Give examples of at least four key design criteria for effective digital writing and publishing, and tell how each helps improve the written or published product.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers may vary and will include: limited numbers of typefaces (too many can be distracting); use different fonts for title and text (to increase readability, use a serif typeface for text in the main body of the document, and use a sans serif typeface for titles and headlines); use appropriate type sizes (to increase readability, depending on age of those who will read documents); match text and background colors (avoid color combinations that can be difficult to read); use visual cues (e.g., frames or boxes around text, bullets or arrows to designate important points, shading of page behind important text; different text styles and captions); use white space effectively (help focus attention on areas that do contain information); avoid text formatting errors that cause reading problems (e.g., irregularly shaped text blocks and angled type); and avoid text break errors (leftover single words and phrases at the tops or bottoms of pages, excessive use of hyphens).