A Basic Digital Philatelic Studies Formatting Guide

by Fran Adams

In the last article we discussed planning a Digital Philatelic Study (DPS). As is often said, but rarely practiced, "planning is everything." In developing a DPS, that quote is an invaluable piece of advice. If suggestions in the preceding article have borne fruit, you now have a reasonable subject and outline. Our planning process can continue with some basic formatting concepts.

Please note: Rather than experimenting and possibly coming to the same conclusions as outlined hereafter, the following criteria are suggested as a starting point for your new DPS. There's no requirement to follow every detail strictly, or even at all, but points in this portion of our 'DPS Cookbook' may save you time in getting your study up and running quicker.

Rules of Engagement

By incorporating a basic set of formatting rules designed to complement each other from the beginning, your study is much less likely to end up as a non-functional collection of electrons.

We'll begin by defining two guiding principles for our DPS:

1) The DPS will be 'viewed comfortably' on computer screens (what digital is all about).

2) The DPS will function on either Windows or Macintosh operating systems.

So, how do our 'formatting rules' ensure our DPS is viewed comfortably and available to most everyone regardless of computing platform?

1) Points to Ensure a Comfortable Viewing Experience

To realize comfortable viewing, our DPS must have consistent presentation. Consistency quickly provides viewers a feeling of 'familiarity' and the document's 'ease of use' factor increases. To develop consistency, we'll define a common layout, text and graphic styles for headers, paragraphs, etc. for use throughout the study.

a.) Physical Size

Beginning with a physical format often helps me to 'see' what I'm doing. To help you 'see' what you're doing, take a standard sheet of writing paper and turn it horizontal so it's 11 inches wide by 8.5 inches high.

In general, computer screens are capable of displaying horizontal documents better than vertical documents. We'll take advantage of that real estate and develop our 'Formatting Guide' with this in mind as it's also a common format for PowerPoint presentations.

I'm going to get a slight bit 'techie' here, so please don't let your eyes glaze over immediately.

Computer screens use a display measurement known as pixels (px). You may have also heard the term 'dots per inch' (dpi) which is a printing measurement. Although not precise, let's simplify things and use these terms interchangeably.

Windows computer screens display a standard of 96 dpi and naturally, the larger the screen, the more dots displayed. To accommodate most everyone's computer monitor we'll use a presentation size of 1024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high. 1024 pixels wide is approximately 10.6 inches wide and 768 pixels is 8 inches high. (Macintosh screens display at 72 dpi. The 1024 x 768 screen equals approximately 14.2 inches wide by 10.6 inches high.)

Thinking in terms of that writing paper we used previously, we see we're dealing with a screen display roughly the same size as our sheet of writing paper turned sideways - electronically!

Super. Now that we can visualize the screen area we have to work with, we can even sketch some things out by hand or make notes to remind us of what belongs on which page.

What other concerns should we have?

b.) Page Margins

To keep it simple as well as getting the most space out of our computer screen real estate or 1024x768 pixels, we're not going to use fancy colored or graphic page outlines in our study. They can reduce the available area quite a bit and we need that area for our overall page.

The page margin will be a minimum of 0.5 inches on all sides, ensuring headers and footers are within the main content area. This gives us a working area of roughly 9.5 inches wide and 7 inches high.

c.) Header and Footer Placement

Headers, footers as well as the information (ie. page number) in them, will be located in the same place on every page. Headers should appear at the top of the page and footers at the bottom. (I realize that might sound strange, but you never know how inventive someone might be in this new medium.)

d.) Backgrounds

Overall illustrated backgrounds are often used in PowerPoint presentations. Using them can be useful under certain circumstances, but in the main, it's simply a distraction for the reader. The same logic applies to using textured background patterns.

Therefore, overall illustrated or textured backgrounds will not be used and we highly recommend thinking twice before incorporating them into your study.

e.) Color Schemes

Something to think about when determining a color scheme for your study is coordinating the color with the subject. All subjects have an associated color, so here's an opportunity to be creative. PowerPoint has a series of built in color schemes we can use.

Black letters on a white sheet of paper are typically what we see in the print world. On a computer screen, black on white is also very common, but it's quite harsh on the eyes if it's read for any period of time. One of our goals is we'd like our viewers to view our study comfortably.

One way to minimize glare and retain contrast is to change the shades of the black text and/or white screen slightly. Muting the background color is the quickest way to reduce glare. Rather than pure white, use a light base color. We'll use a very light sand color for our background.

The same idea goes for type, although that's a little more difficult to define properly.

We'll leave the text pure black for this exercise. Black on sand will not tire the eyes as quickly. We may also use red text, but it will be used very sparingly to point out a warning, caution or perhaps rarity information. Otherwise, only one additional color, red, will be used for text.

f.) Typeface - Style and Size

Choosing the right typeface for the study is a big step. Remember, we're developing for a computer screen, so things are a little different than producing printed media. Your viewer should not struggle reading the text. The best typeface is the one no one notices.

- Style
Typeface is important for quick comprehension and in print, a 'serif' style is normally used for text in the main body. Serifs are the little flares on letters that make printed documents easier to read - on paper. On screen however, a 'sans-serif' typeface (without the little flares) is better as it eliminates much of the serif style's clutter and results in easier-to-read text. That's not to say you can't use a serif typeface for your main body text, the choice remains yours.

Titles, sub-titles and section headers should be differentiated from the main text in style as well as size. In this instance, we'll use 'serif' styles for these elements.

Staying with the clean and simple approach, we'll restrict the number of typefaces to two; one serif and one sans-serif. (OK, three if you use a special typeface on only the title page.) Our two choices for this exercise will be Georgia for the 'serif' style and Verdana for the 'sans-serif' style. Why those two you ask?

These two typefaces were developed specifically for display on a computer screen. They are also available on both Windows and Macintosh machines and even print reasonably well.

A plain (regular) style typeface is recommended for main body text. For a title, sub-title or section header, bolding is allowed (don't feel obligated) and for a rarity statement, an italic style may be used.

We'll not use any fancy text decoration styles, again keeping the example simple. Underlining text in electronic documents has come to signify a hyperlink, so we'll not use underlines as text decoration but only to indicate hyperlinks.

- Size
Type size is important and normally, printed pages use a 12 'point' size for body text. 'Points' (pt) are a printer's measurement for type size and rather than get into a detailed discussion, let's simply substitute the computer screen type size measurement of pixels. We'll use a size 12, but in pixels rather than points for the main body text. Other text elements will be either larger or smaller depending on the item we're working with.

For the sake of clarity and simplicity, we'll choose 28px for the title (26px if bolded), 20px for the subtitle, 16px for section heads, 12px for body text and table titles, 10px for table column or row titles, item descriptions or captions, and 8px for footer information.

Table, column and row titles may be bolded and centered.

Individual words in our title, sub-title and section heads will be capitalized.

Rarity descriptions will use an italicized typeface.

Warning text for forgeries and similar information will appear in red.

Footer text will be included, but not prominent.

g.) Text Spacing and Justification

Spacing is also a factor in making text easier to read. Distance between lines is critical in many instances, so we'll designate a standard distance of 1.25 times the normal distance. That will open the text up and allow it to breathe.

Spacing between sentences in modern electronic documents is different than in older typewritten text. We'll use a single space between sentences.

White space between paragraphs can also provide a sense of clarity and calmness, so a break between paragraphs will be used in our example.

Our text will be justified to both margins. We could also allow the right margin to fall where it may (ragged right) or make it so the text is aligned on the right (ragged left). Right aligned text makes the text difficult to read so it's not advisable unless there's a special circumstance. Your preference is the determining factor in text justification.

The only rule I personally have is to 'never-ever' center body text as it becomes unreadable or very confusing at best.

Caption lines of text are distinct and complete pieces of information, so centering will look fine and remain comprehensible when they appear as descriptions under images, tables, etc.

Text length is also a concern and very long passages of text should be avoided if possible. Shorter sentences express ideas quickly without confusion.

h.) Tables

Tables will be called 'tables' and be sequentially numbered beginning with 1. Each table may have a title, but each should have a caption.

As tables generally contain data points or compare numbers, they should contain clearly legible and appropriately titled columns and rows

It's easier to follow the flow of a table if sections are delineated in some fashion. Lines are simple. Strings of little ducks are not so helpful, so we'll stick to lined tables.

i.) Images and Illustrations

Images will be called 'figures' and have a sequential number associated with them, starting with 1 for the first image. Again, keeping things simple, we'll not use sub-figure details or sub-figure numbers.

Images showing specific details of a philatelic item should be included. As there's no restriction on image size other than page size, it's theoretically possible to have an image fill the page. In general, it's better to have multiple enlarged images, each showing a different detail in a reasonable size. This method is preferred to a single image with multiple details called out which are so small it's difficult to recognize what's important.

Every image should have a caption, in the typeface and size determined earlier. The exception to the rule might be an image on the title page. I personally like captions centered under images and no wider than the image. Will we have to reword captions to get that length? You bet! Should the caption be compromised due to word length - only if you want incomprehensible descriptions. Short, sweet and to the point is the objective.

Images may be in color, grayscale or black and white. Color images display in Red-Green-Blue (RGB) on standard computer screens and personal scanners default to that mode. We'll stick with RGB as we don't need this printed professionally.

- Image Resolution
Although I typically scan originals at 800 dpi, image resolution in this study will be 150 dpi. 150 dpi provides some ability to increase the on-screen magnification (zooming in) without breaking the bank for file size.

If resolution is less than 150 dpi, the image quickly becomes blurry as the viewer zooms in for a close-up. 150 dpi also provides better reproduction should viewers decide to print the study.

Incorporating images larger than 150 dpi is possible and produces better quality when zooming in or printing, however the overall file size increases quickly. Large file sizes equal slower loading speeds on the viewer's computer screen and limits the ability to transfer them via e-mail.

- Image Formats
Images will be saved in a 'tagged image file format' (tiff or tif) for everything other than line art, as it produces better reproduction quality.

You may wish to use 'joint photographic experts group' (jpeg or jpg) format and that's fine. Remember however, that jpg is mainly for displaying color photographs. It also compresses the image and reduces the final quality although for our purposes, it likely makes little difference.

The 'graphics interchange format' (gif) is also frequently used as it is good at displaying line art or single color images while maintaining smaller file sizes. Lastly, 'portable network graphics' (png) is a newer format occasionally used due to its ability to include transparency.

Image format selection really boils down to the type of image you are using and the file size or level of quality you desire.

- Image Borders
Images will have a 1 pixel border applied in black on all four sides to provide basic delineation from the page.

- Clip Art
Don't use clip art. Striving for a professional look is completely destroyed by including 'cute' cartoons and line art.

j.) Special Effects

Shadows make images or text appear to hover above the page, effectively giving a 3 dimensional look by adding depth. This is a nice accent, but application of it will be limited to graphics. No other special effects will be part of this study.

k.) Slide Transition

Although PowerPoint provides quite a number of transition effects, a simple 'fading' slide transition will be used.

2) Cross Platform Functionality - Common Software

To achieve cross platform functionality, we'll use software common to both Microsoft Windows and Macintosh computer operating systems.

We'll build our DPS in Microsoft PowerPoint and check the finished file on both platforms. As there are instances where a function may work on one operating system and not the other, we'll need to check the study in both environments. Or, if we can use it on one and it does not harm the other, that's fine as well. It simply needs to degrade gracefully when it fails to work properly.

Finally, we'll export our finished work into a PowerPoint slide show as well as an Adobe Acrobat document. By having the study produced in two common formats, viewers may choose either version depending on the software installed on their respective computers.

Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe Acrobat both produce files with extensions after the file name. PowerPoint's extension is 'ppt' (pptx for PowerPoint 2007), pps for a PowerPoint Slide Show and Acrobat's extension is 'pdf'.

Conclusion

Visualizing what you want your study to look like - and documenting the details before assembling it, will allow you to build it with confidence and ease. Making sure your study is clean and presents your materials and information clearly is a key to ensuring viewers enjoy your work and get the most out of it.

Future articles may discuss preparation of graphics, developing a PowerPoint template or considerations for production and distribution using portable media. Additional subjects are being also being considered.

Additional articles for developing digital philatelic references and studies are: "Creating Digital References and Studies" (The Philatelic Communicator, Second Quarter 2007), "Planning Digital References and Studies" (The Philatelic Communicator, Fourth Quarter 2007) as well as the Mega-Event Digital Philatelic Study (DPS) rules (www.asdaonline.com/index.php?id=65).

Standard style, formatting and reference publications may be of assistance when building or publishing your digital philatelic reference or study. Two of the best, the Chicago Manual of Style or Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, will prove essential.

Thanks

My sincere thanks are extended to Alan Campbell and Richard Maisel for their continuing support in reviewing drafts of these articles and suggesting subjects for further discussion.

Author Bio

Fran Adams, a member of WU30, is a collector and exhibitor learning how to combine the hobby of philately and computer technology to produce digital exhibits and literature references for his interest areas (www.boneandstone.com).