Rhythm and Repetition

Aside from alignment and grouping, elements can be linked using rhythm: a regular or irregular repetition of common stylistic features.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2005). Design>Web Design>Document Design

Rick Henkel - FrameMaker

This page is dedicated to the Adobe FrameMaker software. It includes many suggestions for customizing FrameMaker as well as a guide that my department used for converting thousands of pages from Word to FrameMaker.

Henkel, Rick. Docspages (2000). Resources>Document Design>Software>Adobe FrameMaker

The Right and Wrong of Quark and Adobe Strategies

What distinguishes the underlying strategies of Adobe InDesign from QuarkXPress is the absence or presence of a content management system (CMS). And each company asserts that it’s following the less-traveled road. The problem is they’re both taking roads most traveled because of their respective stances towards integrated content management systems, and I’ll show you how after looking at their respective strategies.

Kuhnen, Eric. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Articles>Document Design>Software>Content Management

Roughing It  

Not in the mood for smooth? Consider going rustic with your paper and design.

Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1998). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Paper

Rules of the Game  

PageMaker's paragraph rules feature lets you attach lines to paragraphs. So what? Watch this ...

Kvern, Olav Martin. Adobe Magazine (1995). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker

Saddle Binding of Digital Documents  

Binding method is frequently dictated by the thickness of the piece. Saddle stitching provides a fast and cost-effective way to bind booklets, brochures and catalogs.

Copresco (2001). Articles>Document Design>Finishing>Binding

Save Time With Xpress Design: Style Sheets With QuarkXPress

Consistency is one of the principles that designer must follow. Style Sheets help the designer so he doesn't have to apply manaully the same type of formatting over and over again thrughout the document. Let me give you an example. You are designing a magazine promoting a certain item. You want to have all of your titles with a certain font, a certain size and a certain colour. You can record all of these information in a Style Sheet and then apply them to each title with a click. Now, let's say that you decide that the titles are two small and they all have to be made 4 points bigger. Well, you just go to your Style Sheet and modify the size of your font there and all of the parts of text with that Style Sheet will change in one go. This tutorial is for users of QuarkXPress 5 and 6. If you want to know how to create Style Sheets in QuarkXPress 4 follow the instructions for QuarkXPress version 5.

Bruno, Elisabetta. Designorati (2005). Design>Document Design>Software>QuarkXPress

Scientific Documentation: Learning from Journal Articles  

Suggests that writers of technical manuals could learn a thing or two about usability from the consistent form of scientific journal articles.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2004). Articles>Document Design>Scientific Communication

Screen Captures to Support Switching Attention      

This study set out to validate the supportive role of screen captures for switching attention. Forty-two participants learned how to work with Microsoft Excel with a paper manual. There were three types of manuals: a textual manual, a visual manual with full-screen captures, and a visual manual with a mixture of partial- and full-screen captures. The findings show that participants in all conditions looked up from the manual to the screen on about 97% of the cases in which such a switch was called for. Rank order analyses showed that users of the visual manuals switched attention significantly more often than did users of the textual manual. No differences were found between conditions on learning effects and training time.

Gellevij, Mark and Hans Van Der Meij. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2002). Design>Graphic Design>Documentation>Screen Captures

Screenshots with the Mouse Pointer

How to produce screenshots which include the mouse-pointer.

Springer, Hans. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Graphic Design>Documentation>Screen Captures

See Spot Print  

An in-depth guide to working with spot colors in Photoshop.

Amladi, Rita and Erik Gibson. Adobe Magazine (1995). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Color

Seeing and Using Theories for Design  

In recent years, the subject of research has attracted much attention within the field of design. In this discussion, suggestion has been made about the importance of descriptive/explanatory theory for the practice of design. Given that design is prescriptive by nature, between description and prescription, there is a gap. The gap suggests that the function and value of theory in design practice and thus its evaluation require further examination, clarification and demonstration. The practical value of theory in scientific inquiry is unquestionable. Theory is often referred as the foundation of sciences. Since the immediate goal of scientific practice is different from that of design practice, can the same be said about theory for design? Taking a perspective of a designer, my starting point is that theory, like any information, needs to be brought to life by our way of seeing and using it. Through reflecting on how I have evaluated and used developmental theories for a conceptual design of HIV prevention communication. I will bring up the issue of user in theory evaluation, attempt to demonstrate theory is (made) useful (by)/to designing and put into perspective the value of descriptive/explanatory theory to designing.

Chow, Rosan. University of Alberta (2003). Design>Document Design>Theory>Visual Rhetoric

Selecting a Color Palette

It's not hard to persuade a designer that color matters. But persuading Fortune 500 companies? You might be surprised. Color consultant Leatrice Eiseman has carved out a major career in helping companies 'make correct choices in colors that sell.'

Eiseman, Leatrice. Design, Typography and Graphics (2006). Design>Document Design>Graphic Design>Color

Set Up Records For a Smooth Merger

Instantly generate documents, such as mailing labels, form letters, or envelopes, with the new data merge feature in Adobe® PageMaker®. Using data from spreadsheets, databases, or text editors, you can merge multiple records into one publication. These steps explain how to prepare records so that they merge flawlessly in your publication.

Adobe (2003). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker

Seven Habits for Highly Successful Documents  

To assure that your job flows smoothly through the printing shop without a glitch, this document presents seven preparation habits for highly successful documents.

Copresco (2001). Articles>Document Design>Prepress

SGML Document Structuring: Implementing Document Analysis  

SGML (ISO 8879) provides organizations a standard for structuring and managing electronic information independent of software and hardware restrictions. Its premise is that all documents have a logical structure that can be represented with symbols. Using these symbols, SGML identifies a document’s elements and their interrelation slips. SGML separates format from content, allowing masses of information to be logically stored and easily retrieved. Data from one document marked with SGML tags can be used to create everything from brochures to reference manuals. This workshop emphasizes SGML document analysis and its impact on technical communicators.

Coggin, William O., Leslie K. Gasser and Beth A. Williams. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Document Design>SGML

Sheet Smart  

'Going against the grain' is more than a cliché when you're weighing the merits of one paper characteristic over another. Learn how paper's grain direction affects the finish of your jobs.

Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (2004). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Paper

Showcase Images with Nested Frames

Circle meets square as Sandee Cohen nests frames inside frames to accentuate images in Adobe InDesign.

Cohen, Sandee. Adobe (2004). Design>Document Design>Graphic Design

Simplify Your Life With Templates

Adobe® PageMaker® 7.0 includes more than 300 templates. Just open the Templates palette, select a category, choose a template, replace the placeholders with your content, and you’re done. You’ll get professional-looking results every time without fussing over special layouts or worrying about choosing appropriate fonts.

Adobe (2003). Design>Publishing>Document Design>Adobe PageMaker

Single Source Documentation for Today

What happens when the software firm you work for decides it will not deliver large printed manuals any more? Then the request comes to put everything online. Six months later, user profiles shift to the World Wide Web and you're asked to deliver HTML. In the future, a database of SGML information chunks may let us deliver anything, any which way.

Stieren, Carl. Simware (1997). Design>Documentation>Single Sourcing>Online

Single-Sheet 16-Page Gift Book

Everyone loves photos, and by using a little creativity and a little planning you can make a superb photo album.

Showker, Fred. Design, Typography and Graphics (2005). Design>Document Design>Prepress

Single-Sourcing from FrameMaker 5.5.6 to ForeHelp Premier 2000

This article centers on a single-source documentation process that involves authoring structured, chunked documentation in Adobe FrameMaker 5.5.6 and converting it 'just in time' to a WinHelp online help system using ForeHelp Premier 2000.

Snavely, Deborah. InFrame (2000). Articles>Software>Document Design>Adobe FrameMaker

Six Tips for Improving Your Design Documentation

Documentation is a crucial component of successful product planning and implementation, so it's important that it communicates as effectively as possible. Good organization, complete information, and clear writing are, of course, key to the success of any design document, but there are some other, less-obvious techniques you can use to make your documents more readable and understandable. Here are a few of them.

Olshavsky, Ryan. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Documentation>Document Design

Six Tips for Improving Your Design Documentation

Good organization, complete information, and clear writing are, of course, key to the success of any design document, but there are some other, less-obvious techniques you can use to make your documents more readable and understandable. Here are a few of them.

Olshavsky, Ryan. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Web Design>Documentation

Small Scale, Big Impact: Creating an Employee Newsletter  

Every few weeks we receive a flyer about a 'seminar' or a 'workshop' on newsletters -- now to write them, how to design them, how to produce them, how to improve them. Although we haven’t actually attended any of these seminars, they travel to many major cities, and the list of topics covered and the testimonials printed in the flyers are impressive. This phenomenon of the successful traveling newsletter seminar suggests that A) lots of people (hence organizations) are interested in creating or improving newsletters, and B) there’s lots to be learned about newsletters.

Anderson, Pamela A., Sally Nereson, and Dorothy J. Wiemann. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Document Design>Publishing>Newsletters