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.
In addition to the tips which have already been mentioned, take a look
at your bookshelf. What do you see? Any 8.5x11 documents from big
publishers or your big multinational competitors? None at all? I
didn't think so. It's really, really hard to do good page design on
such a wide page. Many typographers recommend no more than 70
characters per line. Any page wider than about 7 inches gives you the
choice between too-long lines, too-large fonts, or too-wide margins.
Of course, you may be forced to use a standard page size if the
documents will be printed by customers or salespeople. Possible
design solutions are to use a 2-column layout, or one narrow text
column with lots of graphics in the margin. Both are possible, but
difficult, with Word. Make sure you thoroughly understand how Word's
section breaks work
(http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/WorkWithSections.htm). Annual
reports from Fortune 500 companies are a great source for 8.5x11
layout ideas.
Once you've figured out the basic page design, fine-tune the
typography: change the way Word does justification, use typographic
characters, and fine-tune the spacing. These measures are nicely
summarized in an excerpt from a book by Aaron Shepard at http://www.newselfpublishing.com/WordType.html
Microsoft Word for Publishing Professionals, by Jack M. Lyon, also has
some good advice.
--
Paul Goble
Omaha, Nebraska
pgcommunication -at- gmail -dot- com
www.pgcommunication.com
Viv Crawford wrote:
> We're looking at publishing a suite of marketing and pre-sales docs that need to be as flash as anything the big multinationals we compete with can produce.
...
> We've had front covers professionally designed, but the pages with actual content on still just look like Word docs.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Gain access to everything you need to create and publish documentation,
manuals, and other information through multiple channels. Choose
authoring (and import) as well as virtually any output you may need. http://www.doctohelp.com/
- Use this space to communicate with TECHWR-L readers -
- Contact admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com for more information -
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
