TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:FW: word templates vs. layout/design From:"Steve Hudson" <steve -at- wright -dot- com -dot- au> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 22 Feb 2001 14:49:47 +1100
Hmmm, usually marcom is way different, but if they want to stdise who are we
to complain :-)
Anal? No - its to do with that "branding with fonts" argument that was/is
going on in this thread.
Set up a bunch of styles, check with your users that they will cover all
text presentation requirements, and tell them not to use manual formatting
without seeing you first.
We have altered leading/scale/kerning in some of our styles to make the font
present better (subjective). So long as your template has a customised name,
this is not the problem you think it is.
If they cut and paste to another document, so long as that document has the
style defined (uses the same template even) it will appear correctly. Its
not our job to keep uncontrolled copies controlled :-)
Also, to date Word 2k has presented these font display alterations without a
hitch - their WYSIWYG typesetting really has to be admired for that.
It MIGHT seem over the top, but once you have your design and the
accompanying style guide set in stone, you never need to revisit it, so you
are better off doing it properly the first time.
My set PARA styles I use are:
Copyright - small text
Table Heading Left, Centered and Right
H1-H4
H1 No TOC
H2 No TOC
Line (produces a 1 pt line the width of the page)
Body Text 1 -4 (0 indent to max indent)
List Number 1-3 (ditto)
List Bullet 1-3 (ditto)
Body Text Centred
Body Text Right
List Number Outline
A NOTE! style with custom bullets
Title, Subtitle, Version
Header / Footer (with three tabs, set to left, centre and right aligns)
Terminal (80 chars width of courier)
Text Box Left/Centred/Right (for labels or captions)
Char Styles
Output - for stuff seen onscreen
Input - for stuff the user types
Emphasis - bold
Keypress - for Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Del+PgUp combos :-)
Code (uses courier)
Page Number
Hope this is of some help!
Steve
-----------------------------------
On Behalf Of Cayenne Woods
Hello all, perspective requested
We are trying to create document templates, and a couple things have come up
that don't seem right to me. I'd appreciate feedback, reality checks,
related
experience, etc
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-Based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 ($100 STC Discount)
**WEST COAST LOCATIONS** San Jose (Mar 1-2), San Francisco (Apr 16-17) http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.
Sponsored by ForeFront, Inc., maker of ForeHelp Help authoring tools
for print, WinHelp, HTML Help, JavaHelp, and cross-platform InterHelp
See www.forehelp.com for more information and free evaluation downloads
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
