Spiral bindings

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

 Jennifer Kraus, discussing a marketing booklet, notes <<the
 columns are too narrow to be readable, [and] it seems
 unnatural to me to have text that continues over a spiral
 binding. I would naturally read the top half of the page
 (above the spiral binding) first, then proceed to the
 bottom half of the page.>>

 If the text is unreadable, I'd concentrate my efforts on
 that aspect of the design first, and slip in the spiral
 binding issue next. If I understand the text flow, you've
 got four long columns, and the text flow in each crosses
 the spiral binding rather than wrapping back to the top of
 the current page when you hit the binding. I don't like it
 either, because it's counterintuitive... in every single
 book I've read (and that's a lot of books), text continues
 on a single page, and doesn't jump the binding until you
 fill up the current page. Magazines occasionally break this
 "rule", but at least they provide "jump lines" (e.g.,
 continued on page 12) to warn you what's coming. The
 technique could work in some layouts, particularly where
 graphics lead the reader across the binding, but it's hard
 to see how this would work with a spiral binding.

 <<Jennifer Jelinek after this Saturday>>

 Congrats, but I'll let you pray for your own wedding
 weather... unless you want to get really wet. <grin>

 --Geoff Hart     @8^{)}     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
 Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

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