Spartan typography

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

 Beth Agnew remarked <<The manual I reviewed yesterday had
 11 type styles on one 9 x 6" page! And this HELPS the user?
 I think not.>>

 On the "face" of it (sorry), I'd tend to agree, but I'd
 want to see the specific example before condemning  it out
 of hand. As I noted earlier, the design can still be
 effective despite the use of many fonts. OTOH:

 <<I've stopped doing it. The "Conventions Used in this
 Manual" section of our user guides is GONE. Instead, I use
 more white space (leading and indentation). I still use a
 sans serif type face for headings, and a serif type face
 for body text. Italics and bold are used *sparingly* for
 emphasis. I use rules (that's "lines" for the
 typographically-challenged), callouts and boxes where
 appropriate.>>

 Bravo! I dub thee "information designer laureate"! No, I'm
 not being snide or patronizing... Without having seen the
 specific implementation, I think you've got the design
 principles exactly right, and you should put together a
 "before and after" article for something like _Technical
 Communication_ or (more probably) _Intercom_ to show the
 design principles and how you applied them. Pat yourself on
 the back in the meantime, in the absence of grateful
 readers who are present to do it for you.

 --Geoff Hart     @8^{)}     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
 Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

	http://www.documentation.com/, or http://www.dejanews.com/