What a kuntres needs to look like a sefer
A kuntres of chiddushim, a memorial booklet, a sheet on the weekly parsha or a kovetz for a siyum. The text is different each time, but what separates printed pages from a dignified kuntres is the same set of details:
- A readable typeface and comfortable line spacing, and margins that leave room for the binding.
- Consistent headings, and a table of contents built from them.
- Page numbers, and a running head at the top of the page with the name of the kuntres or of the chapter.
- Notes and source references at the bottom of the page on which they are mentioned.
- Pages that fill to the last line, and all end at the same height.
In Ariach these details take care of themselves. You choose a design, and it applies to the whole kuntres.
What size to typeset it in
The size follows from how the kuntres will be printed and handed out. In Ariach you pick it from a list and the pages are laid out again at once, so you can try two sizes and compare.
- A4, 21 × 29.7 cm
- Booklets, kuntresim and printing on an ordinary printer. The choice when you photocopy and hand out copies.
- A5, 14.8 × 21 cm
- A small booklet that is easy to carry. Half an A4 sheet, so it is easy to print folded.
- Standard sefer, 17 × 24 cm
- A common size at print shops for seforim. For a kuntres that will be bound and stand on the shelf.
- Pocket, 10.5 × 14.8 cm
- For a kuntres of tefillos or a segulah that fits in a pocket.
From the text to the printed kuntres
Bring in the text
Upload a Word file, or type and paste straight into the editor. The file's footnotes and headings are kept.
Choose a size and a design
A page size from the list, and a ready-made design that sets the font, the headings and the margins. You can also tell the Assistant what you want.
Go over the pages
The pages are shown beside the text and update with every correction. A page that didn't work out is flagged, with the reason.
Download a PDF and print
The PDF is identical to what is on the screen. Print it at home, at a copy shop or at a print shop.
Is the text already in Word? Everything that happens to the file on the way: typesetting a sefer from Word.
When the kuntres grows into a sefer
A kuntres is often just the beginning. You add chapters, attach notes, and suddenly there is a sefer. In Ariach it is the same software and the same steps: a simple book stays simple, and when a commentary joins it beside the text, the layout changes and the text stays as it was.
And if you are thinking of handing the work to a typesetter: what typesetting a book costs, and what sets the price.
