[Framers] OT: General writing question

[Patrick Edwards]

Like Roger, I'm a big fan of Robin Williams' books too, but this one is essential: The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst.


https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Version-Anniversary/dp/0881792128/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485444163&sr=1-1&keywords=elements+of+typographic+style+by+robert+bringhurst 


There's deep information in here about designing for print and screen, why and how type works the way it does, etc.  

Some people say that design (read "prettiness") doesn't matter for technical documentation. I say (not the first one to say it) that design isn't what it looks like, design is how it works, and this book tells you how to design things that work well.  

Best, 
Patrick 

Patrick H. Edwards 
Production Editor and Web Administrator 
International Ocean Discovery Program 
JOIDES Resolution Science Operator  
Texas A&M University 
1000 Discovery Drive 
College Station TX  77845-9547 
979 845 1199 
edwards at iodp.tamu.edu



>>> "Tammy Van Boening" <tammyvb at spectrumwritingllc.com> 1/26/2017 8:58 AM >>>
All,

I know that this list is for Framemaker-related questions, but that means we
are all writers on this list, so I wanted to post a general writing style
question to the multitudes of gurus that I can reach as a result. . .

Since the cows have come home, I have always, and I mean always, used Times
or another serif font for body text and san serif for headings and I know
that this is considered the "norm" or "standard" for tech. docs. That said,
this new client is also insistent on using sans serif fonts for both
headings and text and it isn't pretty when you're trying to read this
manual.

Does anyone have any hard references/links to sites that you could point me
to that stipulate why this is the norm/standard for writing manuals?  Right
now, my client considers everything that I offered as an explanation as
simply anecdotal and not worthy of consideration.

Yea, I am about to punt. . . .

Thanks,

TVB


_______________________________________________

This message is from the Framers mailing list

Send messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com
Visit the list's homepage at  http://www.frameusers.com
Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/
Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com
Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com