Hi all! Long time no speak!

I'm looking for... well, I guess I'm looking for a book about books. I can't seem to design an attractive page layout to save my life; I'm fairly certain that there are some exceedingly basic principles at work here that I'm just not grasping. Can anyone recommend a good resource on the subject?

Hmm... well, there's The Elements of Graphic Design , which is pretty good, for general layout and design sorts of things.

And I can personally recommend The Complete Manual of Typography , if you want to get into the nitty gritty of typesetting.

Typesetting and layout are about readability and what sort of reading experience you are giving the reader.

Knowing why different letterforms read differently (serif vs. sans-serif, bold vs. normal, etc.) is essential for readability. The amount of space between lines is important -- indeed, the default is rarely the best option. The kerning, as you say.

Knowing how many characters you can put in a line and still maintain easy reading. Knowing what justification and non-justification do to the reading experience. These things are all typesetting.

Check out this website. IT also has a good companion book.

I have created a new directory for "Typography" and have included the excellent resource mentioned by rhughes, "Desgning with Type".

Thanks for the suggestions!