Re: dialog versus dialog box revisited
Many people who have considered the way we render words into type have suggested that less is more. Mark Baker (whatever happened to Mark Baker?), a long-time techwr-l contributor, talked about avoiding "double marking" of text. If you indent a paragraph, you don't need to put extra space before it, too, for example. Edward Tufte, in discussing graphic display of information, says, "Relevant to nearly every display of data, the smallest effective difference is the Occam's razor ('what can be done with fewer is done in vain with more') of information design. And often the happy consequence of an economy of means is a gradeful richness of information, for _small_ differences allow _more_ differences." (Visual Explanations, p. 73)My only misgiving about this approach is that it assumes an alert, observant readership. Considering how little most people know or appreciate typography, this assumption seems questionable to me. True, the approach makes sense with large differences, such as indentation and line spacing, which are hard for even the unobservant to miss. However, in other cases, I prefer to assume a less careful audience. For example, with headings, several markers seem needed; if you differentiate a heading only by the font, size, or spacing, then many readers will not notice at a glance what they are looking at.
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