Re: Grave questions

Subject: Re: Grave questions
From: Philomena Hoopes <PHILA -at- MAIL -dot- VIPS -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1999 14:12:48 -0500

Have you inquired about a style sheet?

If none is available, you might consider producing one yourself. This would
put you in a position to offer your contractual services as a necropolitan
editor, generating a handy pre-mortem income which could be applied to
gravestone production and maintenance expenses after your demise.

Morituri te salutamus! ;-)

Philomena Hoopes
Phila -at- vips -dot- com <mailto:Phila -at- vips -dot- com>
VIPS Healthcare Information Solutions, Inc.
(410) 832-8330 ext 845


-----Original Message-----
From: Meek, DavidX L [mailto:davidx -dot- l -dot- meek -at- INTEL -dot- COM]
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 1999 11:06 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Grave questions

Well, I finally did it. The experts tell us to pre-plan our
burial
arrangements so as not to burden our loved ones when we pass
away. I have
now purchased my plot and headstone; that dreadful task is
now completed.
With one exception: the headstone itself.

I'm speaking specifically in terms of font (types and sizes)
and
presentation. I'm assuming my final marker will be more of
a reference than
a user's guide. I cannot, however, assume my potential
audience will be
skilled users. In fact, it seems likely that about half
will be novices.
Therein lies my dilemma.

With skilled users, I could easily resort to the following:

David L. Meek (This line in Arial Bold, 74 point)

Born: May 3, 1960 Died: (TBD) (This line and the
rest in Times New
Roman, 37 point)
* Son
* Brother
* Uncle
* Technical Writer
(Note the use of bullets.)

But important questions arise with this approach. If my
users are novices,
will they understand that the data below my name is
associated with me? I
think my format implies as much, but I'm uncertain.

Many other questions remain. In terms of format, should I
use the bulleted
style above? Keep in mind I am under some space
restrictions, and the text
will literally be set in stone once it's approved. Perhaps
I should try the
following:

Born: May 3, 1960 Died: (TBD)
Son; Brother; Uncle; Technical Writer

Although this approach saves precious marble space, several
things bother me
about it. Should I end the final line with or without a
period? Should I
separate the items, all of which are equally important, with
semi-colons as
shown, or with commas, colons, en-dashes or em-dashes? And
how many spaces
between each punctuation mark and succeeding item? I'm also
concerned my
audience might confuse my birth month, May, with Can, and
thus erroneously
conclude that I am (or was) Canadian. Of course, I could
look up this
information in any sixth-grade grammar book, but I'd prefer
to know how
others feel about it.

Maybe novices would be better served with the data chunked
in tabular form
(vis-a-vis Information Mapping). For example:

Born: May 3, 1960 Died: (TBD)
Son Brother
Uncle Technical Writer

All help on this will be greatly appreciated. I'd like to
get responses
ASAP, because the SME in charge of the "Died" date has not
responded to my
many pleadings for information (and I've tried everything
from Ouija boards
to tarrot cards). The deadline, as you can see, is unknown,
and I'd really
like to have everything ready on time.

Thanks in advance, and have a good April 1st,
Dave
(Any statements made above are mine, and mine alone.)



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