[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
[Author Index (this month)][Thread Index (this month)][Top of Archive]

Re: Can style trump grammar rules?

Subject: Re: Can style trump grammar rules?
From: "William Sherman" <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2014 12:34:57 -0400


----- Original Message ----- From: "Lauren" <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2014 1:55 PM
Subject: Re: Can style trump grammar rules?


On 7/31/2014 9:09 AM, Laura Lemay wrote:
...
When I was a young tech writer I really liked the look of the Avant Garde font. I set three entire books, 1500 pages worth, entirely in Avant Garde. My belief that Avant Garde was an awesome font did not make this a good idea.

I remember some of the odd things I did when I began technical writing many years ago. Most of my "creative" work was reserved for presentations and marcom-related documents. I fell in love with WordArt when I first saw it, I looked for unusual fonts, and I did things with shadows and borders. I cringe at the thought of being so creative now because that sort of design is too gimmicky.


I think we all did. I remember first using a Macintosh in 1986. It was lightyears ahead of the IBM PC with the DOS-based editors and programs. You could see the fonts on the screen, and the seamless operation from computer to printer was fantastic. So while primary work material stayed conservative, any side projects became as wild and crazy at a mac would allow.


All that said your original question was about titles on chapter splash pages. Splash pages are a design element in books that are ignored by most readers, which is one of the reasons they went out of style 15+ years ago. Do whatever you want on your splash page; upper case, lower case, mixed case, drop shadows, emoji, whatever. Pick a style and use it consistently.

Were they called splash pages 15 years ago? I've seen introductory pages in book chapters but I didn't know what to call them. I do like it when books have a quick-reference outline before each chapter. Is that out of style or replaced by something else?

Lauren


Using Frame to make books, each of our books uses a chapter introduction page, which is just the title of that chapter, like Safety, Description, Maintenance, and so on. It does divide the book slightly so I think it still helps a reader in both paper (which we use 100% for the customers still - their requirements) and in PDF which some customers get also.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Read about how Georgia System Operation Corporation improved teamwork, communication, and efficiency using Doc-To-Help | http://bit.ly/1lRPd2l

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: Re: Can style trump grammar rules?
Next by Author: Re: FrameMaker: List of References doesn't work
Previous by Thread: Re: Can style trump grammar rules?
Next by Thread: Re: Can style trump grammar rules?

[Top of Archive] | [Author Index (this month)] | [Thread Index (this month)]

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

Sponsored Ads