Phototypesetting

Phototypesetting is a method of composing text by exposing light through character images onto photographic material. It replaced hot-metal type in many publishing workflows before digital typesetting became widespread.

Photocomposition: The composition of text by photographic means rather than by assembling physical type. Phototypesetting is a specific form of this broader photographic approach to composing text.
Hot-Metal Typesetting: A method of setting type by casting lines or individual characters from molten metal. Phototypesetting replaced its physical metal characters with photographic images.
Typography: The design and arrangement of letterforms in printed or displayed text. Phototypesetting reproduced typographic designs through light rather than physical type.
Desktop Publishing: The creation of publication layouts on personal computers using page-layout software. It later brought composition and layout into an integrated digital workflow.
Linotype: A hot-metal line-casting typesetting machine developed in the nineteenth century. It represents the metal-composition method phototypesetting displaced in many print shops.
Photographic Typesetting Machine: A machine that arranges character images and exposes them onto photosensitive material to compose text. These machines used phototypesetting’s core optical process to create lines and pages.
Monotype System: A hot-metal typesetting system that cast individual characters and assembled them into text. Its character-by-character casting contrasts with phototypesetting’s exposure of letter images.
Typeface: A designed set of letterforms sharing consistent visual characteristics. A phototypesetting system needed character images for each typeface it could compose.
Digital Typesetting: The composition of text from digital data for print or display. Digital typesetting replaced photographic image-making with electronically stored and rendered text.
Monotype: A hot-metal system that casts individual sorts and assembles them into printed text. Its separate metal sorts contrast with phototypesetting’s images on photographic material.

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