When typewriters were used, most manuals used one-inch margins on the left and right sides of the page. This resulted in a line length of 6.5 inches—too long for comfortable reading. To reduce the line length, most manual page designs now use less than the full width of the page for text. Instead, a column of white space is placed on the left side of the page and is used for headings, illustrations, or sidebar text (such as quotes, key thoughts, or commentary). This is sometimes called a onethirds, two thirds page design, because the white space occupies the left third of the page and the text occupies the right two-thirds of the page.
Single-siding vs. Double-siding
To reduce bulk and minimize printing costs, most manuals are printed on both sides of the sheets of paper. This is called double-sided printing. The camera-ready copy of the manual (the master copy we send to the printer) is still printed single-sided—the double-siding occurs during the final reproduction of the manual.
Since readers can see two pages at a time, most page designers consider the appearance of the page spread (a left and right page together) before making their final design decisions.
Most manuals are printed on 8½ by 11 inch paper and use one inch margins on the left and right (these are the page margins, not the text margins). To provide extra clearance for 3-hole punching, a binding offset of ¼ inch is usually added. Right pages therefore end up with a 1¼ inch left margin and a ¾ inch right margin. Left pages, on the other hand, end up with a ¾ inch left margin and a 1¼ right margin.
Margins at the top and bottom of the page are usually smaller—typically ½ inch. Margins must be at least 1/3 inch to print on most laser printers.
A single colour used throughout a publication provides continuity, unity, and character. Consistency gives the product identity. In a broader context, it helps to build corporate identity. – Jan White
Many manual designers use pre-printed page shells so they can add their organization’s logo to the page, or use colour on the page without the expense of using spot colour (colour used in different spots on different pages). The shells are printed in bulk, then the text is reproduced onto the shell pages.
The shells can only contain constant information (information which is the same for all modules of the manual), otherwise you would have to print different shells for each chapter. All variable information, such as module numbers or issue dates, must be part of the word processor files and is printed onto the shells during reproduction. Since headers and footers often contain a mix of constant and variable information, the variable elements of your headers and footers must be precisely positioned so they don’t print on top of lines, for example. To avoid these registration problems, make sure that you have at least 0.1 inch clearance between items on the shell and items from the text file.
If you use colour in different places on each page, you are using spot colour. While it can be an effective way of adding visual interest to your manual and distinguishing heading levels, it increases the cost of reproduction since every page must be printed twice: once for the text and once for the spot colour elements. Therefore, use spot colour only when the finished look is important, and the manual won’t be revised frequently.
