While a lot of a writer's efforts will end up in a webpage template or some other layout guide, being able to create attractive and readable pages is still a vital part of a technical writer's skill set.
Check out this image of a word document. Notice the mirrored margins, and the fly-out titles. Your eyes like this page, it's attractive and invites the reader in.
Check out this image of a word document. Notice the mirrored margins, and the fly-out titles. Your eyes like this page, it's attractive and invites the reader in.
Here's how you create this in Microsoft Word. These settings should work in all versions of Word.
Margins
Set your left and right margins generously. Set two inch margins on the left and right; and one inch margins on the top and bottom. Set the Multiple Pages drop down to Mirror margins. Everything else is left at default.
Margins: Top, 1; bottom, 1; right, 2; left, 2.
Multiple pages: Mirror margins.
New Style: Side Heading
Next, create a new style. Call it Side Heading (or whatever makes most sense for you.) Set the Font options to whatever you like for a title style. Set the paragraph options for whatever you like in a title style. Frame settings are the second option that makes the mirrored look works.
From the Modify Style window, select Frame from the Format button. Enter the settings as given below. Once you have this style working, you can tweak it to make it work for you.
Text wrapping: Around
Width: Exactly At: 1.2
Horizontal
Position: Outside Relative to: Page
Distance from text: .1
Move with text (checked)
Give it a try. Apply the Side style first and type a title, then type a normal paragraph below it. On the sample I've justified the normal paragraphs to give the page a nice structured feel. I've used Microsoft's default heading styles, which I normally change but didn't for this sample.
If you have questions or I didn't make something clear, please post and let me know. I prefer praise, but the occasional bit of constructive criticism is a good thing.
Next, create a new style. Call it Side Heading (or whatever makes most sense for you.) Set the Font options to whatever you like for a title style. Set the paragraph options for whatever you like in a title style. Frame settings are the second option that makes the mirrored look works.
From the Modify Style window, select Frame from the Format button. Enter the settings as given below. Once you have this style working, you can tweak it to make it work for you. Text wrapping: Around
Width: Exactly At: 1.2
Horizontal
Position: Outside Relative to: Page
Distance from text: .1
Move with text (checked)
Give it a try. Apply the Side style first and type a title, then type a normal paragraph below it. On the sample I've justified the normal paragraphs to give the page a nice structured feel. I've used Microsoft's default heading styles, which I normally change but didn't for this sample.
If you have questions or I didn't make something clear, please post and let me know. I prefer praise, but the occasional bit of constructive criticism is a good thing.
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