Creating Content With Style

Creating Content With Style - Part 1

Written By:
Grant McNamara

You will need to write. Sooner or later we all have to write. With the advent of the computer, professional looking copy is easily available. Well sort of. You might think that using a word processor is like a using a typewriter. Wrong. Word processors and web design software allow us to use type setting features, and with some knowledge of typesetting you can create high-quality pages. This course lets you in on the secrets that professional typesetters have known for years.

Many of the concepts presented in this course are subtle; but they add up to a professional look. When we look at a document, be it on paper or on a web page, we might not know exactly what gives it that look, but we are aware of viewing quality. With a little knowledge we can increase our awareness of what makes the work look professional. We can learn to look closer with a critical eye.

Widows and Orphans

The term is an old typographical term. When a paragraph ends and leaves less than seven characters on the last line (or a single word), that last line is called a widow. Worse than leaving one word there, is leaving part of a word, the other part being hyphenated on the line above.

Widow example:

‘A translation is not a translation,’ he said, ‘unless it
will give you the music of a poem along with the words of
it.’

An even worse widow:

Can anything be more absurd than keeping a woman in a state of
ignorance, and yet so vehemently to insist on their resisting tempt-
ation

When the last line of a paragraph won’t fit at the bottom of a page (or column) and must end itself at the top of the next page or column, that is an orphan.

Orphan example:

It was the best of time, it was the worst of time, it was the age of
wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it
was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the
spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before
us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we
we all going direct the

--- imagine a page break ---

other - continued below ...

continued ...
way.

Both of these circumstances must be avoided. Sometimes type must be rewritten, or at least a word or two added or deleted. Sometimes spacing must be taken out of the letters, words or lines. Perhaps widening or narrowing the margin just a tad will do it. But it must be done. Widows and orphans are tacky.

A few other ideas.

Don’t be afraid of “white space”! (It’s called white space irrespective of the colour of the background; it just means the space where there is no element displayed on the page). The area of the page that does not have text or graphics on it is just as important as the area that does. You may not be conscious of it, but your eyes are aware of it and how it’s affecting everything else on the page.

Don’t be afraid to have wide margins, empty space before or after a major heading, a short bit of copy tucked up in the upper left instead of spread out in the middle of the page. That’s one of the main differences between a clean, professional look and an amateur look. The professional is not afraid to leave plenty of white space!

Strengthen the contrasts when combining fonts. Contrast with strength. If one font is light and airy, choose a dense black one to go with it. If one font is going to be used small, use the other one large.

Make a conscious effort to be consistent. If a heading is aligned left, then align all headings left. If a heading is 18 point bold, then make all headings 18 point bold. If you have page numbers then they should all be on the same place on the page. Look for consistency in tabs, indents, punctuation, fonts, alignment, and margins.

Hope you find this useful. Part two coming soon.

About the Author

Copyright (c) 2002 Grant McNamara, All Rights Reserved. This article may be freely distributed and published. If you wish to publish the article, out of courtesy, please email me and advise the url.
Author Information:
Grant McNamara - grant.mcnamara@translateme.co.nz
Grant McNamara manages The Translate Me Group at http://www.translateme.co.nz/ specializing in multilingual software development and Internet support.

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