Column widths and such

From Mark T.

I've noticed some funky-looking column widths lately, including on Pages 1A and 3A of today's WDH.

For the most part, we should stick to a standard column width. The shoulder story on 1A was too wide, in my opinion.

Also, a couple of the wire business stories were cut down to briefs, which is OK, of course, but they had full bylines on them. That looked odd. In that case we should just use "The Associated Press" byline title with no reporter byline name.

Thoughts?

Hey, D.C. Everest Area

Folks, I've noticed a disparity in how we define the DCE area. Here's a quick rundown on style for the district:

• D.C. Everest Area School District - official name includes "Area"
• D.C. Everest Senior High School - official name includes "Senior"
• D.C. Everest Junior High School
• D.C. Everest Middle School

For more, go to the District's Web site at: www.dce.k12.wi.us

Thanks!

Sirena

Kerning

A quick reminder to everyone that stories should be kerned between 0 and -50. We're generally pretty good about staying within these parameters, but extra care should be taken to stay within these values when handling SPJ pages.

Why? The Point press prints with less ink bleed, meaning the letters that make up a story look thinner/less bold on the SPJ press than on the Wausau press. If you don't believe me, compare an edition from Point and Wausau.

I would also warn against adding space between paragraphs to lengthen a story. Try using a pull quote, deckhed or mugshot to stretch a story.

Any other story-stretching techniques you'd like to share?

— Brian Otten

Speaking of pantries

A headline in today's life section (and brought to everyone's attention by Dan) read:

Not just pretty faces: Models get head for business

At first glance, this might appear to be fine, but take a minute and use the great advice once given the desk by Mark Treinen: Read all headlines as if you were a 13-year-old boy.

Exactly.

To me this illustrates a perfect example of why we follow that advice and also why you should read all headlines out loud.

Oh, and the headline was changed to say Models get brain for business. Nice save, Dan.

--Kristy

I've been framed!

Lately, I've been noticing that a lot of pages have been getting through the approval process with photos that are without frames. Part of the problem is in InDesign when you put a frame on a photo only to have it end up being white (or yellow or blue). What I don't understand is how people don't notice the missing frame. For me, it jumps off the page immediately because the page looks unfinished. I haven't been resending pdfs when this happens (it seems like a small thing to replate a page for considering the cost involved) but maybe we should. Regardless, please watch for this when approving PDFs. I'm sure it sticks out to the readers as well.

--Kristy

Something new

I've left a gift for each page designer at their desk today.

It's not chocolate, flowers or a balloon with a candy bar tethered to it.

It is a (somewhat) neat stack of paper slips. These slips will be used on each proof to help keep track of the new proofing process implemented last month.

You aren't asked to do anything differently from the way you are doing it now, only that you staple a Quality Control Checklist slip at the upper left of each page, and record your initials on the slip throughout the proofing process (as opposed to cluttering up the margins of the proof with initials).

If you have any questions on how these should be used, let me know.

I've also included a sheet that you can copy when you run out of slips. I'll also send you an InDesign file you can print, if you'd prefer.

Thanks,

— Brian

Kickers?

What guidelines do you follow when writing kickers for the carousel?

I usually try to avoid repeating any of the words used in the headline, but this tends to lead to vague kickers. Family fun, education, recreation, entertainment, environment and weather are among the kickers I have used more than once. I like to avoid redundancy, but maybe it's more important to be specific. One challenge is the limited space, but I have noticed some kickers that take up two or even three lines. Is this OK?

Since so many others have at least a little bit of experience writing Web kickers, I wondered if anyone would be willing to share tips or tricks. What's the best or worst kicker you've ever written or seen? Are there certain things we should keep in mind if we want our kickers to grab readers' attention?

— Elizabeth