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Case study

On your first day as office assistant at LMT Publishing House, you are given the following information, to be used when word-processing documents that are to be converted to HTML.

LMT Publishing House Style Manual

Word styles

Word styles are a feature of MS Word that allows you to maintain consistency in your use of headings and text. They allow you to preset font, size and style. The following must be used:

  • Heading 1
    18 point bold for major headings or titles

  • Heading 2
    16 point bold for the heading for a major section in a document

  • Heading 3
    14 point bold for subheadings within sections of the document

  • Normal
    12 point regular for the body of text – note that Verdana is the preferred web site font.

Formatting issues

Underlining
Underlining is used only to indicate a link. On the web, underlined words indicate hyperlinks. Use bold or italics to highlight words or phrases.

Column layout
Use tables. Do not use columns or tabs to space text. Do not use frames. If you do not want the table to appear with a border, turn off the table borders in MS Word.

Images
Images for the web must generally be converted to one or two types of formats:

  • .gif is used for line drawings
  • .jpeg is used for photographs

Do not insert the images in the Word document because the HTML converter will not convert the images. Save all images or pictures as separate graphics files. You can supply a copy of the document that indicates where the graphics go, but for web publishing they need to be provided as separate Word and graphics files.

Paragraph headings
Use headings for sections of the document. The subheadings can be listed at the top of the document and linked to the relevant sections or files. This list can help the user get a sense of all the material, and allow users to navigate quickly to their destination.

Lists
Use bulleted or numbered lists.

  • Make each bullet point a sentence
  • Try to limit the number of bullet points to six
  • Make sure you use the same construction in each bullet point

Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks can be made from anywhere in the document to a specific point on the same page, to another page within the document, or to any other external site.

Lists or glossary
It is preferable to arrange lists, terms or items in a glossary in alphabetical order.

Use of capital letters
In headings, use capital letters for the first letter and proper nouns only.

Numbers

  • Numbers up to twenty are written in words
  • Those from 21 are written as numerals
  • Commas are not used
  • Numbers 1000 to 9999 have no spaces
  • 10 000 upwards have a space between the thousands

Questions

  1. This style manual is an example of a policies and procedures manual. What is the purpose of giving this manual to all new employees?

    _________________________________________________________________

    _________________________________________________________________


  2. You have been asked to develop a new manual, for LMT Publishing House, for the operation of the office’s computer equipment. Write down examples of policies and procedures for each of the points below:
    1. Log-on procedures:

      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________

    2. Log-off procedures:
      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________

    3. File-naming:
      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________

    4. Modifying files:
      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________

    5. Saving files:
      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________

    6. Backing-up of files:
      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________

    7. Security and confidentiality:
      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________

    8. Inactive file storage:
      _____________________________________________________________
      _____________________________________________________________

    9. Removal and destruction of files:
      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________

    10. Routine maintenance of computer:
      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________


     
  3. List other points that could be included in a manual such as this.

    _________________________________________________________________

    _________________________________________________________________

    _________________________________________________________________

    _________________________________________________________________


     
  4. What other office equipment could have a policies and procedures manual written to ensure correct use?

    _________________________________________________________________

    _________________________________________________________________

    _________________________________________________________________

    _________________________________________________________________

Answers are not provided. You might like to check your responses with a teacher or fellow student.

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