Tiny Type for Product Inserts?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

J. Paul Kent wondered: <<My client manufactures clinical diagnostic  
equipment and has for years distributed lengthy product inserts (PIs)  
that describe the FDA recognized capabilities of the product. The  
current product inserts are 20-25 letter size pages set in 10' type.  
They need me to reduce them to as small (miniature) as possible.>>

Your first stop should be the FDA, not us; your client's lawyers can  
tell you exactly where to look. (If not, your client needs to sack  
the slackers and hire someone who understands the laws that bind  
their industry.) FDA undoubtedly has extensive regulations on the  
legal requirements for these kinds of inserts. Don't bother asking  
for "opinion" until after you've satisfied those requirements. Once  
you have, ask us for help on meeting specific requirements; that's  
the kind of question that's fair game for this list.

<<I'm wondering about font sizes, page sizes, layout ideas, that kind  
of thing.>>

You might also want to look into the Americans With Disabilities Act  
(section 508) to see what they have to say about legibility. I'll bet  
that most package inserts I've seen violate the Act's legibility  
guidelines. I don't have a truly significant visual impairment, and I  
have trouble reading the Canadian equivalent of these PIs. Given that  
the U.S. requirements are far more onerous, and entail packing in  
considerably more information, I'd hesitate to go too small.


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
Coming soon:  _Effective onscreen editing_ (http://www.geoff-hart.com/ 
home/onscreen-book.htm)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team authoring,
Web-based technology, and PDF output. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

Now shipping: Help &amp; Manual 4 with RoboHelp(r) import! New editor,
full Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up
to 106 languages with Help &amp; Manual: http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.