This blog post by Richard Hamilton got me thinking. Do layout standards developed years ago for print media still apply today? In the post, Hamilton mentions that the XML production process they use at XML Press doesn’t have advanced layout features that desktop publishing tools like InDesign have. To avoid bad line or page breaks, they have to edit the content to add or remove characters. It was the second sentence of the fifth paragraph that really got me thinking.
“A few weeks ago, I spent an hour trying to figure out how to shorten, by one word, a paragraph written by…”
If the primary benefit of XML content management is to save time by reusing content, spending an hour to avoid a bad break seems counterproductive. I know from experience how awkward it is to prevent bad line and paragraph breaks when working within a content management system. Most organizations carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages before moving to content management, but how many consider the finer points of page layout? For that matter, how many readers notice bad breaks?
Like many people—perhaps most—I read a lot online. I read the newspaper on my computer or tablet. I read books on an eReader. I shop online. I do research online. And, lastly, I waste time reading Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. All of this content is in HTML and, therefore, very, very difficult for the creators of the content to control all layout issues.
For the most part, I don’t really notice bad breaks anymore unless they’re really bad. For example, the ebook I’m reading now sometimes breaks lines in the middle of a syllable. That’s annoying. And, I noticed this headline while reading a newspaper online the other day.
In a perfect world, the line break would never happen in the middle of U of M. But it’s HTML so the appearance depends on the font and font size I set in my browser options. What I see may be entirely different from what the newspaper editor sees. What you see may be different again. The editor could have used non-breaking spaces but, given how short news cycles are, is it really worth the effort for a story that will be stale in a couple of hours?
So how much time should we spend trying to manually correct bad breaks in content generated from content management systems? In my opinion, not that much. If the output is HTML, other than using non-breaking spaces where appropriate, I’m not going to get bent out of shape over it. It’s a waste of time trying to control the uncontrollable. If the output is print or PDF, it’s worth it to take a quick look during the production edit and fix the bad breaks that jump off the page. If a bad break does slip by, chances are most readers won’t notice it and, if someone does, it isn’t going to interfere with their comprehension.
I admit it sounds sloppy. But, as a technical communicator, my job is to get information into readers’ hands as fast as possible. Spending outlandish amounts of time worrying about line and page breaks gets in the way of that. I’d much rather spend time ensuring that my content is clear, concise, and complete.
Of course, if the makers of content management systems want to add advanced layout features to their products, I’d be OK with that too.
Outside the box 