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.
#28546
Preparing Effective Charts and Graphs
This tutorial presents a brief overview of the process of preparing charts and graphs using a spreadsheet program. It introduces you to important design principles to consider as you prepare your charts and graphs and helps you analyze their design.
Munger, Roger H. Bedford-St. Martin's (2007). Design>Document Design>Charts and Graphs
#25805
Prepress Tutorial: Preparing PDFs Made from Microsoft Word for Offset Printing
You just received this wonderful PDF from one of your clients. It was made from Word. On top of that, the client who gave you that PDF wants you to make some changes to the text. How do you make those changes using the PDF itself and what do you have to do to make that PDF press ready?
Bruno, Elisabetta. Designorati (2005). Resources>Document Design>Prepress>Adobe Acrobat
#28653
Print Stylesheet: The Definitive Guide
A print stylesheet will automatically make all your web pages print-friendly. Find out how to make one with this definitive guide.
Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2007). Design>Document Design>CSS>Web Design
#10864
Printers' Tips to Desktop Publishers
This collection is a compilation of tips from many sources. As a sales rep for a commercial printer (Altman Printing Company), I have personally experienced most of these situations. If I had had something like this to give to each of my clients in the beginning, it sure would have made everyone's life a little easier!! Some of the tips below should be added to the back of your DTP Bible! If you don't follow some basic rules -- sooner or later you will realize: just because it comes up on your screen real pretty, and it prints to your laser printer just fine --- doesn't always mean that it is going to output correctly from a high-resolution imagesetter or print the same way!!
Foster, Julian A., Jr. Teleplex. Design>Publishing>Document Design>Printing
#30652
Printing Impressions magazine provides coverage on industry trends, emerging technologies and the news behind the news in the Graphic Arts industry.
#26007
Screen doesn't match prints? Paper affects density of inks? Open your color management dialog in CS and look for the printer profile. This should fix the problem.
Photoshop 911 (2005). Design>Document Design>Prepress
#23405
Problems with Colors - and the Solution: Color Management
The profession of the technical editor is rapidly changing, from the pure text manufacturer to a data manager, which leads inevitably to intensive occupation with the production of the final product: the technical documentation on paper or online. The color matching reproduction on the local screen or printer plays a new, important role. Particularly since the meaning of color in documents increases rapidly.
Thiele, Ulrich. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Document Design>Prepress>Color
#30542
Producing Brochures in the Technical Writing Classroom 
Producing brochures for real clients teaches college-level technical writing students about constraints of cost, time, and the availability of materials. Brochure writing also provides opportunities for learning more about editing, collaborative work, document design, and the problems which may occur during the production of real documents. Brochures of good quality can be produced by a class in approximately three weeks, or nine classroom hours. Grading brochures is expedited through the use of a simple heuristic.
Ryan, Charlton. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Education>Document Design>Technical Writing
#25150
When you are at the onset of a publication design, you need to set up a prototype. The style or personality of the publication is determined at this point, so you need to be sure each decision you make pays careful attention to the details of good design.
Showker, Fred. Design, Typography and Graphics (2004). Design>Document Design>Standards
#21531
QuarkXPress is categorized as page layout software - software that lets you easily place text and graphics on a page. Using well-designed page layout software has the feel of moving actual columns of text, blocks of color, and images around and pasting them into place. Unlike a word processor, which is driven by a continuous text flow, QuarkXPress gives you complete control over the elements you place on each page. QuarkXPress is a standard at most publishing companies and advertising agencies.
Lycos (2004). Articles>Document Design>Software>QuarkXPress
#22544
QuarkXPress 6 Tips: Working with Layers
Learning to use layers in your page-layout program can greatly streamline design and production. See how to tap into the power and flexibility of layers in QuarkXPress 6.
Assadi, Barbara and Galen Gruman. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Document Design>Software>QuarkXPress
#21525
QuarkXPress Technical Manual Project
The following is a step-by step tutorial outlining how to make a technical manual suitable either for print or for screen display as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.
Mike's Sketchpad (2002). Articles>Document Design>Software>QuarkXPress
#21532
QuarkXpress Training Tutorials
QuarkXpress has become recognised as the world's best Page Layout program. From home users, putting together their club newsletter to multinational publishing giants producing newspapers, magazines and books, QuarkXpress is the standard. This tutorial is geared towards helping first time users become familiar with Quark XPress.
#26558
QuarkXPress Tutorial: QuarkXPress' Work Area
Familiarize yourself with QuarkXPress 6.x work area.
Bruno, Elisabetta. Designorati (2005). Design>Document Design>Software>QuarkXPress
#21529
QuarkXPress Tutorials and Training
Look for tips, tutorials product support, downloads, templates,and publications for QuarkXPress. Find formal and informal training classes and seminars both online and offline for this popular desktop publishing program.
Howard Bear, Jacci. About.com. Resources>Document Design>Software>QuarkXPress
#31580
Sorry, guys, but what you're describing is "single sourcing" and it's been around for a while. And I don't think redefining "dynamic publishing" is going to work, either, because that term already means something.
O'Keefe, Sarah S. Palimpsest (2008). Articles>Document Design>Single Sourcing>QuarkXPress
#21904
Quick Footwork in a Dull Market
Right now the paper market is stable. So should you relax and enjoy the calm? Hardly. Now's the perfect time to test new paper sheets and negotiate better financial terms with your supplier.
Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1997). Articles>Document Design>Prepress>Paper
#23907
Accomplished print media communicators -- technical writers, editors, etc. -- represent a powerful resource in the fledgling development of the World-Wide Web. But they also face some of the steepest barriers to exploiting its technology effectively, precisely because they have more to un-learn. Many of the mechanical and technical skills they rely upon every day simply don't translate well to document design on the Web.
#24971
Reading Expository Text on a Computer Screen
Issues of legibility, restricted screen space, and the resulting effects on reader efficiency have hampered efforts to bring expository text to the computer screen. Previous research focused on character-based displays, a technology that is rapidly being supplanted by equipment capable of improved resolution and visual symbol generation. These issues, which affect both authors and readers, need to be investigated in light of current screen and user interface technology. It may well be that linear expository texts are easily adaptable to contemporary computer screens.
Ham, Eardley L. STC Proceedings (1994). Design>Document Design>Accessibility
#25140
Redefining the Document Using Adobe Acrobat 
How content is combined from multiple sources quickly and easily.
Baker, Donna L. STC Region 7 Proceedings (2002). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#23133
Distributing documents as Adobe PDF files can reduce the problems that may occur when you exchange large presentation or page-layout files. In many cases, you can make your Adobe PDF file even more compact without compromising the document's integrity. The PDF Optimizer in Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional gives you easy access to several options that can help you reduce the file's size, including compression options that are comparable to the ones available when you create an original Adobe PDF file using Adobe Acrobat Distiller.
PlanetPDF (2004). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#29932
Reducing Screen Clutter in Acrobat
Are you looking to remove all distractions to read your PDF content? Perhaps you just want to remove all distractions so that you can skim through your PDF document before signing off on it and sending it off? This tip explains how to reduce on-screen clutter in Acrobat to allow you to focus your attention completely on the content.
Shea, Dan. PlanetPDF (2007). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#22540
Reinventing Quark: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks
When creative professionals think of Quark, they tend to think only of QuarkXPress - or perhaps a negative technical-support experience. But Quark is more than a one-product company, one that has been trying to change for the better. Craig Cline provides an inside peek at Quark's new attitude.
Cline, Craig. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Document Design>Software>QuarkXPress
#28064
Replacing Gradient Colors With a Swatch
InDesign shares a feature with Illustrator that enables you to select a color stop in a gradient and replace it by clicking on a color swatch in the swatches palette.
Cole, Tim. Adobe Evangelists (2006). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign
#22759
This handout offers advice making informed design choices in creating a resume. We also have a sample resume that uses these design principles.
Purdue University (2004). Careers>Resumes>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric
