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Hello,
Does anyone have experience with producing large print books? There seems to be more than one school of thought but not from anyone specifically using Indesign, which I use for my standard size novels.
What do you think about right and left justified versus left justified and right ragged?
What size interior margin would you recommend?
How about block formatting with no indents but spaces for paragraphs (or each new speech) versus indented first line paragraphs?
All at sea. Directions to the nearest harbour would be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks in advance.
There are too many variables to give a blanket answer to this question as it depends on:
One go-to resource I will use if the book is to give a professional feel is to use the Australian Government's style guide: https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/ as this gives details not only on formats, but also on conventions for dates, names etc, with a focus on consistency.
I don't know exactly how you set up your book, but I would make a copy of all your ID files into a new folder. Assuming you used margins and guides correctly, you should be able to use Layout Adjustment on your document size and then double-check your master pages. Then adjust your type styles. Here is a link about the resizing pages:
Another option is to use Alternative L
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Pick a style you like and go with it.
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I suggest you contact a charity/organisation that deals with partially sighted people and get their advice.
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Thank you, Eugene and Derek,
It's an interesting journey. I've looked at advice from three organisation that deal with people with varying levels of sight and they all have differing needs. However, I've pieced together suggestions from varying sources and have now I think arrived at a formula. I'm going to list it here in case anyone else is looking for the same answers:
16pt Adobe Garamond Pro
1.5 spacing
1" margins
Right and left aligned
First line of paragraph indented
Trim siz: 6.14 x 9.21
Cover: same as standard but with Large Print sticker on the front.
Please could you suggest a link to show me how to change my current Indesign document template fro my standard size novels to the new settings for large print?
Many thanks.
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1.5 line spacing is MSWord measurement, in InDesign, you want something like 16pt on 24pt (8pt leading).
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Thank you, Derek. So does that mean linespacing in Indesign is set in pts? So I should set it to 24pts, that is multiplying 16 by 1.5? Just would like to make sure I've understood this correctly.
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There are too many variables to give a blanket answer to this question as it depends on:
One go-to resource I will use if the book is to give a professional feel is to use the Australian Government's style guide: https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/ as this gives details not only on formats, but also on conventions for dates, names etc, with a focus on consistency.
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Thank you, Colin. That's a new resource for me. Much appreciated.
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You are asking many good questions, but they are mostly subjective design questions.
Now, if you ask about how to set it up, I'm sure you will get lots of good advice.
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Thank you, Creamer Training. I appreciate your advice and will go with all of that.
Yes, indeed, next step: how do I adapt my existing InDesign standard book size document to the new large print specs.
Please can anyone advise me about that?
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I don't know exactly how you set up your book, but I would make a copy of all your ID files into a new folder. Assuming you used margins and guides correctly, you should be able to use Layout Adjustment on your document size and then double-check your master pages. Then adjust your type styles. Here is a link about the resizing pages:
Another option is to use Alternative Layouts in the same document but would be more difficult to control across a book file.
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Thank you, Creamer Training. I have CS4 but, yes, I will certainly backup my files. I hope it will be ok to come back here if I get stuck.
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It's almost a year later, so I assume you've finished your book. I am also researching this topic though, and I've found a few rabbit trails you (or others who are reading here) may appreciate. https://www.acb.org/content/large-print-guidelines & https://www.aph.org/resources/large-print-guidelines/ Here's hoping these organizations will start talking to each other soon.