Editing Hermann Zapf (section)

== Computer typography ==
[[File:Hz Programm.png|thumb|Automated justification in a demonstration from the 1980s or 1990s, based on concepts developed by Zapf and implemented by URW; the technology was later purchased by Adobe and added to its [[Adobe InDesign|InDesign]] software]]
Zapf worked on typography for computer programs from the 1960s onwards. His ideas were considered radical,<ref>http://cajun.cs.nott.ac.uk/compsci/epo/papers/volume6/issue3/zapf.pdf</ref> not taken seriously in [[West Germany]], and rejected by the [[Technische Universität Darmstadt]], where he lectured from 1972 to 1981.<ref>https://www.calligraphy.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ZapfBiography.pdf</ref> Because he had no success in Germany, Zapf went to the United States, where he lectured about computerized typesetting, and was invited to speak at [[Harvard University]] in 1964. The [[University of Texas at Austin]] was also interested in Zapf and offered him a professorship, which he did not take, because his wife opposed a move to that state.

Because Zapf's plans for the United States had come to nothing, and because their house in Frankfurt had become too small, Zapf and his wife moved to [[Darmstadt]] in 1972.

[[File:Herman Zapf, RIT NandE Vol12Num27 1980 Aug14 Complete.jpg|thumb|right|Zapf teaching at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1980]]

In 1976, [[Rochester Institute of Technology]] (RIT) offered Zapf a professorship in typographic computer programming, the first of its kind in the world. He taught there from 1977 to 1987, flying between Darmstadt and [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]]. There he developed his ideas further, with the help of his connections in companies such as [[IBM]] and [[Xerox]] and his discussions with computer specialists at Rochester. A number of Zapf's students from this time at RIT went on to become influential type designers, including [[Kris Holmes]] and [[Charles Bigelow (type designer)|Charles Bigelow]], who together created the [[Lucida]] type family. Other prominent students include the calligrapher and type designer [[Julian Waters (calligrapher)|Julian Waters]] and book designer [[Jerry Kelly]].

In 1977, Zapf and his friends Aaron Burns and [[Herb Lubalin]] founded Design Processing International, Inc., in New York and developed typographical computer software.<ref name=DW>{{Cite journal|last1=Montgomery|first1=Angus|title=Typographer Hermann Zapf dies aged 96|journal=Design Week|date=8 June 2015|url=https://www.designweek.co.uk/typographer-hermann-zapf-dies-aged-96/|access-date=10 June 2015}}</ref> It existed until 1986, when Lubalin died. Zapf and Burns founded Zapf, Burns & Company in 1987. Burns, also an expert in typeface design and typography, was in charge of marketing until his death in 1992. Shortly before, two of their employees <!-- who? --> had stolen Zapf's ideas and founded a company of their own.

Zapf knew that he could not run an American company from Darmstadt and did not want to move to New York. Instead, he used his experience to begin the development of a typesetting program, the "[[Hz-program]]", building on the hyphenation and justification system in [[TeX]].

During financial problems and bankruptcy of [[URW++]] in the mid-1990s, [[Adobe Inc.|Adobe Systems]] acquired the Hz patent(s) and later made some use of the concepts in their [[Adobe InDesign|InDesign]] program.