Document design is the field concerned with creating texts, that is books, pamphlets, posters and others that integrate words and pictures in ways that help people to achieve their specific goals for using texts at home, school, or work.
#29030
The syntactic aspect of semiotic theory, especially its "aesthetic principle," is very influential in document design theories and practices. It has its roots in Burke's and Lessing s gender-related theories of images. Thus, it is laden with ideologies: it embodies our patriarchal attitudes and our iconophobia. Employing the semiotic theory in document design, we are making choices to reinforce the gender-related ideology in Burke's and Lessing's theories. It is time for us to re-conceive the "aesthetic principle" by de-emphasizing it and to adopt the reconciliation approach to design effective documents targeted at various rhetorical situations.
Ding, Daniel D. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2000). Articles>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric>Theory
#10028
InFrame is the independent electronic magazine devoted to Adobe FrameMaker. Its hope is to provide the FrameMaker community with a regular source of tips, information, and idea exchange.
Hays, Dennis. InFrame. Journals>TC>Document Design>Adobe FrameMaker
#27554
If you ever create multi page layouts such as brochures, newsletters or booklets there is an application that is made for you. InDesign, which can be purchased as a stand alone product or as part of the Adobe Creative Suite, has many, many tools for streamlining the process of setting up and working on these types of projects. In this article we will look at what InDesign is for and highlight some of the features that set it apart from other applications.
Dudley, Kim. Community MX (2006). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign
#28736
Inserting Special Characters in FrameMaker 
In Adobe FrameMaker, it is necessary to use special keyboard combinations to insert special typographic characters in your work. You can find an extensive list of special characters in FrameMaker's online help. You also can paste in special characters from Word or HTML.
EDITsphere (2007). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe FrameMaker
#20502
Instructions for installing Adobe PS 4.26 for Windows 95/98 and attaching it to Acrobat Distiller for use with FrameMaker 5.5x.
Halva, Wade C. InFrame (1998). Articles>Software>Document Design>Adobe FrameMaker
#25622
An Integrated Approach for a Model Based Document Production and Management
The primary aim of the research presented in this paper is to provide pragmatic solutions to the problems of integrity and consistency of document based information, describing a building throughout its life cycle. The research demonstrates the computer-aided generation of project documents via a construction project data model. The first research activity involved the development of a Construction Project Reference Model (CPRM) and a Document Reference Model, from which various Applied Document Type Models can be derived. The work concentrated on the French Full Specification Document: the CCTP (Cahier des Clauses Techniques Particulières), which is generated during the detail design stage. A generic Association Model was developed and used to index the CPRM’s concepts to the CCTP’s documentary elements supporting their description. Finally, the mechanisms enabling the generation of the project CCTP from the proposed structured reference CCTP are described.
Rezgui, Yacine and Philippe Debras. ITcon (1996). Articles>Document Design>Information Design
#30383
An Introduction to Visual Communication 
A reader's overall comprehension is best when text is appropriately combined with graphics in a document. This introductory workshop on visual communications explores different leaning styles and information mediums and examines how a communicator can best combine words with graphics to increase reader interest and comprehension. The workshop also examines basic rules of text and graphic design and finally discusses the appropriate integration of text and graphics.
Chiricosta, Tracey C. and Alice A. Jones. STC Proceedings (1993). Design>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric
#31013
Investigating Presentational Change in U.K. Annual Reports 
This article examines structural and format changes in annual reports of U.K. listed companies from 1965 to 2004 with a particular focus on graph use. The article compares a new sample of 2004 annual reports with preexisting samples by Lee and by Beattie and Jones. Lee's identified trends continue. There has been a sharp increase in page length, voluntary information, and narrative information, particularly among large listed companies. A detailed analysis of voluntary disclosure indicates changes in the incidence and pattern of generic sections. Graph usage is now universal. However, key financial graph use has slightly declined, replaced by graphs depicting other operating issues. Impression management through selectivity, graphical measurement distortion, and manipulation of the length of time series graphed are common. Overall, annual reports continue to exhibit many features of public relations documents rather than financially driven, statutory documents, and the analysis of graph usage suggests a need for policy guidelines to protect users.
Beattie, Vivien, Alpa Dhanani and Michael John Jones. JBC (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Document Design>United Kingdom
#12997
IRTC Desktop Publishing and Graphics
This is a list of resources related to desktop publishing and graphics. I'm including things like icons and wallpaper in the graphics category.
Soltys, Keith. IRTC (2001). Design>Document Design>Graphic Design
#10300
Is This Ethical? A Survey of Opinion on Principles and Practices of Document Design
In a national survey, 500 technical communicators and 500 technical communication teachers were asked to assess the ethics of seven document design cases. According to the 455 respondents, manipulating typography and leading to fit more or less information on a page and using persuasive coloring or spacing are ethical practices, while the manipulation of pictorial illustrations and the distortion of graphics are unethical. Opinion on using typography to decrease readability is divided. In five of the seven cases, women are consistently more lenient or men consistently more strict in their answers: common practices, specifications, reader's responsibility, writer's responsibility, writer's intentions, consequences, judgments, principles, and insufficient information. The explanation most often given was consequences, indicating a 'goal-based' philosophy of ethics.
Dragga, Sam. Technical Communication Online (1996). Careers>TC>Document Design>Graphic Design
#27088
Issues with Adobe FrameMaker Print to PDF
An issue that has come up over and over again on several FrameMaker and Acrobat/PDF email lists as well on the corresponding Adobe User-to-User forums is that of creation of PDF files. FrameMaker 5.5.6 and 6 have what looks like a convenient feature that is supposed to allow you to create PDF files via simply saving the document as a PDF file. I have gone on record as advising end-users not to use this approach for reliable creation of PDF files from FrameMaker documents under Windows and MacOS with FrameMaker 6 and earlier. Why do I most vociferously offer this advice and why doesn't the problem get fixed? And how SHOULD you create PDF files from FrameMaker?
Isaacs, Dov. Bright Path Solutions (2004). Articles>Document Design>Online>Adobe FrameMaker
#21881
Adobe® PostScript 3 printing systems offer a variety of new features for better, faster, Web-savvy printing. Here's an overview of what they are and how they're likely to affect you.
Nordling, Tamis and Wendy Katz. Adobe Magazine (1997). Articles>Document Design>Prepress>Color
#29939
Karen A. Schriver: The InfoDesign interview
Karen Schriver is the author of Dynamics in Document Design: Creating texts for readers, an extensive, multidimensional portrait of what readers need from documents and of ways to integrate word and image in order to better meet those needs. She is the former co-director of the graduate program in technical communication and document design at Carnegie Mellon University. Her company, KSA Document Design and Research, helps organizations improve the quality of their paper and electronic communications through strategies based on research and best practices.
Bogaards, Peter J. InformationDesign (2005). Articles>Interviews>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric
#28398
The way elements are arranged on screen carries lots of meaning that we interpret subconsciously when decoding web pages.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Document Design
#18336
One way to learn PageMaker is just to use it. If you have experience in publishing, PageMaker is designed to be familiar to you, like using a light table. There are a few 'gotchas,' of course, but if you're an experienced publisher, learning PageMaker should be a snap. It's a complex program. But the good news is that PageMaker is a lot easier to learn than competing products like QuarkXPress. In addition to the obvious — the PAGEMAKR mailing list — you may want to take advantage of the many training materials available. In 1985, desktop publishing was brand new and unexplored territory. Today, millions of people use desktop publishing software worldwide. Of course, there's a lot more to learning desktop publishing than learning PageMaker: there's typesetting and graphic design, for starters.
Adams, Peter C.S. Makingpages.org (2002). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker
#21868
Linking is surely one of the least understood functions of many applications. But if anyone can explain how it works in PageMaker, Illustrator, and FrameMaker, Professor Kvern can.
Kvern, Olav Martin. Adobe Magazine (1998). Design>Document Design>Hypertext
#28435
Logical Order of Page Components
There is a natural flow to many visual interactions - the flow of a visual dialogue between page your features and your user's private mental commentary.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Document Design
#21902
How can I reduce the size of several PDFs at once?
Rosenthol, Leonard. PDFzone (2003). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#21894
Is there a quicker way of making screen PDFs from print-ready PDFs?
Miller, James. PDFzone (2003). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#19883
Managing Quality Graphic Design in a Documentation Project
Supervising the design of documentation is challenging for documentation managers who have little or no educated knowledge of design. However, quality design that maintains ease of reading, accessibility, comprehension, retention, and aesthetics is vital to the usability and success of the documentation and should be carefully monitored by the documentation manager. Decisions must be made up front on four design areas -- packaging, layout, typography, and highlighting -- before the project is underway. In addition, audience analysis and a design style guide are two techniques that managers should embrace in supervising design.
Listeman, Amy J. STC Proceedings (1995). Careers>Graphic Design>Document Design>Documentation
#21929
In the spirit of Adobe Magazine's Cheap Tricks Contest, a grab-bag of ways to save money, save time, and cheat fate.
Kvern, Olav Martin. Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Document Design>Prepress
#29934
Markup PDF Pages with Drawings
Using Acrobat, PDF has been established as a popular and user-friendly medium for collaborative workflows. Not only can you add sticky notes or highlight text, you can even draw polygonal or freehand annotations. This tip explains how.
Shea, Dan. PlanetPDF (2007). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#25838
Marrying Digital and Paper Documents
The use of physical paper or digital files is not an either/or choice. The two are complementary. Currently, there are many examples of paper used as an interface to digital processes. The UPC found on items we buy and the barcoded labels on the packages we send are two prevalent examples. Many papers we use to reach our customers or to do our work within our organizations have at least one barcode.
Zukowski, Deborra J. e-Doc (2005). Articles>Document Design>Information Design
#18340
Merge Records With a Publication
Tired of copying and pasting when doing mass mailings? Take advantage of the new data merge feature in Adobe® PageMaker® to create form letters, envelopes, or mailing labels from records. The following steps show you how to use the data merge feature.
Adobe (2003). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker
#30551
Merging Usability Practices with Document Design and Development
Examines the phases of document development and describes how to incorporate them with usability techniques to ensure that your information products remain continually useful and valuable.
Filippo, Elizabeth G. Intercom (2007). Articles>Document Design>Usability
