Discussion of BLANK pages

[Paul Sholar <pks -at- GENSYM -dot- COM>]

Gentle technical communicators,

The "BLANK pages" discussion indicates that sometimes tech writers,
or better yet technical communicators, must also act like book
designers, or at least should be familiar with some of the principles
of book design.

The automated tools (such as FrameMaker) that writers use for word
processing and for handling large sets of structured text,
also allow us to create documents that present a sophisticated design.
A document's design greatly affects how well it imparts information.

The discussion has already identified the reasoning behind consecutive
numbering versus chapter-based numbering.  Namely, a document is bound
loose-leaf so that its pages can be replaced between major document
editions.  In such a document, chapter-based numbering isolates the
effect of pagination changes to within one chapter/section/etc.
The discussion also identified that chapter-based page numbering
poorly orients the reader within the entire document.  Quickly, how long
is that chapter!?

Because the pages in a perfect bound document cannot be replaced
without rending it, such a document can only be re-issued as a whole.
The discussion also included an opinion that, in perfect-bound
documents, readers prefer to see consecutive numbering of pages.
I agree with this opinion, and I believe that contemporary book
design practice generally holds to this view.  Current tools make
it very easy to accomplish this, so that in perfect-bound documents
there is little reason not to.  (Anyone know the thinking behind the
chapter-based page numbering in the _Using FrameMaker_ document that
ships with FrameMaker software?  An emphatic thumbs-down from me!)

As for those contributors to the discussion who feel that consecutive
page numbering doesn't provide enough "context" within a chapter,
you must again act like a book designer.  Add header and footer text
(perhaps as well as iconic marginalia) to orient the reader among the
sections within one chapter and between chapters.  All the common
software tools for writers support this practice with great ease.

For Western languages that in print read left to right, top to bottom,
the most widespread practice for "documentation" publications is to place
the first pages of each division/section/chapter on the recto (right)
page and to give rectos odd page numbers.  Though this practice
reinforces a sense of structure in the document, there can be
difficulties, as recognized on page 168 in the "standard" publication
_Methods of Book Design_ by Hugh Williamson (3rd edition, Yale Univ.
Press, 1983).

An aside: Williamson, as well as Robert Bringhurst, in _The Elements of
Typographic Style_ (Hartley and Marks, 1992), recognizes the use of
"blind folios," or pages without page numbers that yet contribute to
the numbered page count.  A blank verso page is one case of a blind folio.

Our tools might artificially constrain the practical aspect of a book's
design.  I find that FrameMaker does not (easily) handle the situation
where I have chapters in separate document files, yet want the first
page of a chapter to begin automatically on the page immediately after
the previous chapter's last page.  To accomplish this, I must instead
combine chapters in one document file.

In authoring a document whose chapters/sections/etc. end on a
verso (left) page, the tech writer must think like a book designer
in deciding how to present any blank verso pages.  As one "BLANK pages"
contributer wrote, you can top that page with the word "Notes" centered
on a line, but, also as noted, this can lead to inconsistency among
chapters that might end on either verso or recto.  Another contributer
mentioned that the document's design can include an element that
indicates the end of the chapter's text, as seen at the end of articles
in magazines.  Whether to include running headers and footers on a blank
verso page is yet another question.  These are decisions that you
properly consider in the context of the entire document's design.

I tend to allow blank versos in my docs, but recommend against presenting
running header and footer text on a blank verso:  other aspects of the
document's design should make the end of a chapter/section/etc. an
unambiguous event.  Simply using consecutive page numbering can obviate
the reader's concern about a missing page at the end of any chapter.
(Or at least _most_ of the reader's concern.  Consider: if each of the
document's major headings start at the top of a page and if the last page
of a given chapter is blank, the reader has a reason to wonder whether
a one-page major topic was mistakenly omitted during book production.
Under this design, the book designer must come up with another
end-of-chapter indicator.)

As mentioned earlier in this thread, some of our practices have been
shaped by the past practices of book production.  For example, it might
have been important at one time to place a page number on _every_ page,
to allow a print-shop employee to reassemble a book's loose pages with
confidence after inadvertently dropping them on the floor.

The messages in this thread so far seem to indicate a bit of ignorance
or confusion about some of these book design principles.  Many of our
comments to each other seem to me like "patches" on each other's
insufficient designs.  I have found it imperative to learn more about
book design principles as I have grown as a technical communicator.
If and when the TECHWR-L list embarks on producing a FAQ document, perhaps
we can capture some of these ideas in a compact manner, with references
to published authorities in the field.


Communicate well and prosper,

Paul Sholar             ( pks -at- gensym -dot- com )
Sr. Technical Writer
Gensym Corporation
Cambridge, Massachusetts  USA

DISCLAIMER:  Not speaking for Gensym Corporation