Chapter 13 Designing Pages and Documents Besides placing formatting power—and responsibility—directly in the writer’s hands, automation is raising the audience’s expectations of workplace documents. Readers have come to expect documents that look good and that are inviting and accessible. Many students tend to regard the quality of paper, typing, margins, and the like as annoying trivialities. We therefore need to emphasize that the reader’s first impression of a document is purely a visual, aesthetic judgment; that a sloppy format is a sure way to alienate the reader; that the time and effort given to “grooming” a report or letter are well spent—and no less important than the time and effort candidates for a job devote to grooming themselves for an interview. The section on headings deserves detailed treatment, because many students are unfamiliar with their use.

Learning Objectives Understand why document design is important Learn design skills that are needed in today’s workplace Know how to use white space and margins Know how to choose typefaces and type sizes Know how to use color, shading, and other highlighting elements

Learning Objectives (continued) Know how to use headings, subheads, and running heads Understand that on-screen documents have special design requirements

Page Design Page design, the layout of words and graphics, determines the look of a document. Well-designed pages invite readers into the document, guide them through the material, and help them understand and remember the information. In technical communication, the term “page” might mean a page of a report, but it can also mean one panel of a brochure, a one-page set of instructions, a Web page, and more.

Page Design in Workplace Documents People read work-related documents only because they have to. If there are easier ways of getting the information, people will use them. An audience’s first impression tends to involve a purely visual, aesthetic judgment: “Does this look like something I want to read, or like too much work?” Therefore, workplace documents need a clean, clear, attractive page design.

Design Skills Needed in Today’s Workplace In order to be able to meet the design requirements of today’s workplace, you’ll need to develop skills at: Using desktop publishing software. With such software as Adobe InDesign or Quark, you control the entire production cycle: designing, illustrating, laying out, and printing the final document. Electronic publishing. With programs like Adobe RoboHelp or Adobe Dreamweaver, you can create documents in digital format for the Web, the company intranet, or as online help screens.

Design Skills Needed in Today’s Workplace (continued) Using style sheets and style guidelines. Style sheets are specifications that ensure consistency across a single document or among a set of documents. Style guides contain rules for proper use of trade names, appropriate punctuation, preferred formats for correspondence, and so on.

Creating a Design that Works for Your Readers Approach your design decisions to achieve a consistent look, to highlight certain material, and to aid navigation. You will need to think about four design categories: Shaping the page Styling the words and letters Adding emphasis Using headings for access and orientation.

Shaping the Page In shaping a page, consider its look, feel, and overall layout. The following suggestions will help you shape appealing and usable pages: Use the Right Paper. For routine documents, print in black, on low-gloss, white paper. For documents that will be published, consider the paper’s grade and quality. Provide Page Numbers. Use lowercase Roman numerals for front matter (ii, iii, iv). Number the first text page and subsequent pages with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3).

Shaping the Page (continued) Provide headers and footers. These appear in the top or bottom page margins and provide publication information. Use a Grid. Readers make sense of a page by looking for a consistent underlying structure:

Shaping the Page (continued) Use White Space. Sometimes, what is not on the page (white space) can make a big difference. Areas of text surrounded by white space draw the reader’s eye to those areas. Provide Ample Margins. Small margins crowd the page and make the material look difficult. On an 8½-by-11-inch page, leave margins of at least 1 or 1½ inches. Keep Line Length Reasonable. Long lines tire the eyes. Short lines look choppy. A reasonable line length is sixty to seventy characters per line for an 8½-by-11-inch single-column page.

Shaping the Page (continued) Keep Line Spacing Consistent. In general, single-space within paragraphs and double-space between paragraphs. Tailor Each Paragraph to Its Purpose. Use a long paragraph for clustering material that is closely related. Use a short one to make complex material easier to digest. Avoid “orphans” (one line at the bottom of a page) and “widows” (one line at the top of a page). Make Lists for Easy Reading. Whenever you find yourself writing a series of related items within a paragraph, consider using a list instead.

Styling the Words and Letters After shaping the page, decide on the appropriate typefaces (fonts), type sizes, and capitalization. Following are guidelines for shaping the words and letters: Select an Appropriate Typeface. Typeface, or font, refers to all the letters and characters in one particular style (e.g. Times, Arial, Helvetica). In selecting a typeface, consider the document’s purpose. For visual unity, use different sizes and versions (bold, italic, small caps) of the same typeface throughout your document.

Styling the Words and Letters (continued) Use Type Sizes That Are Easy to Read. Use 10 to 12 point types sizes, depending on the typeface. Use different sizes for other elements like headings, titles, and captions for emphasis. Use Full Caps Sparingly. Uppercase letters are hard read and look like the writer is shouting at you.

Adding Emphasis Once you have selected the appropriate font, you can use different features, such as boldface or italics, to highlight important elements such as headings, special terms, key points, or warnings. The following guidelines offer some basic highlighting options: Use indentation. Indenting lines helps set off examples, explanations, or any material that should be differentiated from body copy. Use ruled horizontal lines. These can separate sections in a long document.

Adding Emphasis (continued) Use ruled lines, broken lines, or ruled boxes. These help set off crucial information. Use boldface. Boldface is good for emphasizing a single sentence or brief statement. Use italics. More subtle than boldface, italics highlight words, phrases, or book titles. Use small type sizes. These work well for captions, credit lines, and labels for visuals. Avoid large type sizes. These should only be used on rare occasions to convey forcefulness. Use color. Color should be used sparingly, however.

Using Headings for Access and Orientation Headings announce how a document is organized, point readers to what they need, and divide the document into accessible blocks or “chunks.” Following are guidelines for using headings effectively: Lay Out Headings by Level. Like a good road map, your headings should clearly announce the large and small segments in your document. Decide How to Phrase Your Headings. Depending on your purpose, you can phrase headings as short phrases, statements, or questions.

Using Headings for Access and Orientation (continued) Make Headings Visually Consistent and Grammatically Parallel. All headings at the same level must look the same and use the same linguistic format (for example, if the first major level heading is phrased as a question, all others should be).

Audience Considerations in Page Design In deciding on a format, know your audience and their intended use of your information: If people will use your document for reference only, make sure you provide plenty of headings. If readers will follow a sequence of steps, show that sequence in a numbered list. If readers need to evaluate something, give them a checklist of criteria. If readers will be encountering complex information or difficult steps, design the page so that it is easy to read.

Designing Digital Documents Most of the techniques in this chapter are appropriate for both print and digital documents. However, for digital documents, pay special attention to these additional considerations: Web pages: On a Web page, material is less linear, links serve the function of headings, and readers prefer smaller chunks of information, shorter line lengths, more white space, wider margins, different font styles, and larger font sizes. The same is true for online help screens.

Designing Digital Documents (continued) Adobe Acrobat and PDF files: Unlike normal Web pages, PDF (Portable Document Format) documents retain their formatting and appear exactly as they were designed in print format. As a result, link to them from Web pages, but don’t use them as a basis for Web page design. CDs and other media: Documents may end up being delivered as CDs or other media. The best you can do is identify as early as possible the media in which your document might be delivered, and adapt your design to work with a non-print format.

Review Questions 1. What is page design and why is it important? 2. What design skills will you need to learn to compete in today’s workplace? 3. What are the four design categories that you need to consider when designing a document? 4. What are five considerations you need to keep in mind when shaping a page? 5. What is white space, and why is it important? 6. What are three considerations you need to keep in mind when styling words and letters? Answers 1. Page design, the layout of words and graphics, determines the look of a document. 2. Using desktop publishing software, electronic publishing, and using style sheets and style guidelines. 3. Shaping the page, styling the words and letters, adding emphasis, and using headings for access and orientation. 4. Any of the following: Using the right paper, providing page numbers, providing headers and footers, using a grid, using white space, providing ample margins, keeping line length reasonable, keeping line space consistent, tailoring each paragraph to its purpose, and making lists for easy reading. 5. White space refers to the areas of a page that contain no text or illustrations. Areas of text surrounded by white space draw the reader’s eye to those areas. 6. Selecting a typeface, using type sizes that are easy to read, and using full caps sparingly.

Review Questions (continued) 7. What are five ways to add emphasis within a document? 8. What are three considerations you need to keep in mind when using headings for access and orientation? 9. What are three considerations to keep in mind when designing for your audience? 10. In what ways do Web pages differ in design from print pages? Answers (continued) 7. Any of the following: Using indentation, using ruled horizontal lines, using ruled lines/broken lines/ruled boxes, using boldface, using italics, using small type sizes, avoiding large type sizes, and using color. 8. Lay out headings by level, decide how to phrase your headings, and make headings visually consistent and grammatically parallel. 9. Any of the following: If people will use your document for reference only, make sure you provide plenty of headings. If readers will follow a sequence of steps, show that sequence in a numbered list. If readers need to evaluate something, give them a checklist of criteria. If readers will be encountering complex information or difficult steps, design the page so that it is easy to read. 10. On a Web page, material is less linear, links serve the function of headings, and readers prefer smaller chunks of information, shorter line lengths, more white space, wider margins, different font styles, and larger font sizes.