RE: dialog versus dialog box revisited

Subject: RE: dialog versus dialog box revisited
From: KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:54:18 -0500




> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bruce Byfield [mailto:bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com]

> Dick Margulis wrote:

> >Many people who have considered the way we render words into
> type have suggested that less is more. Mark Baker (whatever
> happened to Mark Baker?), a long-time techwr-l contributor,
> talked about avoiding "double marking" of text. If you indent
> a paragraph, you don't need to put extra space before it,
.
> too, for example. Edward Tufte, in discussing graphic display
> of information, says, "Relevant to nearly every display of
> data, the smallest effective difference is the Occam's razor
> ('what can be done with fewer is done in vain with more') of
> information design. And often the happy consequence of an
> economy of means is a gradeful richness of information, for
> _small_ differences allow _more_ differences." (Visual
> Explanations, p. 73)
.
> My only misgiving about this approach is that it assumes an alert,
> observant readership. Considering how little most people know or
> appreciate typography, this assumption seems questionable to
> me. True,
> the approach makes sense with large differences, such as
> indentation and
> line spacing, which are hard for even the unobservant to
> miss. However,
> in other cases, I prefer to assume a less careful audience.
.
> For example,
> with headings, several markers seem needed; if you differentiate a
> heading only by the font, size, or spacing, then many readers
> will not
> notice at a glance what they are looking at.

Also, what happens when -- as I indicated in my other recent
post about code samples -- the layout of big inserted chunks
of text *requires* you to break your nice, subtle layout
and your unobtrusive reading/navigation cues?

What if my layout gives me room for 8 average words per line,
and then I need to insert a couple of lines of sample code
or text-screen dialog, each of which is about 17 words?
And then a little later in that chapter, I have a paragraph
of introductory text, followed by 14 pages of monospaced
sample code, followed by a three-line paragraph of ordinary
text, followed by another ten pages of sample code.

What would be the subtle-yet-effective approach, there?

/kevin


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