Talk:Hermann Zapf

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Hermann Zapf article.
Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes (~~~~). Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Ask questions, get answers. This is not a forum for general discussion about the article's subject.	Be polite Assume good faith No personal attacks Be welcoming	Article policies No original research Neutral point of view Verifiability

This article must adhere to the policy on biographies of living persons. Controversial material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted or if there are other concerns relative to this policy, report it on the living persons biographies noticeboard.

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.	Biography Portal
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ]
	This article is supported by the Arts and Entertainment work group.

It is requested that a picture or pictures of this person be included in this article to improve its quality. Note: Wikipedia's non-free content use policy almost never permits the use of non-free images (such as promotional photos, press photos, screenshots, book covers and similar) to merely show what a living person looks like. Efforts should be made to take a free licensed photo during a public appearance, or obtaining a free content release of an existing photo instead.

	Germany Portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Germany, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to articles related to Germany on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please join the project and help with our open tasks.
Start	This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale. (If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.)
Additional information: This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: not checked Coverage and accuracy: not checked Structure: not checked Grammar: not checked Supporting materials: not checked To fill out this checklist, please add the following to the template call: <!-- 1. It is suitably referenced, and all major points are appropriately cited. --> |B-Class-1=yes/no <!-- 2. It reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain major omissions or inaccuracies. --> |B-Class-2=yes/no <!-- 3. It has a defined structure, including a lead section and one or more sections of content. --> |B-Class-3=yes/no <!-- 4. It is free from major grammatical errors. --> |B-Class-4=yes/no <!-- 5. It contains appropriate supporting materials, such as an infobox, images, or diagrams. --> |B-Class-5=yes/no

[edit] About "knockoff"

I'm curious about the term "knockoff" used with respect to Microsoft's Book Antiqua. It's usually a pejorative. Is there some evidence, for example, an interview, that the Microsoft (or whoever) designer explicitly imitated the typeface? Was this underhanded or meant to pay homage to Zapf? Or is it assumed, in having similar characteristics to Zapf's typeface, to be inspired by the latter or an imitation? Even the assumption needs some citation of sorts. I would alter the sentence myself, but I am unsure of the intended meaning. It appears biased.IHendry 19:17, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Although it's a pejorative term, it's also an uncontroversial statement in the type community. I've never heard anybody dispute the claim, although discussions come up pretty regularly. And that includes Microsoft's typography personnel. In fact, they admit it's a knockoff, although I'm sure they'd rather not put it in writing. To some extent, the proof is in the pudding; Book Antiqua is a pretty exact copy of the Palatino design, and Palatino is quite distinctive. Microsoft has since done a nice job of making up for it by licensing the real thing as well, in the form of "Palatino Linotype." Thomas Phinney 20:55, 13 August 2006 (UTC).