CONTENTS FEATURE: Format text properly for your layout designer SPOTLIGHT: EditPros clients in the news NET NOTES: Captivating web sites FEATURE: Format text smooth as frozen custard for your layout designer      Anyone who has ever savored flavored frozen custard "concrete" knows that regardless of its fruit flavor, this warm-weather confection begins as plain vanilla. The customer's choice of flavor is blended in only at the moment of purchase.      Brochures, posters and other printed materials should likewise begin with plain text. Not plain in the sense of the expressiveness of the writing, but rather, in the formatting of the electronic text file.      As word processing applications have become more elaborate and laden with options, they've tempted writers to embellish their text documents with decorative fonts, illustrations, color blocks, multiple columns and other doodads. That's fine for a document intended to be printed only on an inkjet or laser printer for limited distribution. But a different approach is required for text that will be imported into page layout software to produce prepress materials for commercial printing.      Create a clean text file, then step aside; leave typography and development of design elements to the graphic designer. Although designers usually don't pack X-acto knives anymore, a disaffected layout artist who knows where you park your car needs no more than fingernails to release the air from your tires' valve stems. Unlikely as that is, why not help the graphic designer work more efficiently and create a finished product less subject to complications? Here's what you can do. Eliminate double-spacing between sentences.      Drop the old typewriter habit of double-spacing between sentences. That enhanced readability with "monospaced" typewriter characters, but is discouraged as amateurish by typographic standards. Rule of thumb: single-space after all punctuation. Use double line spacing.      In your word processor's "format paragraph" dialog box, set "line spacing" to "double." For 12-point type, that will result in 24-point leading between lines, enabling your editor to insert comments and indicate revisions on your printouts. (You ARE using an editor to review your writing, aren't you?) Align all text flush left.      Disable your word processor's "justification" feature, which aligns all text to the full column width. Justified type disguises inadvertent double-spacing between sentences or even between words. Set alignment to "left." The text alignment control is likely found in the "format paragraph" section of your word processing software. Format paragraph indents.      Unless your designer tells you otherwise, don't use the tab key or your spacebar to indent the first line of a paragraph. Use the "format paragraph" feature in your word processor to set a "first-line" indent. Tip: You also can use that feature to create "hanging      indents," as in this paragraph. A hanging indent      is useful for creating lists, such as definitions      in a glossary. Apply styles to text.      Use your word processor's powerful and time-saving "format style" feature to define styles for paragraphs. But to take advantage of that feature, carefully coordinate style naming choices with your designer. A "style definition" can specify type face, font and size, paragraph alignment, leading (line spacing), location of tab stops and other parameters.      Once you define a style for "body text," for example, you can apply it uniformly to text throughout your document. If you wish, use the text alignment control to center some text, such as titles, headlines and subheads, for clarification, and then give them appropriate style names. And if you wish to change some aspect of the style, such as font choice, all of the text in the document set in that style will change accordingly. Try using styles. They'll vastly increase your document formatting efficiency.      The best benefit of all is that page layout software applications can import styles from word-processing documents. So text styled as "caption" in your word processing document will retain that style in your designer's page layout program. Style names are case-sensitive; software will interpret "Body Text" and "Body text" as two different styles. Particularly when your designer will be working with text from another writer besides you, comply with the designer's preferences for style names.      Just before you submit your final text to the designer, perform a "housecleaning" function: delete the names of all unused styles. Doing so will help avoid potential confusion and needless clutter in the style template of the page layout document. Kick out footnotes.      If you must annotate statements, use endnotes instead of footnotes. Just because a footnote appears at the bottom of the appropriate page in your document doesn't mean that it will be positioned accordingly in the page layout, as a result of design considerations or other factors. Instead, use end notes, which appear, of course, at the end of the document. Don't simulate page layout.      Leave page design to the graphic designer. Resist the urge to place text in boxes, to use "drop caps," to apply color tints, or to wrap body text around large-type "pull quotes." If you do, you're invading the designer's turf and needlessly using your own valuable time.      Keep your manuscript pages unadorned. Here's where styles really help. Rely on styles you apply to your text to convey your intentions to the designer for example, designate a pull quote by applying a style with that name.      If you wish, add notes to your designer through an agreed-upon system, such as within brackets, like this: [DESIGNER: Please run the following pull quote below the photo of the couple who won the vacation trip to Winnemucca.]      Make sure, however, that such notes don't inadvertently appear in the page layout itself. Carefully proofread the layouts to verify that text appears in the proper sequence, in its entirety, and that no errors were introduced during the layout process. Use Real Bullets.      For bulleted or numerical lists, type actual bullets or numerals rather than using the automated list functions in your word processing software. That's because such formatting may not be properly interpreted by a page layout program. To achieve consistent alignment, use a tab (rather than using the spacebar) to separate the bullet from the item. For a bullet on a Macintosh computer, type "option 8" (without the quotation marks. On a PC running Microsoft Windows, type "alt 0149" (using the numeric keypad). "Italicized" type or real italics? Most word processor users are accustomed to creating italics or bold type by simply applying that formatting to their characters. But "italicized" Times Roman is only a simulation of actual Times Roman Italic. Once again, that may create problems for page layout software. Your designer may globally search and replace your "italicized" and "bolded" type with the genuine article, but check with him or her to make sure that your formatting will pass through properly. Don't embed graphs or illustrations.      Submit graphs, charts, photos and other illustrative material as separate files. Do not embed them in your word processing document. The designer may not be able to extract them for proper reproduction. Simply use a "call-out" within brackets to indicate the intended placement of illustrative material for example: [Insert Figure 2 here]. Treat photos with care.      If you're submitting a print of a photo or other illustrative material, handle it with care. Do not use a paper clip or staple to attach it to your text pages. Just keep your materials together in a large envelope.      Do not write on the back of a photo; ink may bleed through, and the hard tip of a ball-point pen can cause damage by creasing the image. Instead, write identification notes on a label before you remove the label backing; then affix the label to the back of the photo. Or type caption material in a note on your word processor; then print that note, trim it to size, and tape it to the back of the photo.      Be sure to include the name of the photographer, and make sure you have secured written permission to reproduce the photo if the copyright does not belong to you. Rich text?      Some designers whose page layout software lacks the filter for your word processor's "native" format may ask you to convert your document to another format, such as "Rich Text Format" (indicated by the ".rtf" file name extension), which strips away all but the most elementary formatting (preserving only bold or italics formatting). Your designer may even require plain (ASCII or ANSI) text (ordinarily indicated by a ".txt" extension), which is devoid of all text formatting. You can convert your document to either format using your word processing application's "save as" command. Check to find out your designer's preferences.      Once you've submitted your plain text, your designer will be able to apply some concrete design principles. Now as for that frozen custard, how about a Dutch apple and caramel concrete? Reminder: EditPros can edit your text for proper grammar, logical development and organization, as well as to help prepare your text files for printed publication. SPOTLIGHT: EditPros clients in the news California Chamber of Commerce publishes kit to help employers control rising workers' compensation costs      Employee injuries are troublesome not only for workers but also for their employers, who are subject to the burdensome regulations of numerous government agencies. To help employers with the many complex forms they need to complete and records they need to maintain, the California Chamber of Commerce has created a new product called "Workers' Comp Cost Control: What To Do When There's An Injury." Consisting of an informative booklet and a records storage system, the kit helps employers stay organized, comply with the law, and control workers' compensation costs in the event of the injury or illness of an employee.      The kit describes the responsibilities of employers in the context of 10 "Action Steps." The steps are described in detail in a well-researched, up-to-date resource booklet that EditPros helped to produce. Compliance with the action steps can help contain an employer's workers' comp costs.      The Workers' Comp Cost Control kit includes: ALL required forms, accompanied by completed samples; Instructions on creating and implementing an effective workers' comp cost control program; A handy storage system to keep all blank forms and completed injury records in one spot for easy access and quick reference.      The California Chamber of Commerce, based in Sacramento, represents the interests of employers throughout the state and is the publisher of a large catalog of authoritative handbooks, video productions and software that help companies comply with California laws governing employee rights and benefits.      The Workers' Comp Cost Control kit is available for $49. For more information about the Workers' Comp Cost Control kit and other California Chamber of Commerce products for business owners, managers and human resources personnel, visit the Chamber's Web site or call (800) 331-8877. Net Notes: Captivating Internet resources Associations on the Net http://www.ipl.org/ref/AON/      The Internet Public Library's directory of Associations on the Net is an index of the Web sites of more than 2,000 professional and trade associations, cultural and art organizations, political parties, advocacy groups, labor unions, academic societies, and research institutions. The Internet Public Library is a public service of the University of Michigan School of Information, Ann Arbor, Mich. www.foodsafety.gov http://www.foodsafety.gov/      Described as the "gateway to government food safety information," this site offers authoritative consumer advice and information about foodborne pathogens, food safety programs, safety alerts, industry programs, irradiation, food allergies and other topics. The site is maintained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping http://oddens.geog.uu.nl/index.html      If you have an appreciation for maps, you'll love this site, which contains more than 17,000 links to cartographic resources, including historical maps, from libraries, academic departments, government agencies and other sources of map collections. Site maintained by the Department of Geographical Sciences at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. 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