Category Archives: Readability

Column width: the key to comfortable reading

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Be very careful with your column choices—especially in books. (It’s the main reason blogs and ebooks are so hard to read.) Your focus must be easy, comfortable readability. Generally, the asymmetrical (off-center) layouts with wide margins are good. Of course, you can go crazy and make things totally illegible. Modern style tends to be chaotic, splashy, and overly complex. But your innate taste and discretion should keep these tendencies in check. The problem, of course, is that taste … Continue reading →

Godly Leadership & Power: I & II Timothy

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Godly Leadership & Power: I & II Timothy This is the first version of the newest release in the Easily UnderStanding Scripture series. Here’s the blurb: In-line Verse By Verse Bible Study This is a verse by verse bible study you can read! The scriptures are there followed immediately by the commentary. It is designed for enjoyable reading and easy study. Only the reading and study of the Bible can provide you with the solid foundation you … Continue reading →

ePUB design without the coding

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This is another section of the new book. I would love to hear your comments. I consider this a ropugh draft. I will be adjusted and editied for the final book. But what i have here is the state of knowledge as I have it today. ePUB Design For The New Publisher Formatting your ePUB without coding I need to let you know of my assumptions here. This is a book for ministers. The focus is on … Continue reading →

Basic formatting tips

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This is the rough draft of a third portion of “The New Publisher” which will be a guide to ministers, ministries, and non-profits who need to get their vision out to their people. This new paradigm of the 21st century radically changes things. It gives us an opportunity we should not pass up. Formatting basics Designing your paragraphs We need to talk a bit about setting up your paragraphs. Again most of this knowledge is assumed by … Continue reading →

Ministering to the illiterate

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O, yes we are! Here’s some reality orientation for those of you, like me, who write and teach as a major part of your ministry for the Lord. I’ll let the stats speak for themselves. We really need to design easy to read, comfortable to read typography. We need to give our readers all the help we can. Thankfully, InDesign now takes care of most of that for us with only a few simple decisions required on … Continue reading →

Readability Research #3: The Science of Typography by Ellen Lupton

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Typotheque: The Science of Typography by Ellen Lupton. She is one of the teachers considered the best. There’s some good information here. But the bottom line is “I’m not going to tell you what I believe.”  

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Why ebooks need typography

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What is typography? A good functional definition is very sweet and simple: Typography is the art & craft of making words easy and comfortable to read Some of this has to do with font choices: But ebooks (other than PDF) do not presently allow embedded fonts Some has to do with leading and point size: but ebooks give few controls here, and the readers can butcher that at will A lot has to do with column width: … Continue reading →

Web 2 Digital Bible: Glo from Zondervan

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I ran across this in my Christian professionals group at Linked In this morning. It is a visually exciting presentation to be sure. My only question is: Can it really be used? I saw no place to add notes, new crossreferences or any of the other things necessary for a real study bible. I’ve included a scan of one of the pages in one of my bibles to show you what I mean. It may be that … Continue reading →

A List Apart: Articles: Reading Design

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A List Apart: Articles: Reading Design. I read this last night. It’s an excellent article on the importance of the content and its presentation. Of course, I like it because I agree with it. But you should find it an entertaining and thought provoking read also. Among other things, Dean discusses the pressures to focus on the design without ever reading the copy. Don’t do that. Read the article.

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