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design & marketing blog

Marketing, design, and technical resources for making your digital and print communications more effective.

Essential Tips for Styling Text Content

January 22nd, 2010

Hints and tips for the styling and layout of your text content

With the vast amount of text being posted online and via social media these days I thought it would be beneficial to share this very brief tutorial for how (and how not) to style all that great stuff you’re sharing online. These tips apply anywhere you might post text—whether it be in one of our content management systems, WordPress, Facebook, Blogger or even old fashioned MS Word, these simple design principles will help insure your message gets the credibility that it deserves.

  1. Learn to use <shift><enter> (Windows) or <shift><return> (Mac) to insert line breaks with no vertical spacing. This practice helps insure you maintain close proximity of related content and greatly aides in readability.
    People often just hit <enter> between lines of text which adds awkward and undesirable vertical space.

    Example using <shift><enter> Example using <enter> only
    My mailing address:

    RisingLine
    111 S. Broadway St
    STE 101
    Boise, ID 83702

    My mailing address:

    RisingLine

    111 S. Broadway St

    STE 101

    Boise, ID 83702

  2. Don’t change typefaces (fonts). In fact you cannot change fonts/typefaces in our CMS text editor but many other text editors allow you to do so. The typefaces for your Website are specified in a single Style Sheet that was developed specifically for your site and insures consistency across all pages of your Website. Consistency in the presentation of your content is a cornerstone of good design.
  3. Don’t change typeface colors. For a professional consistent presentation of your content the colors are controlled through the Style Sheet. Emphasis colors (such as the color of your hyperlinks) have been selected by your professional designer specifically to harmonize with the color palette of your Website.
  4. Use the "font size" selector very very sparingly. Avoid at all costs using the "font size" selector to increase text size. This practice will invariably create inconsistent and amateur rendering of your content which cannot be controlled from the central style sheet. The only reason we retain the font size selector is for those rare occasions where a line of text needs to be reduced in size.
  5. Avoid using "U" Underline to emphasize inline text. People will think the underlined text is a hyperlink. Rather use the "B" (Bold) or "I" (Italic) icons to emphasize a word or sentence.
    For professional and consistent presentation of your content…
    Do Do Not

    News and Announcements

    We are extremely pleased to announce the opening of our second storefront in the beautiful city of San Jose, California. Please join us for our grand opening on April 3rd.

    News and Announcements

    We are extremely pleased to announce the opening of our second storefront in the beautiful city of San Jose, California. Please join us for our grand opening on April 3rd.

  6. Use the "Format" selector to change heading text size and create a logical hierarchy of content. Using this method allows consistent presentation for your site which is controlled by the Style Sheet.

Editing a page

Upgraded Content Management System

September 11th, 2008

CMS AdminWe’re pleased to announce an upgraded version of our Content Management System (CMS). The CMS is the core application software that works in conjuction with a server database to provide all the great Web 2.0 information management and broadcasting capabilities that we’re always talking about.

Our Web 2.0 CMS provides the vital tools that help our clients achieve their business goals by increasing the reach and impact of their messaging and decreasing the cost of Website administration.

Our new CMS makes it even easier for non-technical site owners to:

  • Securely login to their site and add, edit or remove page content
  • Make blog/news posts that are automatically distributed by email and broadcast via RSS.
  • Automatically link the major search and blog indexes to their blog/news posts to dramatically increase message reach and awareness.

Here’s a small sampling of our CMS’s key features and benefits:

  • New streamlined modern Web 2.0 administrative panel design theme that makes the updating and editing process easy to understand and navigate.
  • A new word-processor page editing interface that provides any user intuitive controls for posting and formatting of text, photos and files.
  • The ability to easily create multiple pages and RSS streams by simply assigning a category to your post.
  • Optimized and formatted RSS feeds. Your RSS feed content is displayed using the same format and styling that you specify on your site page.
  • Easy integrated system to upload images or file from your PC or Mac to post on your Website.
  • Fast performance for both site visitors and administrators.
  • The ability to use a new custom graphic design or to modify an existing design for use on the CMS site.
  • One button system backup and restore.
  • The ability to assign unlimited editors to your site with customized permissions . . . you can assign a user the ability to edit the content on only one page or to have complete administrative control over the site.
  • Full html formatting of content posts for advanced users.

But don’t take our word for it, try it out for yourself. Just contact us for access to our sample site.

You might also be interested to see our screen shot tutorials.

Understanding Search Engine Optimization

February 1st, 2008

This article has moved to a new page.

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