Re: text in tables -- smaller than or same size as regular body text

Subject: Re: text in tables -- smaller than or same size as regular body text
From: Pro TechWriter <pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:32:27 -0500

Visually, when Arial 9 pt used for tables, and a serif font like Georgia 10
pt is used for body text, they appear to be very close to the same size.
When I did formal document publishing for scientific journals, this was the
reason I was given for the difference in size.

On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 3:34 PM, Combs, Richard
<richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com>wrote:

> Milan Davidovic wrote:
>
> > I'm looking at a user's manual. I do not have access to the original
> > author and therefore have to guess at their intentions.
> >
> > Looking at the paragraph styles, I see that the various table body
> > (i.e. not heading) styles are in a smaller point size than the regular
> > body style.
> >
> > In looking at other books I have close at hand, I see only table body
> > text at about the same size (i.e. not obviously smaller, though I
> > didn't get a point ruler out to be sure) as regular body text.
> >
> > Any thoughts on why table body text should be smaller?
>
> I think it's fairly common. We use 10-pt Book Antiqua for body text and
> 9-pt Arial for table text. Table headings are 9-pt Arial bold. I'm
> rather aesthetically challenged, but I like the look of a sans serif
> font in tables.
>
> Tables often have relatively narrow columns (compared to body text), and
> smaller text helps to minimize the number of lines with just a word or
> two on them -- which can hinder readability as much or more than the
> smaller font size.
>
> My primary deliverables are PDFs, secondary are help files. In both
> cases, we old fogies can (as Geoff noted) easily increase the size on
> screen if we need to. :-) If your primary deliverables are hard copy,
> smaller fonts are more of an issue. But 9 points is still (barely)
> adequate, IMHO. Of course, my target audience is on average quite a bit
> younger than me. Know your audience, right?
>
> Richard
>
>
> Richard G. Combs
> Senior Technical Writer
> Polycom, Inc.
> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
> 303-223-5111
> ------
> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
> 303-777-0436
> ------
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
> solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
> HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals.
> http://www.doctohelp.com
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control!
> http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -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/pro.techwriter%40gmail.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/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
>


--
“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love....Pursue the
things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their
eyes off you.”

- Dr. Maya Angelou
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals.
http://www.doctohelp.com

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -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%40web.techwr-l.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/ for more resources and info.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat


Follow-Ups:

References:
text in tables -- smaller than or same size as regular body text: From: Milan Davidovic
RE: text in tables -- smaller than or same size as regular body text: From: Combs, Richard

Previous by Author: Re: getting experience with expensive tools
Next by Author: Re: George Hayhoe, a rant, and a resignation - PLEASE STOP
Previous by Thread: Re: Inline key symbols in text
Next by Thread: Re: text in tables -- smaller than or same size as regular body text


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads