Cross-language "same content on same page" issues?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Mats Broberg is looking for tips from: <<... someone ... subject to the
regime of keeping the same content in different language versions of a
manual on the same pages in the different manuals. I understand some
certification bodies demand this for certain types of publications. I know
that it is rather non-user-friendly (to say the least) and that some manuals
will become quite ugly (manuals issued for "compact" languages get alot of
empty pages etc.), but I'd be interested in hearing your experience,
anyway.>>

Not manuals, but we publish technical reports that our desktop publisher
wants to handle this way. Start by taking sample text from existing manuals
so you can get an idea of how much the language inflates from English to the
other languages (rarely, the English is longer). Aim to find a passage of
English text that is particularly long in your other languages. You can now
do some trial layouts using this sample text to see how much you'll have to
shrink each of the other languages to fit the single page used by the
English.

Your goal is to develop a slightly different template for each language that
accounts for the expansion and lets you fit all the text onto the page. Here
are a few things to try, with numbers thrown in the same way Jackson Pollock
throws paint <g>:
- If you set the English in (say) 12 pt type, then setting in 10 pt type for
another language lets you fit 20% more text on a page. If you're using
good-quality fonts (particularly PostScript), try changing font sizes by
half a point at a time until the other language fits.
- Consider using a different font for each language; for example, North
Americans prefer serif fonts, but sans serif is very common in Europe and
some condensed sans serif fonts are quite space efficient. Given that all
fonts use space differently, you may find a really good condensed version of
a typeface that takes up much less space. For example, Bookman and similar
fonts tend to be fairly wide to optimize legibility, but Times and its kin
were designed for cramming in the text while still remaining legible. So set
the English in Bookman and the German in Times!*
- If you set the English leading (line spacing) as (say) "space and a half",
then setting type single-space lets you fit (roughly) 33% more text on a
page. Of course, don't set the leading so high that the type vanishes into a
sea of white.
- If your software does a decent job of kerning and tracking, you can leave
the English normally kerned and tracked, but tighten the longer text
slightly to fit more words per line.
- If the English has (say) 1.5-inch margins, dropping to 1.25-in margins
lets you fit an extra 8+ characters per line, which provides room for an
extra 40+ words per page. If you use a two-column layout, you can trim the
gutter size similarly.

*Of course, if your company has a "visual identity program" (VIP) that
mandates the use of certain typefaces, you may have to restrict yourself to
a single typeface family. But even then, different font foundries (e.g.,
Adobe, Agfa, ITC) create different weights and metrics for what is nominally
the same typeface, and some are noticeably more space efficient than others.
You could almost certainly use different fonts (same typeface, different
foundry) without violating the VIP.

You end up with a series of layouts that are visibly different if held side
by side (which nobody except you is ever likely to do), but that are each
functional and reasonably esthetic. The English may be a little more spacey
than you'd like, and the longer languages a bit tighter, but each should
work just fine.

--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada

"If you were a member of Jesse James's band and people asked you what you
were, you wouldn't say, 'Well, I'm a desperado.' You'd say something like,
'I work in banks,' or 'I've done some railroad work.' It took me a long time
just to say, 'I'm a writer.' It's really embarrassing."--Roy Blount, Jr.

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