Re: Can style trump grammar rules?

[Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com>]

OK, I'll bite.

Upfront, I've never used Avant Garde in anything I've done, but what's
wrong with it? It's a nice enough font, if a bit bulgy. Of course, I've
never seen extensive texts set in it; does it get wearying after a little
while? Is it better as an emphasis or headline than as standard body text?


On Sat, Aug 2, 2014 at 12:34 PM, William Sherman <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>
wrote:

>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lauren" <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>
> To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2014 1:55 PM
>
> Subject: Re: Can style trump grammar rules?
>
>
>  On 7/31/2014 9:09 AM, Laura Lemay wrote:
>>
>>> ...
>>> When I was a young tech writer I really liked the look of the Avant
>>> Garde font.  I set three entire books, 1500 pages worth, entirely in Avant
>>> Garde.  My belief that Avant Garde was an awesome font did not make this a
>>> good idea.
>>>
>>
>> I remember some of the odd things I did when I began technical writing
>> many years ago. Most of my "creative" work was reserved for presentations
>> and marcom-related documents. I fell in love with WordArt when I first saw
>> it, I looked for unusual fonts, and I did things with shadows and borders.
>> I cringe at the thought of being so creative now because that sort of
>> design is too gimmicky.
>>
>>
> I think we all did. I remember first using a Macintosh in 1986. It was
> lightyears ahead of the IBM PC with the DOS-based editors and programs. You
> could see the fonts on the screen, and the seamless operation from computer
> to printer was fantastic. So while primary work material stayed
> conservative, any side projects became as wild and crazy at a mac would
> allow.
>
>
>
>  All that said your original question was about titles on chapter splash
>>> pages.  Splash pages are a design element in books that are ignored by most
>>> readers, which is one of the reasons they went out of style 15+ years ago.
>>>  Do whatever you want on your splash page; upper case, lower case, mixed
>>> case, drop shadows, emoji, whatever.  Pick a style and use it consistently.
>>>
>>
>> Were they called splash pages 15 years ago? I've seen introductory pages
>> in book chapters but I didn't know what to call them. I do like it when
>> books have a quick-reference outline before each chapter. Is that out of
>> style or replaced by something else?
>>
>> Lauren
>>
>
>
> Using Frame to make books, each of our books uses a chapter introduction
> page, which is just the title of that chapter, like Safety, Description,
> Maintenance, and so on. It does divide the book slightly so I think it
> still helps a reader in both paper (which we use 100% for the customers
> still - their requirements) and in PDF which some customers get also.
>
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-- 
Lin Sims

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