The e-publishing support group

[Nellisir]

1.) Is it me or are the columns both not the same width?

On the first page? It's because of the text box/3rd column.

2.) The lines are a bit thick for my tastes, they are very 'present' on the first page.

I'll make them thinner. I think it's left over formatting from another document.

3.) The requires the use of D&D etc isn't, how shall we say... Very well placed ;-) I would say, add another page, make that the 'cover' and then make page 2 the first page customers will see...

I don't follow. I'm required (blech) to put it on the front or back cover, or title page, and in 10 pnt font. I could create a "back cover", but it seems like a waste of good paper. Ditto with an actual cover. I'm looking for a "print n' go" sort of thing, where you can just print out the whole document without hassling over which pages to exclude (except the license page).

4.) use of color, this will probably be printed out, so i would leave the color out of the D20 logo and the box on page 3. Saves the customers a lot of trouble when printing this on a printer with a color cardridge.

That's a thought. I don't care about the color in the rear box.

6.) Top Title, why don't you make it a two line header?

Initially, because while it looked alright in this instance, it looked odd when the topic title was shorter than the "Notes from the North" phrase. I suppose I could invent longer titles...where's the Enchiridion of Extended Verbiage when you need it?

7.) If this will have more than one release with the same layout you might want to incorporate the title of the document in the page footer of each page.

Yeah, that was in the works; I'll revise and repost the document tonight with footers, page numbers, thinner lines, smaller indents, and other changes.

8.) you might consider a bit more space under each of the subject lines.

OK

Thanks!

 

[Cergorach]

On the first page? It's because of the text box/3rd column.

I personally find it distracting that the two main columns aren't the smae width, i could be the only one on the planet who feels that way though... Anyone have some research material on how readers look at this?

I don't follow. I'm required (blech) to put it on the front or back cover, or title page, and in 10 pnt font. I could create a "back cover", but it seems like a waste of good paper. Ditto with an actual cover. I'm looking for a "print n' go" sort of thing, where you can just print out the whole document without hassling over which pages to exclude (except the license page).

Then put it on the back cover. In this case the back cover will be the lisence page, a page most users won't print anyway ;-)
It's current position looks pretty horrible, not your fault, it's just the requirements...

 

[Flyspeck23]

We are?

Yes, because this should be the "Support Group" thread, not the "Need help with layout" thread.

You mean put all the info in a block at the bottom of the page, instead of the side or top?

Yes.

You mean the indents? I'll move them in.

Yes again.

I'm not sure I follow, or if I do, that there's anything I can do about it. MS Word claims to place all text on a "baseline"; variations from that baseline create subscript or superscript. I can look and see if I can get the lines in two parallel columns to line up, but I'm not sure if I can.

Oh, that's your layout prog. Ok, here's another advice: get a real one, because Word isn't for layout. Honestly, you can't do a professional layout (whatever that is...) with it.

 

[Cergorach]

Oh, that's your layout prog. Ok, here's another advice: get a real one, because Word isn't for layout. Honestly, you can't do a professional layout (whatever that is...) with it.

Needed reading material: "How not to sound like a condecending layout artist" by J.B. Hubrish ;-)

 

[Nellisir]

I'm going to bundle a few replies together here...

I personally find it distracting that the two main columns aren't the smae width...

OK, now that i think about it, I can fix that.

re: "requires the use..."

Then put it on the back cover. In this case the back cover will be the lisence page, a page most users won't print anyway ;-)
It's current position looks pretty horrible, not your fault, it's just the requirements...

Hrm. I need to think about this one. I don't like how it is right now, but is the license page really a "back cover"? Is the last page of a pdf always the "back cover"? (and is the first page the front cover?) How many hairs can I ethically split from the d20 license?

Yes, because this should be the "Support Group" thread, not the "Need help with layout" thread.

Alright, I'll post the next version in its own thread.

Oh, that's your layout prog. Ok, here's another advice: get a real one, because Word isn't for layout. Honestly, you can't do a professional layout (whatever that is...) with it.

Well, I guess I'm stuck with an amateur layout then. For the cost of buying a program (and there seems to be some debate on these boards as to which is the best), PLUS the cost of learning how to use it, I'd be better off just hiring a professional layout artist. It's just not reasonable for something on this scale.

Thanks
Nell.

 

[Flyspeck23]

Needed reading material: "How not to sound like a condecending layout artist" by J.B. Hubrish ;-)

No, doesn't need, because...
a) I'm not an artist. I consider layout a craft
b) that's exactly what I mean with "whatever that means".
c) does the program make the layout person, or vice versa?

Honestly, I didn't want to sound like a jerk. Sorry if I did.

Well, I guess I'm stuck with an amateur layout then. For the cost of buying a program (and there seems to be some debate on these boards as to which is the best), PLUS the cost of learning how to use it, I'd be better off just hiring a professional layout artist. It's just not reasonable for something on this scale.

No, you're not... get Linux, for instance. There are fine free layout progs for this OS. But really, a decent layout software is a must-have in my book. Use eBay or similar for older (but still useful) programs.
On the "cost of learning": well, there's a difference between making handouts for your gaming group and publishing roleplaying material... (am I being a jerk again?)


So, once again, back on topic... I think I'll start with some brain-storming... one moment...

 

[Flyspeck23]

First, we'd need to define the goals of the support group.
Second, who should take part?
Third, how much of our discussion will be "open"?
Fourth, how to approach other publishers?
Fifth, do we need a "code of conduct" or somesuch?

Thoughts? Comments?

 

[Dimwhit]

Hi all,

Great thoughts on all this. The few posts above are the very kinds of items I thought would work well in a private forum. Some items couldn't be posted publicly like the one above.

And Hellhound, I totally understand about the time. But like I said, you can take a much or as little time as you want. You can just browse the forum when you're here. If there is a quick question you can answer, great. If you want to get a little feedback on something, you have a place to post. Otherwise, you can just chiime in every now and then like you just did. Remember, there is not commitment for time at all.

So it looks like there are several of us already posting in this thread who could use the new forum. I guess we just have to decide who we do (or perhaps more easily who we don't) allow access.

Do you think we need to have an agreement posted in the forum for everyone with access? Just a simple confidentiality things or something? (I promise not to distribute anything posted here, and not to discuss it outside of the forum, yadda yadda.) Just in case.

Anything else we need to discuss, or should I ask Morrus to set up a private forum now?

 

[Fast Learner]

Word doesn't support baseline grids (they're only available in hiigher-end products). I wouldn't sweat it... while it is indeed nice to use a baseline grid, it's quite a lot of work to do it by "hand" in Word and isn't worth that much effort.

(PS: The baseline is the imaginary base line that the letters all "sit" on, with descenders of the letters (like on y and g) hanging down. A baseline grid is and imaginary grid that the baselines of every item of text on the page all sit on. As a result the baselines of one column will be the same as those of another column, so you could draw a straight line from the bottom of the words in one column to those of another, across the entire page. It provides for a certain visual "neatness" but isn't at essential in an amateur publication in my opinion.)

 

[Cergorach]

Dimwhit i would say go for it!