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Formatting Text Tips
Desktop Publishing
Why is properly formattingyour text important?
It’s what will make you look like an amateur or a professional
These items may seem subtle, but they add up to a professional look
The rules may have changed since High School Typing
“God is in the details” – Mies van der Rohe
The Grid
The imaginary guidelines that you see in PageMaker that define your columns
Use Them – they’re there to ensure alignment and consistency
Use Snap to Guides to help you View - Snap To Guides
This was one of the biggest complaints I had about your assignments
Leading
The amount of space automatically added between lines
Generally 120% of the point size (10pt type /12pt leading)
No absolute rules, develop an eye Keep it consistent throughout a piece Set leading in Control Palette (under size) What happens to automatic leading when
you try to set a big first character?
Leading Types
Types Top of Stamp Leading Baseline Leading Proportional Leading (2/3)
What is PageMaker’s default? What is Quark’s default? Look in Type – Paragraph – Spacing
CamTracy
12pt
2pt
12pt
Paragraph Spacing
Adjust paragraph spacing instead of double returning
You can control the space before and after a paragraph
Measured in point sizes Look at the Type – Paragraph Menu
3pt
Tabs & Indents
Always use tabs and indent settings in your piece instead of “spacing over” Typewriter – each letter has an equal width Computer – each letter has a width according
to the shape of the character Therefore, spacing over doesn’t work the
same way – so set tabs and indents instead
Tabs & Indents
Type some text and look at Type – Indents/Tabs and then Type – Paragraph
Use First Line Indent (in Paragraph) to maintain consistent indentations instead of a tab
Set alignment tabs on selected line Left, Center, Right, Decimal Tabs
Tabs & Indents
Use Left Margin Split (Type-Indents/Tabs) No Tabs
First line not alignedwith rest of text
Hanging Indent
Column Width
The proper minimum column width is 1.5 lowercase alphabets of the font and size in use.
Consider 2.5 alphabets to be the maximum.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm
Columns & Baselines
When using columns, make sure your first baseline is even with all other columns
If baselines are uneven, it give the piece an awkward, uneven look
Widows & Orphans
Widow – the first line of a paragraph at the bottom of a page or column
Orphan – the last line of a paragraph at the top of a page or column
Look at Type – Paragraph for control of Widows & Orphans
Kerning
The process of removing small units of space between letters in order to create visually-consistent letterspacing
Totally dependent on your eye, not on the machine - adjust kerning according to your sensitive visual perception
Tracking
The process of removing (or sometimes adding) space between all the characters in a word, a line, a paragraph, or even the entire story
Use when you need to fill more space Change tracking in the Control Palette No Track, Very Loose, Loose, Normal,
Tight, Very Tight
Aligning Columns
Aligned Left (flush-left, ragged-right) Aligned Right (flush-right, ragged-left) Centered (ragged-left and ragged-right) Justified (flush-left and flush-right) Force Justified – don’t use in body text
Left Alignment
Conveys a nice, even color Often the best choice, especially where
columns must be narrow Adds visual interest to a page Hyphenation can be used here as well as
in justified text
Right and Center Alignment
Not familiar to most readers Decreases readability of body text
Use only for display type, special effects and captions, never body copy
Justified Text
Familiar and predictable Conveys a sense of orderliness Drastically affects the spacing of words on a line Preferred for long works that require continuous
reading and concentration: text, novels, newspapers, and magazines
Care must be taken to ensure that word spacing and letterspacing are handled properly
Justified Text
Rule of Thumb: The length of the line in picas
(6 picas = 1 inch) should be twice as long as the point size of your font
12 point type = 24 picas (6 inches) long This rule can be broken, but longer lines
can mean reduced readability
Justification Controls
When justifying text something’s gotta give to achieve even margins Word Spacing Letterspacing Hyphenization
Look at Type – Paragraph – Spacing
Justification
To achieve justification: Word Spacing is generally adjusted first Then it tries to hyphenate words at the end of
the line Then it tries to exercise letterspacing – a line
by line tracking adjustment – try to avoid
Hyphenation
Always hyphenate justified text Hyphenate left aligned to achieve a
pleasing silhouette Avoid having more than two hyphens in a
row and too many hyphens in a paragraph Avoid “stupid” hyphenations such as when
therapist is hyphenated (the-rapist) Never hyphenate display text Look at hyphenation under Type
Special Punctuation
Dashes Quotation Marks Apostrophes Accent Marks Superscripts and Subscripts Sentence Endings
Dashes
Hyphens Used to only to hyphenate words or when
words are divided at line breaks Located on the keyboard beside the equal
sign Example: multi-lingual
Dashes
En dashes Used to indicate a duration, such as the
length of time Can be used with a thin space on either side Slightly longer than hyphens (capital letter N) Interchangeable with the word “to” Use Option + Hyphen Example: 7:30 – 9:45 A.M., pre-Vietnam,
high-class – high-energy lifestyle
Dashes
Em dashes Used to punctuate sentences where we used
to use a double hyphen (they’re long dashes, twice as long as en dashes, width of an M)
Often used in a manner similar to a colon or parentheses, or indicating an abrupt change of thought
No spaces on either side of em dash Use Option + Shift + Hyphen Example: OK –– so where do you find the ice
cream?
Quotation Marks
Use real quotation marks – never those marks that actually symbolize inch or foot marks
Use “and” – not "and" Typewriter quotation marks are the single
most visible sign of unprofessional type Note this in your assignments
Quotation Marks
Commas and periods are always placed inside the quotation marks.
Colons and semicolons go outside the quotation marks.
Question marks and exclamation points go in or out, depending on whether they belong to the material inside the quote or not.
If more than one paragraph is quoted, the double quote is placed at the beginning of each paragraph, but only at the end of the last one.
Apostrophes
‘ not ' “Its” used as a possessive never has an
apostrophe!!! – The word it only has an apostrophe as a contraction – “it’s” always means “it is” or “it has”
In a date when part of the year is left out, an apostrophe needs to indicate the missing year – “In the ’80s” not “In the 80s”
Accent Marks
Where an accent mark is appropriate, use it
Most are hidden on the Option keyboard (p. 106 of Alspach) and some are in the Key Caps (under the Apple Menu)
Look at Key Caps Example: résumé not resume
Superscripts & Subscripts
Add polish to any publication Hang characters above or below the
baseline Superscripts – 5th instead of 5th Subscripts – H2O instead of H2O How would you do fractions like ½ ?
One space between sentences
Use only one space after periods, colons, exclamation points, question marks – any punctuation that separates two sentences.
Typewriters are monospaced - Computers are proportioned.
Capital Letters
On a typewriter, capital letters were the only way to make type stand out
Now the computer offers many other ways All caps takes up more space
With lower case, you can make your words bigger and bolder in the same space
All caps are more difficult to read Using all caps is a choice between design or
readability
Underlining
Don’t underline. Underlining is for typewriters; italic is for professional text.
Do you often seen a word underlined in a magazine or book?
This is an underlined phrase
This phrase has a rule drawn under it.
This phrase has an italic word.
Edit Story
PageMaker treats each text box as a story Look at Edit – Edit Story
Spelling Find/Change
Therefore, the more text boxes you have, the more stories you’ll have to open to perform these features
References
The Mac Is Not a Typewriter by Robin Williams
Design Principles for Desktop Publishers by Tom Lichty