited to all-uppercase format unit a few important special- symbols. In the case of indexes of research journals the text contains Greek symbols, super and subscripts" italic and bold types for which a number of improvisations are to be made (e.g. rendering a chemical formula linearly as in CACL2) while using a line printer output. This paper describes the details of a preliminary experimental project undertaken to explore the possibility of improving the readability of a computer assisted index (presently brought out by a line printer) by taking the output onto a paper tape in a compatible manner that can be fed to a film setter directly to provide lower-case letters and italic founts, with a flexibility of varying the point size.</span>