the "zeit" did not join the discussion about the return of the traditional german orthography, which was led by der spiegel, süddeutsche zeitung and bild. starting in 1999, the newspaper used its in-house orthography which derived from the traditional orthography as well as from the different versions of the reformed orthography, which were edited by dieter e. zimmer. since 2007, the "zeit" refrained from using the in-house orthography and started following the recommendations of the duden. the nordisch format, a trademark of the newspaper, has always been addressed in literature and cabaret - mostly in satirical form. according to hanns dieter hüsche the "zeit" is „so groß, wenn man die aufschlägt, muss der nachbar gleich zum zahnarzt“ ("english literally: "so big, if you open it, the neighbour must go to the dentist immediately""). in reality however, the format is not bigger than that of a dozen other german newspapers. the "zeit" is printed by the printers frankfurter societäts-druckerei gmbh in mörfelden-walldorf and axel springer se in ahrensburg. the deutscher pressevertrieb, based in hamburg, is in charge of the distribution of the newspapers.