ABP

Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I'm talking about typesetting style manuals, not (just) typewriting. I have just had a look at my Oxford New Hart's Rules, which is one of the standards. Although it gives spaced . . . as traditional for typesetting, I have to admit that it says that ... is more and more frequent. Of course, this is as a result of its digital availability. So, a matter of choice . . . !

Actually, Jeremy, you have not given the second example correctly; it should be . . . as I believe you will find recommended in most professional style manuals (though I could be wrong about that because it's ages since I've looked them up). And, as you will see from what I have typed . . . is the easiest of all on the eye. I shall certainly think what I want, sincerely . . . yours, Anthony

No, I cannot agree. Seriously good typographical practice requires ellipses to be three freely spaced dots, which must be done manually, not three fixed dots which is what you get with fixed ellipses glyph.

Many thanks MEB

Apologies if this has already been addressed. Does or will Publisher support right to left languages without the need to buy an expensive extension (as is necessary in Quark). Software such as Pages and Word do support right to left as a matter of course.

Bear in mind that quite a few digital fonts from reputable sources do have kerning imperfections. One of the most common is too much space following an f when the f comes at the end of a word. A few years ago, fed up with having to manually correct this with a particularly favoured typeface, I contacted Monotype, who, I am pleased to say, rectified it very quickly, whether globally for the font in question or just my set I'm not sure. But, certainly, not globally over all affected faces; the number of books in which I see the fault are many.

A personal view of the Th ligature: I am a great believer in most ligatures but the Th one is truly an unpleasant mistake. I believe Robert Slimbach of Adobe is the main person responsible for its increasing ubiquitousness. I think it is an ugly and impractical ligature. When I read a book set in a typeface that has it, I find it draws attenton to itself, exactly what a text font should not do.

Apple Pages is good if you are happy with uncomplicated typesetting but it cannot handle advanced expert typesetting. At present, as far as I am aware, only InDesign and QuarkXpress can do that. I have recently abandoned InDesign, because I refuse to go subscription and cloud. Currently I use QuarkXpress. It remains to be seen whether AffinityPublisher will match or surpass ID or Q. AB PS: Oh, Mellel: did not know about that. Looks good.

Yes, that's correct, Chris – thanks

At present one has to untick in order to get transparent background. That is the wrong way round, I think.