Todd wrote:
> I'm getting close to wrapping up the platytest version of the Third Kingdom
and want to get it
> printed through Lulu. I vaguely remember reading something on their site
about using 12
> point font, yet when I print something out at home in 12 point it seems huge.
Does anybody
> have any experience or suggestions about which font size to use for standard
text (I'm just
> using Times New Roman)?

Very long ago, I read in the manual to an Amiga DTP program, called
Professional Page, that one should choose a combination of font size and
column width such that between 1.5 and 2 "alphabets" can fit on a line,
with the alphabet, a sequence of all the letters in the (English)
alphabet each occuring only once, being chosen because you then get a
combination of letter-widths which is comparable to that in ordinary
(English) text.

In my own layout experiments, I've found that 2 alphabets results in
slightly too short lines, relative to my preferences, so I go for
somewhat more. Perhaps 2.5 alhabets per line, although I'm not sure,
since those experiments were years ago (I think they can still be seen
on the Stat Help document in the Files section of the FFRE-Discussion
mailing list).

(To test different font sizes and column widths, I simply write out an
alphabet, abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz, and then colour the "a" red, then
copy that sequence several times, so that I can see whether it is
roughtly 1 2/3, 2, 2 1/3, 2 2/3, 3 or 3 1/3 alphabets that can fit per
line.)


In my recent documents, I've opted for a landscape layout, with the
paper lying down so that it is wider than it is tall. Also I use
European standard format A4 paper, rather than one of the USAn formats,
but as far as I know this causes few problems either way, since A4
matches one of the common USAn formats relatively well. Also, I go for 3
columns, with font size 9 for the Sagatafl Magic Items documents and
font size 10 for the Modern Action RPG documents. Always my font of
choice is Goudy Old Style.

There's one more twist. I give the "bread text" a generous margin, but
then I let the tables go out and utilize that extra width, so that the
space between actual layout columns is only something like 4
millimetres, but all non-table text is given a further left-indentation
and right-indentation of... well, I don't remember but perhaps 7 or 8 mm
on each side. This gives a fairly airy look while still letting me cram
a lot of information into the tables. Also in the Modern Action RPG
document I use a table font size of 9.5, to be able to cram in a little
extra.

Originally the Magic Items document used a size 8 font (still Goudy Old
Style), but I was then keenly aware that it was a draft-style document,
since size 8, at least with Goudy Old Style, is not particularly easy to
read for most people. I myself can read it, in printout, if given plenty
of light, but it isn't good. Some time ago I re-formatted the entire
document, switching from "portrait" to "landscape" layout, and from 2
columns to 3 columns, and a larger font size. The last change, to
indentate non-table text while reducing true column spacing, was IIRC
made at a later time, when I switched back from Open Office/Writer and
to using MS Word, and at that same occasion manually re-typed all the
tables in order to make the document faster to work with (it had become
very slow to scroll, from having spent some time as an Open Office
document, but fortunatley the re-typing helped a lot).


When I write fiction, I go for a font size of 12 (still Goudy Old Style)
and 2 columns in landscape format, with fairly generous margins and
column spacing to allow for handwritten notes (I even include line
numbers). Klaus read a draft of one of my stories in early or mid 2005,
so he might be able to comment on my choice of layout, although the most
likely outcome is that he isn't able to remember anything about the
layout at all, which means it did what it was supposed to do: not call
attention to itself.


One thing to keep in mind is whether you intend your texts to be read
on-screen or in printout. When I edit the Modern Action RPG rulebook
draft, I don't use WYSIWYG display any more. I did that originally, but
I've found it to not be all that productive, in part because I have to
crank my screen's display resolution up to 1600x1200 pixels, instead of
nice and flicker-free 85 hz 1152x864.

I sometimes do full-page-view editing of the Sagatafl Magic Items
document, because I have this idea that sometimes pieces of information
should be on the same page, for easy reference (this is because the
Magic Items document is still much more a reference text than a rule
book-like text), and so I need to switch text blocks and tables around
to achieve this.

I haven't done a lot of experimentation with on-screen reading, but I'd
guess that the Modern Action RPG rulebook draft, with its size 10 font,
is actually readable on-screen displaying one full page at a time,
although it won't be pleasant, whereas the Magic Items doc with the size
9 font is not; either zoom in or print it out.

Once I'm done with the MA RPG rulebook, I expect to create a couple of
different versions, one for printing out and one for on-screen reading,
with the on-screen version probably having only 2 columns and a bigger
font. Largest challenge will be finding a quick and easy way to modify
the layout, since I'll probably need to create on-screen layout versions
fairly often, given my tendency to revise and rewrite.

--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org