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I apologize in advance for those topics here that most experienced
techwriters may already know. When I wear my "font fondler" hat, I try
to share some of my enthusiasm for visual page and typographic design
for those who are beginners in the craft.
Even with my rather tired 55-year-old eyes, twelve point Times seems
excessive in most applications. Personally, I have reset my default
font to Times 11 pt. For documents such as white papers, memoranda,
and letters this seems very appealing in size and readability. If I am
constrained in document length and simply must squeeze in more text, I
may reluctantly reduce it to 10.5 points--but I usually will draw the
line at that point for anything expected to be actually read.
(Usually, I would prefer simply editing the copy to reduce its word
count...which, obviously, I have insufficient time today to do for
this note!)
Times is so universally installed that no serious substitution needs
be done. This reduces the size of .pdf files since font embedding is
not necessary to maintain the original layout. This is particularly
true with the specific variant "Times New Roman"--which varies subtly
from Times or even Times Roman. If you are working in Adobe Times, for
example, in long documents you might consider creating a .pdf without
embedding fonts, then view it on a system that does not have the same
Times installed but, instead, substitutes Times New Roman to be sure
the layout is the same. Usually, in the sorts of documents with which
techwriters work, there will be no problems. If you're creating
layouts for things like sales collateral or advertising, it can.
When you are working with narrow columns a larger font size is often
more of a problem--especially if you are beset with someone who
insists upon justification, given the rather primitive justification
controls in most applications. This is the source of the opinion that
many hold that the type is easier to fit in smaller sizes. However, in
documentation and, indeed, in most documents a tech writer would be
creating, full justification is generally a mistake of the highest
order in that it is more difficult to read.
That said, many people do not understand the relationship in visual
size from font to font with the nominal point size. The most common
sans-serif fonts used for headings--Arial and its progenitor
Helvetica--are often too large simply because at any given point size,
they are visually larger than Times or other common body fonts. When
establishing style definitions, a little care in these settings can
result in more pleasing documents from that point forward.
This also means that if you decide *not* to use one of the Times
variants for your body copy, you should look at some text in the font
you are considering and determine if the font size setting should be
adjusted...and always look at the text both onscreen and in a printed
form.
Another type matter that might be helpful is to realize that the
simple-minded automatic leading set by most programs by default is
often not appropriate. For one thing, the leading should be adjusted
according to the column width and the visual size of the font
involved. When a column width increases, increasing the leading is
often necessary for ease of reading and to prevent the paragraph
becoming too "black" or dense visually--which is somewhat off-putting
to many readers. For another, setting a consistent baseline distance
through a common leading results in pages that can be made even with
pages facing them, and in multi-column pages from column to column.
This presents a far more "finished" and pleasing look.
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