Re: Optimal Page Sizes

[Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- FS -dot- COM -dot- AU>]

Sue Gallagher (sgallagher -at- expersoft -dot- com) said:

> ...there are some generalized industry-wide myths:
                                              ^^^^^
"myth n. a story about superhuman beings of an earlier age, usually of how
         natural phenomena, social customs, etc., came into existence."

Is this a veiled reference to Artfully Senior Tech Writers?

> * Big books take up too much room on the desktop.
> * Loose-leaf binders tend to come apart too easily.
> * Reference books are more convenient if they can be made to lay flat.

I support all these myths. We chose wire binding because it's likely that
users will want to type as they they read. Our manuals lay flat in all
industry standard laps.

In my experience, perfect-bound manuals of about 200 - 300 pages won't lay
flat in the first or last quarter of the book. If these comprised 'read
only' material -- introduction, overview, index, glossary, etc. -- I don't
think there'd be a problem with perfect binding. If there were a fair
amount of 'type while you read' material in this first and last quarter,
I would always favour wire wrap.

We are changing from A5 to 9"x7.5", as A5 was just a little too narrow and
caused us some problems with page layout. A4 is too big.

Regards
---
Stuart Burnfield (slb -at- fs -dot- com -dot- au)        Voice: +61 9 328 8288
Functional Software                     Fax:   +61 9 328 8616
PO Box 192
Leederville, Western Australia, 6903