Stylistically speaking

A conversation in the newsroom got me thinking about AP style. There are certain rules within AP style (advisers with an e, comes to mind), that when read by the general populace (who are not, for the most part, versed in AP style) seem like errors. This same argument could be made for using 'proper English' versus using slang and what you hear on the street every day (healthy vs. healthful comes to mind here).

I'm not suggesting at all that we not follow AP style or proper usage (that would be beyond crazy). I just thought it might be interesting to have a discussion about what elements of AP style could be viewed as errors to readers, or what aspects of AP style seem like errors to editors (if there are any).

Anyone?

--Kristy

Bad breaks

I noticed in today's Journal (County budget lowers taxes, 1A, second graph) that "homeowners" hyphenated after "hom," instead of after "home," creating "hom-eowners." Blech. This is a common word for a bad break, but we've all seen others.

Is there a way to get InDesign to not hyphenate words incorrectly? I know we can choose to hyphenate or not hyphenate paragraphs, but I'm not sure about flagging individual words. Anyone know?

Mystique

More on fading photos

There have been some questions about which tools you should use in PhotoShop to "fade" a photo. Use the image here to find the gradient tool (1). Make sure the color white is the foreground color (2) and if you have the gradient setting above (3) set to white to transparent (checkered boxes), you're set.

Do you CQ?

One step that seems to help with accuracy in our newspapers is the practice of CQing proper names and figures in notes format at the top of every story. This seems to be an automatic habit for some reporters but not others. Maybe some papers require it but others do not? If you don't CQ, why not? When a reporter CQs a story, it gives copy editors confidence that proper names are spelled correctly and that figures are accurate. If, as sometimes happens, there are spelling discrepancies within the story, it helps to be able to verify the proper spelling with the CQ notes.

Editors, if a story is not CQ'd by the reporter, is the copy editor expected to make a point to CQ each name? I don't mind double-checking spellings if I have doubts, but I imagine reporters often have a better set of resources than I have -- perhaps some inside information or at least greater familiarity with the source. I am likely to check our archives and to use Google. Unfortunately, the archives are imperfect, and some of the Web sites I find might be outdated.

I appreciate that we all are striving for accuracy, but is there more we can do to help one another?

~ Elizabeth

Cut to fit

Mark Baldwin's blog and a reporter's response brought up the topic of how aggressively we edit stories, and the primary purpose of "tightening."

I don't have all the answers, but I have a question for the copy desk: If a reporter and assignment editor want to run a longer than usual story on the front page, say in the 400-word range, what can they do to ensure it isn't chopped substantially by the time it sees print? And what can they do to make sure it looks good, not like a big gray blob?

I'm looking for good, practical advice here ... constructive stuff.

Gold stars

Sometimes, in the rush to correct errors, prevent problems and improve content, workflow and the look of the paper, we get bogged down in what's WRONG in the paper every day. Pointing out weak points and errors are a vital part of improving our work, but we also need to hear about the good things being done by the desk, and there are a lot of them.

Here's just a few things:

*Liz spent a good 20 minutes Thursday night chasing down corrections for an obit in Marshfield. This included talking to the editor, the person who put the obit in the system and the funeral home (twice!).

*Benton's been getting props from all over for his cutout work on 1A refers.

*Andrew keeps us abreast of what's going on in the world and makes sure we always have an eye on what's live including Olympics (I think we saw every one of Phelps' races), convention coverage, Packers games and Bush's speech last night. He also moves effortlessly between news and sports, keeping the two departments on course with each other.

These are just a few examples of the good things being done by the desk each night. If you see something in the paper that you love (as well as any problems) don't hesitate to let someone on the desk know. I'm going to try to do a periodic 'gold stars' post, so if you're aware of something great, just let me know.

Keep up the good work, folks!

--Kristy

Skybox help

Many thanks to the A1 designers who have been following the latest mandate about using cutouts in skyboxes. I think that, on the whole, the pages have had more punch recently. I've spoken to Kerry, Benton and Kristie about "fading" cutouts and have seen them use the technique very nicely. If you would like a refresher on this process, see me.

With this change in skybox strategy, I've also been asked about providing a few more "hammer" style headings that could be used. In the interest of expanding your page design arsenal, I've assembled a few skybox designs, with various heading styles, in an InDesign file titled Skybox08.indd that you'll find under Graphics/Daily Graphics/SKYBOX ITEMS. Feel free to copy this file to your desktop to take apart and use as you wish.

Another good place to find some out of the ordinary typography is in the Old rail items folder that is in the same SKYBOX ITEMS folder. Feel free to borrow designs and type from these InDesign files as well.

Keep up the good skybox work.

— Brian