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.
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Combining the Print and Online Media Offers Synergies
Companies had decades of experience in using printed materials to persuade readers to contact them, whether by phone, mail, or in person. This model of interaction with customers had worked so well and so predictably that we simply moved it online, largely unmodified. That was by no means wrong, but as Web technology and our comprehension of that technology both evolved, the approach proved limiting.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2001). Articles>Document Design>Information Design
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Comics for Consumer Communication: Reaching Users with Word and Image
The rising popularity of the comic as an internal communication device for designers has increased our ability to engage our stakeholders as we build interfaces. Yet, social service agencies looking to provide services to hard-to-reach groups like immigrants, cultural minorities, and the poor have taken pride in innovative outreach methods. In situations where traditional printed matter is a barrier, graphical methods can be used very effectively to communicate with audiences. From guerilla theatre to testimonials, posters to graphic instructions, users have benefited from alternative communication methods, particularly in situations where education or cultural barriers make it difficult for people to access services important to their well-being and safety. In some cases, the comic book format has been used as a way to help people get access to critical legal help. This case study from my time as a Publication Manager at the Legal Services Society (LSS) of British Columbia (BC) could inspire the use of comics outside the development process.
Bailie, Rahel Anne. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>Document Design>Technical Illustration>User Centered Design
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Picking paper involves deciphering a lot of arcane terminology. Here's a quick reference guide.
Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1996). Articles>Document Design>Prepress>Paper
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If your response to the question 'How do you use Acrobat comments?' is a mumbled 'No comment,' then listen up. Comments and annotations are some of the most powerful ways in which Acrobat can streamline your creative workflow. Here are some tips.
Dennis, Anita. Creative Pro (2003). Design>Document Design>Workflow>Adobe Acrobat
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You can use InDesign's compound paths and transparency features to create a recessed text compartment in an image.
Cole, Tim. Adobe Evangelists (2006). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign
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Conciseness is Key to Good Technical Documentation
One of the most important and difficult parts of technical documentation concerns writing in a concise manner. Technical writing is different than writing fiction or magazine articles, where a mood may be set or--in some cases--where space must be filled. (People seldom buy thin books.)
Kurtus, Ron. School for Champions (2005). Articles>Document Design>Technical Writing>Minimalism
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The default layout of the Pages pane displays a single column of small thumbnail pictures of the pages. The default is fine for most kinds of work when you have a document consisting of several pages. However, when working with a very large document, you might want to make the thumbnails smaller and increase the number of thumbnail columns to see more at once. If you have to be able to see the content of the thumbnails, you'll want to increase their size.
Baker, Donna L. PlanetPDF (2001). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
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'Containment' is the effect where one or more elements is shown as part of a group or category, through a visual mechanism.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Document Design
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Design is largely an exercise in creating or suggesting contrasts in an effort to convey meaning.
Rutledge, Andy. List Apart, A (2007). Design>Document Design>Theory
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Controlling Line Breaks with the Hyphenation Penalty Slider 
Adobe InDesign 2.0 introduced a new feature that you can use to fine tune the way lines break in any given paragraph. You'll find the hyphenation penalty slider in InDesign's hyphenation dialog box. This document is meant to serve as an introduction to this feature so that you'll understand exactly how it works and how you can use it to control the way your lines break within paragraphs.
Cole, Tim. Creative Pro (2003). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign
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Suppose you have a publication with set column widths. You may not want to reset your columns or drag out multiple guides just to create tables or gridded content. The guides and Step and Repeat features in Adobe® InDesign® 1.5 make it easy to quickly create a custom grid to structure your content. This tip tells you how.
Adobe (2003). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign
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This video will show you how to make an eyecatching backlit display.
Hewlett-Packard. Presentations>Document Design>Streaming>Video
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An introduction to how to create a magnetic sign for indoor displays.
Hewlett-Packard. Presentations>Document Design>Streaming>Video
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Creating a Multi-Page Document Using AutoFlow
In this tutorial, we are going to create a simple layout for an existing text document.
Iowa State University (2001). Design>Document Design>Tutorials>Adobe InDesign
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Creating a Template (Part I): The Basics
The natural tendency of most users of word processing applications is to create a document and use it as a model for future documents. That is, you format a letter the way you want all (or most) of your letters to look, save it, and then, when you want to write a letter, open this document and save it under another name as the starting point for your letter. In WordPerfect, until recently, this was the only way to create a template. Word uses a different approach.
Barnhill, Suzanne. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Document Design>Software>Microsoft Word
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This video will cover professional banner design and layout and choosing the right material for the job.
Hewlett-Packard. Presentations>Document Design>Streaming>Video
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Creating an Indoor Print on Rigid Substrate
Covers scanning a photograph, laying out the graphic, printing, mounting, and then a review of components.
Hewlett-Packard. Presentations>Document Design>Streaming>Video
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Creating an Outdoor, Durable Event Banner
Takes you through each step needed to create a durable outdoor banner.
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Creating Interactive Documents for PDF 
Learn how to add movies, sound clips, and interactive buttons to an Adobe InDesign CS document. When you export the document to Adobe PDF, readers can view movies, play sound clips, and activate buttons in Adobe Acrobat. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to add a movie and buttons that play, pause, resume, and stop the movie in the exported PDF document.
Adobe (2004). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign
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Creating Interactive Documents for PDF
Learn how to add movies, sound clips, and interactive buttons to an Adobe InDesign® CS document. When you export the document to Adobe® PDF, readers can view movies, play sound clips, and activate buttons in Adobe Acrobat® or Adobe Reader®. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to add a movie and buttons that play, pause, resume, and stop the movie in the exported PDF document.
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Creating PDF Documents from HTML Documents
In this topic, you will create PDF documents from HTML documents.
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Tables make information easy to find and understand and are often used for illustrating comparisons among similar data. A table usually consists of a heading row and one or more body rows and may also contain a title.
McMurrey, David A., Jana Owens, Jacqueline J. Pulido and Thomas A. Moore. Illuminati Online (2004). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe FrameMaker
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A form is usable when it builds an effective communication bridge between your clients and your data entry staff. A usable form is readable, concise, and contains appropriate pictures and graphic elements. The steps in creating a usable form are the following: (1) Create a prototype. (2) Examine the extremes. (3) Produce the forms. (4) Fine tune the forms.
Archer, Susan. STC Proceedings (1994). Design>Document Design>Usability>Forms
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Google returns well over 15 million search results to the technical question of how to code hyperlinks in HTML. However, a question on how link texts should be formulated, so that the reader can understand them clearly, fetches only a handful of usable tips. Even most style guides and authoring guidelines are reticent on this topic. In this article you will find tips on this rarely dealt with, though important subject for Technical Communicators.
Achtelig, Marc. indoition engineering (2005). Articles>Writing>Document Design>Hypertext
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Cropping Pages to Highlight Areas in Acrobat
When you receive a PDF that contains, say, an image that is surrounded by text, how do you highlight the image? One way is to export the graphic to an imaging application such as Photoshop, but that involves additional applications and the associated loading times. A great 'quick and dirty' fix here is to use the 'Crop' tool to hide the content that surrounds the image, leaving you with PDF which displays only an image, just the way you wanted it. This tip explains how.
Shea, Dan. PlanetPDF (2006). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
