Use plain language

A prime factor in ease of reading is use of plain language – what I call “verbal essence.” The Federal Government has a Plain Language web site. It not only aims at federal employees, but has plain writing tips for the private sector too.

“Writing today is not a frill for the few, but an essential skill for the many.”

The National Commission on Writing in America’s Schools and Colleges adds its voice to the challenge in “The Neglected ‘R’: The Need for a Writing Revolution” (PDF format). “Writing, education’s second ‘R,’ has become the neglected element of school reform” the commission report says.

Whether you are a church web developer, communications committee person, or member of the church staff, you need to know how to write clearly and simply.

Key points

• Identify your readers – all of them.
• Know your readers! Understand what they need, how they read, and then fulfill their needs.
• Pretentious language wastes time.
• Complex language has hidden costs. People may not know what you are trying to say.
• Keep it simple!
• Use the right words.
• Avoid "hidden" verbs.

Resources

• Plain language at a glance
• Checklist of plain language elements
  [Extra checklist items for web-based docs and web pages]
• Quick tips
• Writing tips
• Editorial Style Manual
• Writing reader-friendly documents
• Exercises in plain writing [answers]

Newsletter, bulletin design tips

Once the exclusive domain of books, you can now find tips on design of newsletters and bulletins on the Web. Here are some tips and related sources:

• AVOID ALL CAPITALS. It's old typewriter and teletype habits and now considered "shouting". Plus all caps slow down reading speed.
• Avoid blocks of bolded text. They slow down reading speed.
• Use only single spaces between sentences. Two spaces is an old, typewriter-based habit. We use proportional fonts these days, unlike the typewriter.
• Use true dashes, not hyphens.
• Reserve underlines for hyperlinks. Don't underline headlines, subheads, or publication titles.
• Place quote marks correctly.
• Use serif fonts for text, sans serif for headlines and subheads. Serif fonts are easier to read in blocks of text. Using sans serif for headlines and subheads helps visually separate them from text elements on a page. It makes the page easier to scan.
• Use proper line spacing. Don't just add empty paragraphs – extra presses of the Enter key.
• Avoid rivers of white. Make effective use of white space. Look at your design critically – what's critical and what's really just "noise"? Remove the noise.

Steps to newsletter success

Author Roger Parker lists 12 steps to newsletter success. Here are a few:

• Be consistent – in frequency, number of pages, ...
• Choose a distinctive nameplate (also called a "flag" – the part that has the publication title).
• Choose effective columns and margins layout. Make effective use of white space. Don't try to fill every inch of every column.
• Make headlines and subheads easy to find and easy to read.
• Use subheads to break up "gray" blocks of text.
• Make body copy as easy to read as possible. (choose a good font, use adequate font sizes, use ragged right text, ...)
• Use good grammar and punctuation.
• Use photo captions.
• Be restrained in any use of color.
• Check "the details" of your newsletter – Avoid widows and orphans in lines and subheads; use non-breaking spaces to keep first and last names (and similar) together. In MS Word, that's Shift+Alt+spacebar.
• Keep the design simple. Create a newsletter template, then use it! In the template, create "styles" for a few levels headlines plus subheads, body text, etc.

Church website design checklist

"Does your church's website communicate to outsiders as well as to the members?" asks a new web resource. A church site is the congregation's 'shop window' to its community. To fulfill this function well, it must be enticing, people-centered and easily understood by outsiders.

Because many churches are unsure how to achieve this vital mix, the folks at Gospeccom have developed a Church Site Design Checklist that you fill out online and immediately see the score.

This helpful tool is a product of the Internet Evangelism Day team.

The Internet Evangelism Day ('IE Day') website also explains other types of online evangelism, such as outreach sites, video clips, blogging and podcasts. There is even a free 'conversation starter' screen-saver to download.

Cokesbury updates web

The Cokesbury web site may have changed a bit since you or your church Education Coordinator (or similar) visited it last. Check out these links, mentioned in their recent Christian Education Showcase email message:

• Children's Engaging Center
• Youth Empowering Center
• Adult Enriching Center
• Teacher Training and Helps

Common desktop publishing mistakes

A good place for church communications people to start in a review of church publications is the key mistakes many make in desktop publishing:

• Gray pages
  (Caused by too much text, crowded line spacing, crowded headlines, or margins crammed to the edge)
• Poor use of white space on pages
• Long or very short lines of type
• Narrow columns of justified type
• Inappropriate, distracting borders
• Overuse of reverse text, screens, borders, or rules
• Wrong punctuation (quotes, hyphens, and spaces)
• Widowed or orphaned text or subheads
• Colored text

These points come from Roger C. Parker, author of several desktop publishing books, including “One Minute Designer,” and NewEntrepeneur.com. He has several web pages of points and even checklists related to design of publications.

Read more in Roger’s “Desktop publishing’s twelve most common mistakes. His Pre-Flight Checklist is a handy reminder of the many aspects of publications that you should consider. Print it out and use it to check your Worship Bulletin and your church newsletter.

Avoid being ugly

Rick Altman says that the aim of the average person doing design (such as newsletters, bulletins, flyers, or graphics) should be the "absence of ugliness."

While that at first may seem harsh, he's pointing out that it's not realistic for average people to assume that they can become a professional designer in their spare time. Instead, he asserts, they should adopt simple techniques that will help them stay away from making ugly creations.

This also dovetails with a maxim of web site design – it's better to have no web site than to have an ugly one. Looks does count to visitors! Ugly stops them cold in their tracks.

Of course, content matters, so even if the product is not ugly, the text has to keep people reading.

Tiny fonts need alias

The smoothing out of fonts, called anti-aliasing, makes them look better on screen. But anti-aliasing turns out to be a bad thing at very small font sizes.

Fonts in the 8 point and under range look better "aliased". But merely turning off anti-aliasing for a font doesn't do the trick. You actually need special fonts created for use at what I call "squint print" size.

A recent "Design View" newsletter article from Sitepoint, "Tiny Typefaces - Five Fine, Free Fonts," gives examples and more details. (You can subscribe and get their newsletters by email or just periodically check out their web site.)

Googlers may want to search for "free tiny font." For the squintiest of "squint print", try the diminutive 4pt "Tiny" font at a very punny site, "I Shot the Serif". Hmm ... I hope lawyers -- those purveyors of fine print -- don't read this blog.

Another choice, especially for display of code, is one of the Proggy fonts, designed by and for coders.

Church bulletin design goals

When considering the design (or more likely redesign) of a church worship bulletin, we need to keep several goals in mind. These goals are the basis for specific objectives that will make a worship bulletin more “welcoming” to members and visitors alike.

• Design Goal 1: Make items easily to find fast
• Design Goal 2. Make text an easy read
• Design Goal 3. Make it easy for people to speak in unison during unison readings
• Design Goal 4. Make the electronic version "modern", not "old style"
• Design Goal 5. Eliminate distracting elements

Use established principles and techniques to accomplish the objectives. Most publishing industry principles and methods apply directly (or with slight adjustment) to church publications.

In the coming weeks, we'll address each of the above goals.

Blog Design tips

People are often wary about starting "something completely different", as Monty Python's saying went. That's also true when it comes to new technologies and new uses of technology. While blogs caught on monumentally, many are still in the dark about what they are, how much work it takes to start one, and so on.

The best bet is to start simple. I started with Google's Blogger because of Google's reputation for clean and easy to use interfaces. I have not been disappointed. The new Blogger (now out of beta) is no exception. They have made the drag and drop layout interface very easy to use.

Another aspect of blogs is their design. Free templates for your favorite blogging service, such as Blogger, are readily available online. Of course, each blog service usually provides a small variety of decent ones to start with (like this one from Blogger).

But beyond that, it's a good idea to seek tips on both design. So I did a – yep, you guessed it – Google Search for blog design tips, which yielded a ton of potential jewels.