The document is a tutorial on proper formatting and style when creating documents on a computer. It provides guidance on topics like spacing, fonts, indentation, dashes and other punctuation. Key recommendations include using one space after periods, italicizing instead of underlining, limiting use of all caps, using serif fonts for body text and sans serif for headings, consistent line spacing and indentation, and taking advantage of special characters. The tutorial concludes with a sample document to identify errors and how it could be improved.

1. Style Manual for the Computer
Based on the book
By Robin Williams
click here for more information click here to begin
presentation by Jen Groff

2. Style Manual for the Computer
This outstanding book was written to outline the basic
concepts behind using a computer to create professional
documents. If you would like to learn more once you have
completed this tutorial, I highly recommend buying the book,
The MAC is not a Typewriter, by Robin Williams.
You can tour through this tutorial using the navigation buttons
located in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. At any
time, you may exit by clicking on the button located in the
upper left-hand corner of your screen. Also located there is
the index key. This feature allows you to skip right to the page
you are interested in. You may find this handy once you have
completed the tutorial, but later would like to reference
something you here.
Let’s begin by clicking on the next button.
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3. What’s the big deal?
You may be thinking this very question, wondering why you have to
re-learn how to type. The answer is that the rules have changed! The
technology associated with the computer has changed the way we
view text and layout documents, mainly because we can do a lot
more with the computer that we ever could with a typewriter. As you
learn about the new rules of typing in this book, you can compare
them to professional documents you run into all the time, like books,
magazines, etc.
As Robin Williams so eloquently put it, “I strongly feel it is our
obligation—every one of us who uses the computer to create text on
a page—to uphold the highest possible level of typographic quality
in this changing world.”
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4. S Spacing
Use only one space after punctuation.
What? I know that you have probably been taught to hit the spacebar twice
when you have finished a sentence. On a typewriter you should, because all of
the letters are monospaced—meaning that they all take up the same amount
of space. You need two spaces at the end of a sentence so that your eye can
distinguish where a new sentence begins. Check out the example below:
Notice how the letters are evenly spaced. The
letters in each column line up.
However, on a computer, the letters are proportional—meaning that they
only take up the space they need (i.e. the letter “i” takes up much less space
than the letter “w”.)
Notice how the text takes up less space. You only need to put one space
after each sentence because your eye is able to see where your sentence
has ended.
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5. U nderlining
Don’t underline. Underlining is for typewriters;
italic is for professional text.
Take a look around. Have you seen underlined text in a professional
document? Chances are you haven’t. Even the American Psychological
Association has changed its style so that you no longer underline the title of a
book, you italicize it. That’s because the computer gives you the ability to do
this. When using the typewriter, all we could do is underline a word we
wanted to emphasize. But now we have more options, including bold type,
larger type, or a different font.
If you really want the look of an underline, don’t just use the underline style
that appears on your toolbar. Try drawing a line, or sometimes called a rule.
This way, you can determine its color, size, and positioning.
This is an underlined phrase. This phrase has a rule drawn under it.
This phrase has an italic word.
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6. C apitals
Very rarely use all capital letters.
When using a typewriter, you only had one font type to work with. So when
you wanted to make a headline, you would often type it in all capital letters.
The problem with this is that text in all capital letters is much more difficult to
read. Mainly because your eye relies on the shape of the word to read it. Look
at the examples, can you tell what they are?
Now look at them in all caps. Their shape no longer helps you read them.
DOG BIGGER
THE COMPUTER LETS US USE BOLD, ITALICS OR OTHER FONTS
TO CREATE HEADINGS. HOWEVER, IT IS PARTIC-ULARLY
IMPORTANT THAT YOU DON’T USE ALL CAPS WHEN WRITING
PARAGRAPHS OF TEXT. DID YOU READ THIS PARAGRAPH MUCH
SLOWER THAN THE ONE ABOVE? CLICK

7. F onts
Serif fonts are best for text.
Sans serif fonts are best for headlines.
Serif
T T Sans Serif
Serif fonts are the ones that have little strokes on the end of
the letters. Examples are Garamond, Times New Roman, and
Centaur. Many studies have shown that serif fonts are much
easier to read, generally due to the fact that the little strokes
help draw your eye from one letter to the next. Look at any
textbook, the paragraphs are probably in a serif font.
Sans Serif fonts do not have strokes on the end of the letters,
like Arial and Helvetica. They are very legible, which is what
makes them great for headlines or any text you want to “pop”.
If you insist on using this font for paragraph text, use bold or
italic as little as possible and make the length of the line
shorter.
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8. F onts (continued)
Never combine more than 2 fonts on a page.
Never combine 2 serif or 2 sans serif fonts.
Now that you know about the differences between these fonts,
you can identify which ones might look good together. In
general, 3, 4, or 5 typefaces can make your document look
unprofessional and difficult to follow for the reader. If you are
going to use 2 fonts, you are looking for contrast. By putting 2
similar fonts together, you cause them to compete and do not
achieve significant contrast.
A good rule of thumb is to select a Sans Serif font for the title
and a Serif font for the body of text. Look for a strong
contrast, and avoid “whimsical” fonts that often look
unprofessional and are difficult to read.
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9. II ndents Use the first-line indent regularly.
Never use the spacebar to align text.
When starting a new paragraph, it looks quite unprofessional to
hit the tab key or even worse, space over to where you want to
start typing. That’s what the first line indent was made for!
When you start a new document, setup your ruler like this:
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10. T abs
T
Use tabs to put your cursor where you want it.
Never use the spacebar to align text.
The same goes for tabs—when you want to type something in
the middle of the page, don’t space over or hit the tab key until
you get your cursor where you want it to be. Set a tab there.
You can easily do this by clicking and dragging the left tab onto
the ruler where you want your cursor to go. Then just hit the
tab key once, and your cursor will appear there.
Also, use Format Tabs to set your tabs just the way you like. In
this menu you can make it left, right, center or draw a line, etc.
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11. L ine-spacing
L
Keep the line-spacing consistent.
When we are typing a paper, most of the time we will keep the
spacing set to single, sometimes double. But there are times when
you need more choices. For example, say you want to make the
first letter larger.
Correct this by selecting the entire paragraph and set the line-
spacing to the same size. For example, 18 pt.
You also may need to adjust line-spacing when using a large
font—just because the letters are big doesn’t necessarily mean
you need a lot of space between the lines.
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12. DDashes
Never use two hyphens instead of a dash.
Use hyphens, en and em dashes, where appropriate.
If you are like me, before reading this book I had no idea what an
en dash or em dash was. Fortunately, programs like Microsoft®
Word will most times be able to figure out which one you need
and put it there for you. But here are the rules anyway…
Hyphen -
Only to be used when hyphenating words or line breaks.
En dash –
Getting its name because it is approximately the width of the letter “n”, the en
dash is used between words indicating duration.
October – December 7:30 – 9:45
Em dash —
This is twice as long as an en dash (about the width of the letter “m”). It is
often used like a colon—where an abrupt change in thought occurs.
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13. S Special characters
Take advantage of the special characters.
What can really make a document look professional is using all
the special characters that word processing programs provide
you. If you have a Macintosh®, you can use KeyCaps, which is a
special font consisting of many characters you could encounter
while typing a document. Also, in Microsoft® Word, you can go
to Insert > Symbol. A new screen will open where you will find a
vast array of symbols listed in many different fonts.
® © £ ™ å é °
Also note, that when using these symbols it is important that
they are placed properly in the document. This may mean raising
them up or lowering them compared to the rest of the text. You
can achieve this by formatting the font to Superscript or Subscript.
Doesn’t H20 and 1st look better than H20 and 1st ?
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14. M iscellaneous
M
Odds and ends that you should know.
§ Use italic and bold occasionally—too much can overwhelm
your piece.
§ A.M. and P.M. are too overpowering if left as general text.
Select them and choose “Small Caps” in the formatting menu.
§ Make a conscious effort to be consistent. If your first heading
is 18-point bold, then make sure they all are 18-point bold.
§ Avoid abbreviating whenever possible. In the middle of a
paragraph, don’t use lbs., spell out the word pounds.
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15. Congratulations!
You have completed the tutorial!
You now know the rules to creating professional-
looking documents in your everyday life.
There are more tips in the book, so if you would
like to learn more, I recommend reading it!
On the next page you will find a sample
document. See if you can find all the errors that
have been made!
Good luck!
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16. Example
The Solace of Travel
To the untravelled, territory other than
their own familiar heath is invariably
fascinating. Next to love, it is the one thing
which solaces and delights. Things new are
too important to be neglected--and mind,
which is a mere reflection of sensory
impressions, succumbs to the flood of
objects. Thus lovers are forgotten, sorrows
laid aside, death hidden from view.
THEODORE DREISNER
Have you found all the errors? Click next to find out if you
were right!
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17. Underline is too
close and
heavy.
Answer
The Solace of Travel Weak contrast
Line spacing is in fonts.
inconsistent.
To the untravelled, territory other than
their own familiar heath is invariably
fascinating. Next to love, it is the one thing
which solaces and delights. Things new are
too important to be neglected--and mind,
which is a mere reflection of sensory
impressions, succumbs to the flood of Used two
objects. Thus lovers are forgotten, sorrows hyphens instead
laid aside, death hidden from view. of an em dash.
THEODORE DREISNER
Unnecessary to have this
set in all caps—makes it
too important.
Click next to see how it should look!
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18. Here’s one way it could look:
The Solace of Travel
To the untravelled, territory other than
their own familiar heath is invariably fascinating.
Next to love, it is the one thing which solaces
and delights. Things new are too important to be
neglected--and mind, which is a mere reflection
of sensory impressions, succumbs to the flood
of objects. Thus lovers are forgotten, sorrows
laid aside, death hidden from view.
- Theodore Dreisner
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19. Index
S pacing T abs
U nderlining L ine-spacing
C apitals D ashes
F onts (serif/sans serif) S pecial characters
F onts (formatting) M iscellaneous
I ndents Q uiz