[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
[Author Index (this month)][Thread Index (this month)][Top of Archive]

Re: Optimal line length for sales documents in pdf

Subject: Re: Optimal line length for sales documents in pdf
From: Bernd <Hutschi -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2015 19:31:17 +0200

Hi,
I think it depends on a lot o factors.

One of them is screen size, another is sharpness and design of letters, the third is usage of glasses.
I know some people using magnifying options on screen, and this should be allowed.

Many developer use very small letter sizes and try to write as many letters on each line as they can.
This causes problems on screen when you increase font size, and the lines do not readjust.
I can read long lines. This does not mean I like them.

I reformatted prosa texts writing two columns on larger screens.

I think it depends on purpuse and client, how to do it.
When reading on an e-book, I generally increase the font if possible.

The most annoying method of bringing much text at each line is wrong scaling with increased Screen resolution.
The lettors become smaller rather than sharper.
An example with bad scaling on new screens is Photoshop Elements.

summary:

we have to consider
eyes, screen size, screen resolution, text kind and others.

Sales document: It should scale properly on E-Books and large screens. The customer should decide the font size.

Best regards
Bernd



Am 25.09.2015 um 14:58 schrieb Sean Brierley:

Hi,

Why were you told the width of your eyes was a good length? Is there
research to support that?

When I began, I was told "four inches" was a good line width. Being a
horsey kind of guy, that's always stuck with me, but I can't support it
with research.

Anyway, ignoring multiple column requirements and that pesky
print-versus-online thing, here's what a quick search on the Web found:

- 50 to 60 characters per line
http://baymard.com/blog/line-length-readability
- 66 characters per line http://webtypography.net/2.1.2
- 95 characters per line
https://viget.com/inspire/the-line-length-misconception
- 9-12 words per line
http://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-2/text-typography/length-column-width
- Looking at the 8,5x5,5 document I have up, I use about 70 characters,
10 words, 4.125 inches.
- Looking at an A4-designed doc I set up, I use about 80 characters, 15
words, 4.75 inches.


Cheers,

Sean

On Thu, Sep 24, 2015 at 11:20 PM, Di <dicorrie -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

I have a new manager with a sales background.

He was writing a document.

I saw that he had taken our standard template for long documents, and
removed the indent on the body text. So the document had virtually no left
or right margins and the length of line was almost the entire width of an
A4 page.

I protested. Seven years I have been telling the staff why it is important
to leave the indent in and keep the length of a line to about the width of
a person's eyes.

He explained. That's because you write documents that people need to read.
This is a sales document. Sales documents are judged on the number of
pages.

I could not think of a suitable answer.

I know that in responding to an rfp it is very important that the sales
team use the formats that have been given. But this was not one of those,
and his argument was a new one on me.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as hutschi -at- yahoo -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

References:
Optimal line length for sales documents in pdf: From: Di
Re: Optimal line length for sales documents in pdf: From: Sean Brierley

Previous by Author: Re: Learning XML
Next by Author: Re: Learning XML
Previous by Thread: Re: Optimal line length for sales documents in pdf
Next by Thread: Re: Optimal line length for sales documents in pdf

[Top of Archive] | [Author Index (this month)] | [Thread Index (this month)]

What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:

Sponsored Ads