Trouble fitting a large table onto one Landscape-layout page

[Lew Yedwab]

I'm trying to recreate a document that a previous tech writer fit onto a 10 x
7.75 page in FRAMEMAKER 4 ! However, he accomplished it through an assortment
of kluges, and I want to make this document maintainable by my successors;
this is the responsible thing to do, instead of further kluging the original.

CANNOT fit a newly created table full of this same content into even an 11 x
8.5 in Word, much less the smaller size that I must ultimately achieve. No
luck manipulating cell padding, and working in Word 2007 is making things
more difficult. It may be difficult for any potential helpers to visualize
without seeing the thing, so I will gratefully offer to send an attachment to
any angel of mercy.

Thanks!
--
Lew Yedwab
Technical Writer
Chyron Corporation
5 Hub Drive
Melville, NY 11747

 

[grammatim]

Have you already reduced the type size to near the point of
unreadability?

The biggest problem may be that Frame works in 1000ths of a point and
Word only in half-points (for most measurements).

Do you have the option of creating it with a larger page size and
reducing it in the printer or in the pdf?

Frame tables are so much more sophisticated and easy to use than Word
tables!

 

[Lew Yedwab]

Hi, Grammatim:

My training on any of my tools (FrameMaker, Word, RoboHelp, Photoshop and
Illustrator) has been spotty, and mostly self-teaching. It's been over two
years since I've worked in Framemaker at all.

I slightly get the idea of text-flows, and the original designer of this
document used them, ALONG WITH a lot of kluges. As much as he was/is a
mentor, I believe he was no Framemaker guru either at the time.

Reducing the font size in either app seems to be a very bad idea. This
document is meant to be read by television production technicians who
frequently work under poor lighting conditions as it is. The original FM
document used Arial 8-point, in a Paragraph Designer paragraph called
"NarrowBody". Of course I have no idea if the latter will mean anything to
anyone, because I don't know if it was a default FM paragraph format or
something created by the document's original composer.

I may have to give up the work I've put into recreating the document in
Word, continue klugeing the Framemaker version, and ask our printer if he can
physically reduce its size to fit on the 10 x 7.75-physically-sized published
document on which it must remain.

Thank you for the suggestions! The one about having the printer force the
issue may be the key. Will also experiment with shrinking the finished
product myself in Acrobat.
--
Lew Yedwab
Technical Writer
Chyron Corporation
5 Hub Drive
Melville, NY 11747

 

[grammatim]

Hi, Grammatim:

My training on any of my tools (FrameMaker, Word, RoboHelp, Photoshop and
Illustrator) has been spotty, and mostly self-teaching. It's been over two
years since I've worked in Framemaker at all.

I slightly get the idea of text-flows, and the original designer of this
document used them, ALONG WITH a lot of kluges. As much as he was/is a
mentor, I believe he was no Framemaker guru either at the time.

Reducing the font size in either app seems to be a very bad idea. This
document is meant to be read by television production technicians who
frequently work under poor lighting conditions as it is. The original FM
document used Arial 8-point, in a Paragraph Designer paragraph called
"NarrowBody". Of course I have no idea if the latter will mean anything to
anyone, because I don't know if it was a default FM paragraph format or
something created by the document's original composer.

(No, that wasn't a default paragraph format. Another factor: Frame
applies the kerning built into a font unless you turn it off, but
Word, and only in recent versions, applies it only for larger sizes --
if you're below 12 pt type IIRC, you need to find the check-box to
turn on kerning, and I don't remember where it is -- Format > Font
seems likely.)