Anyone know why Mac apps don’t allow you to spec vertical layouts in agate lines? I’m doing a gig that involves making up a lot of newspaper ads, and I’m constantly having to translate them into inches or picas. Made a slip the other day that could’ve been a big deal if I hadn’t caught it.
Quark XPress does allow the use of agate lines on the Mac, but Adobe apps don’t use it anywhere, and I can’t think of any other apps that do off the top of my head.
In the US, newspapers or magazines don’t still spec agate lines exclusive of any other measurement, and it’s certainly a unit (like most typesetting-specific terms) that has been in decline ever since DTP started taking off in the 80s.
Consumer classifieds use per-word or per-character charges, and commercial space is generally specced by specific dimensions that are a fraction of the page or of a column (and specced p
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