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.
#33228
Visible Narratives: Understanding Visual Organization
Visual communication can be thought of as two intertwined parts: personality, or look and feel, and visual organization. The personality of a presentation is what provides the emotional impact —your instinctual response to what you see. Creating an appropriate personality requires the use of colors, type treatments, images, shapes, patterns, and more, to “say” the right thing to your audience. This article, however, focuses on the other side of the visual communication coin: visual organization.
Wroblewski, Luke. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Web Design>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric
#33233
It appears that about one out of five Web sites (only 20%) currently are designed using a "Fluid" layout. Unfortunately, the layout most preferred by users, the "Fluid" layout, is the one implemented least often by designers.
Bailey, Robert. Human Factors International (2001). Articles>Web Design>Document Design
#33288
Does Design Matter in Comparison to Content?
Few people have ever commented about my blog’s design at all. The same goes with the music intros for my podcasts. I can change the music each time, and no one ever responds. In contrast, if a post has good content, I see a steady stream of comments. My experience leads me to conclude that content is about 90% important, and design is 10% important.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric>Writing
#33305
How to Overcome Three Common Localization Challenges
The localization of information for regional markets and audiences is increasingly important for companies of all sizes. It’s required to more effectively engage customers, maximize revenue, and maintain global brand recognition. In this issue we focus on three common challenges found in early-stage localization projects and how to overcome them. We introduce approaches to address these challenges cost-efficiently.
Duhl, Joshua. Dynamic Publisher, The (2008). Articles>Document Design>Localization
#33306
We define dynamic publishing as: The automated assembly of customized documents with graphic-rich layouts for multiple mediums, including print, the Web, mobile and electronic devices. Dynamic publishing allows organizations to deliver accurate, relevant, and high-fidelity communications across multiple types of media faster and at a lower cost.
Duhl, Joshua. Dynamic Publisher, The (2008). Articles>Document Design>Personalization>XML
#33307
IDC Identifies Trends Contributing to Dynamic Publishing
IDC, a global information technology market research firm, identified a couple of trends related to and influencing dynamic publishing. These include the growth in internet users (and where they get their content), and where organizations will publish content over the next two years.
Dynamic Publisher, The (2008). Articles>Document Design>Personalization>XML
#33421
If It’s Not Easy to Use, It’s Not Used
Debates about Microsoft Word vs. Adobe Framemaker appear with regular frequency on the tech-writing mailing lists I am subscribed to. Everyone agrees Frame is an awesome publishing tool. Yet, everyone keeps cribbing about it. So, why does a bright bunch of people who are masters at figuring out stuff, otherwise known as tech-writers, only hesitatingly agree Frame is “kind of great”? I think it’s mostly because Frame is so difficult to use.
Info Developer (2008). Articles>Document Design>Software>Usability
#33522
Unstructured Documents in Structured FrameMaker
A few days ago, there was a thread on the Framers mailing list regarding working in the structured FrameMaker environment. Someone commented that editing unstructured documents in the structured interface does not affect the unstructured documents. I found this to be untrue recently.
Scriptorium (2008). Articles>Document Design>Information Design>Adobe FrameMaker
#33604
Good Designs Have Strong Contrast
Push contrast more than you might be naturally inclined. If you don’t, you end up with conflict. The next time you eat at a restaurant, look closely at the menu. A good menu has a high degree of contrast between sections.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Document Design>Graphic Design
#33612
Behind the Curtains: Table Styles
Table Styles are my favorite type of Style in Word. They allow you to quickly and consistently format the table itself (e.g. borders, shading, etc.), the content within the table (E.g. line spacing, font color, font size, etc.), and they can also can tell a table when to do these (e.g. shade every other row, bold text in the first column, etc.). The first two enable you to create really rich tables, and the last one (which I'll call Conditional Formatting for the rest of this post) enables you to easily work with those rich tables. Both are quite important.
Microsoft (2008). Articles>Document Design>Style Sheets>Microsoft Word
#33653
Why Microsoft's .docx Format is a Good Thing
Here's a simple way to read one of the new Microsoft file formats, even if you have no Microsoft software installed. Let's suppose you have a file that ends with .docx, from the latest version of Microsoft Word. It's actually a zip file, so add .zip to the end and unzip it. You'll find a cluster of files and folders inside, and the one you want should be called document.xml. Double-click that and it will load in a browser window, where you can read the text.
Schofield, Jack. Guardian Unlimited, The (2007). Articles>Document Design>XML>Microsoft Word
#33741
An Approach to Visually Creating and Editing Nested Compound Document
Currently, visual XML structured authoring applications can typically handle a small number of XML vocabularies. In some cases, they can even handle them in limited nested scenarios. One of the purposes of creating XML documents with compound vocabularies is to present related information on a given topic in different manners (tables, charts, etc). The synchronization of views between objects of different vocabularies in real-time editing helps authors realize this potential. In this presentation we will discuss an approach to visually creating, editing and synchronizing, nested compound XML vocabularies within one document. The open nature of the architecture enables developers to create plug-ins for new vocabularies including the ability to define synchronization. Also this architecture provides simple method to define visualization of a new vocabulary by utilizing plug-ins already developed and activated.
Wake, Nobuaki and Junpei Aoki. IDEAlliance (2004). Articles>Document Design>Information Design>XML
#33768
Managing Digital and Print Deliverables for Aviation Data
This paper discusses the rationale and design behind Jeppesen’s single-source publishing system. With the business needs to single-source publishing capabilities becoming more acute, Jeppesen partnered with Astoria Software to develop a solution. The result is a system based on commercial-off-the-shelf software, XML industry standards, and open-source tools.
Jones, Matthew and Bob Thomas. IDEAlliance (2004). Articles>Document Design>Single Sourcing>XML
#33774
XML for Creative Content and Page Layout Applications
While technical documentation has traditionally been the domain for structured authoring, there is increasing interest in using XML for more “creative” materials such as sales brochures and marketing collateral. Such pre-sales materials often have even more compelling opportunities for single-sourcing and reuse than technical documents. Up to now, these materials have been produced one at a time in page-oriented publishing systems like Adobe InDesign and Quark. While this provides maximum flexibility in controlling exact page layouts, it can create a nightmare when small changes must be replicated across all the independent pages and documents. Why can’t we use XML to more flexibly handle this kind of content? In fact, we can! Using page formats from real marketing content, this whitepaper demonstrates how XML tools can be used to maintain highly graphical sales collateral, web pages, and product catalogs from a single source of XML information.
Severson, Eric. IDEAlliance (2004). Articles>Document Design>Marketing>XML
#33814
FrameMaker users are buzzing about FrameMaker 9. With CMYK support, CMS integration, DITA 1.1, and PDF commenting, this version is full of new functionality but is unfortunately also buggy and inconsistent. This review covers the most important new features of FrameMaker 9.
Loring, Sheila. Scriptorium (2009). Articles>Reviews>Document Design>Adobe FrameMaker
#33871
If you try to find reliable information about InDesign on the Web you’ll find yourself scouring Adobe’s site or muddling through dozens of other sites for a tip or two. Now that you’ve found InDesign Secrets, it’s time to stop all that muddling.
InDesign Secrets. Resources>Document Design>Blogs>Adobe InDesign
#33924
Free Microsoft PowerPoint Templates
Our templates are free and we do not offer any kind of support for our templates. You are responsible for editing and modifying the downloaded templates, backgrounds or products.
Kumar, Raja. PowerPoint.in (2009). Resources>Presentations>Document Design>Microsoft PowerPoint
#33941
Fluid layouts are an undervalued commodity in web design. They put control of our designs firmly in the hands of our users and their browsing habits. They’ve also utterly failed to seize the imagination of web designers.
Marcotte, Ethan. List Apart, A (2009). Articles>Web Design>Document Design>CSS
#33964
Positioning is perhaps one of the most misunderstood parts of CSS 2. Let us look a little closer at how it works.
Olsson, Tommy. Autistic Cuckoo, The (2004). Articles>Web Design>Document Design>CSS
#33965
Pozycjonowanie z kolei jest jednym z najczęściej mylnie interpretowanych aspektów wersji 2 CSS. Przyjrzyjmy się zatem nieco bliżej temu, jak ono działa.
Olsson, Tommy. Grabun.com (2004). (Polish) Articles>Web Design>Document Design>CSS
#33966
Hizalama ise CSS 2’nin belki de en yanlış anlaşılmış bölümlerinden biridir. Şimdi nasıl çalıştıklarına biraz daha yakından bakalım.
Olsson, Tommy. Cnkt (2004). (Turkish) Articles>Web Design>Document Design>CSS
#33967
This article explains one method of achieving a successful liquid layout as well as providing basic definitions of liquid, fixed-width and em-driven layouts.
Weakley, Russ. MaxDesign (2003). Articles>Web Design>Document Design>CSS
#34022
How to Format Your Technical Documents Consistently With a Template
Consistency of a technical documentation is what creates that subliminal sense of trust and confidence in the end-users. Someone once quipped: “it ain’t technical documentation if it ain’t boring.” This of course is not true since I always found technical documents very interesting indeed. I’m the sort of geekish person who can marvel at a well-designed user’s manual for hours and appreciate its beauty and all the effort and thinking that went into its production. I imagine how happy people would be when they use that manual and solve their problems and that, believe it or not, makes me happy as well. That’s the main reason why I’m in this business.
Akinci, Ugur. Technical Communication Center (2009). Articles>Document Design>Style Sheets>Technical Writing
#34027
How to Structure FrameMaker Paragraphs While Using the Unstructured Interface
Using the structured features requires advanced training and you probably won’t need them anyways unless you’re doing any “single sourcing” (which is the topic of yet another article). For example if you were doing any XML-based authoring or “database publishing” then you would definitely need to learn how to use the FrameMaker’s structured interface. However, there is an easy way to imitate structured documentation while you are still in the unstructured mode. This is one case in which you can have your cake (unstructured FM) and take a bite out of it too (by enjoying one selected feature of structured documentation).
Akinci, Ugur. Technical Communication Center (2009). Articles>Document Design>Technical Writing>Adobe FrameMaker
#34028
Seven Time-Tested Principles to Design a Cover For a Technical Document
Here are seven time-tested design recommendations culled from my 20 years of experience as a professional writer, page layout and information designer.
Akinci, Ugur. Technical Communication Center (2008). Articles>Document Design>Technical Writing
