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.