Editing & Fitting Copy

If it doesn’t fit you must edit.

Objectives:

„ Upon completion of this class and the assignments, you will be able to: Identify editing markup symbols Correctly apply editing symbols to any given body of text Edit text or scripts to maximize effectiveness while minimizing length or size Fit copy to desired print space in the layout

1 Copyediting Basics

„ Pay particular attention to headlines Chevy Amerca „ Don’t enter text in CAPS LOCK position. Many design programs can’t convert to upper and lower and you’ll have to re-enter the text „ Add hard returns only at the end of a paragraph Soft vs. hard returns Auto flow Kerning Leading

Copyfitting Basics

„ Copyfitting is the matching of copy and space „ Three basic approaches to copyfitting Square Inch Method „ Simplest but least accurate Word-count method „ Most accurate but more time consuming Character-count method „ Requires a special table that gives Characters Per Pica (CPP) counts for various typefaces

2 What’s A Pica?

„ Pica M (or em) „ An em is a square or nearly square piece of type used as a unit of measure for text set in that size of type Such a measure for 12-point type is a pica. „ 1 pica = 12 points „ 1 inch of text = 72 points or 6 picas (72/12)

Def: point - a linear unit used to measure the size of type; approximately 1/72 inch

Square Inch Method

„ Measure out 10 square inch squares. Count words in each square Divide total by ten and you have average words per inch

3 Word Count Method

„ In typical type size, the average word Type that’s 10 pts or smaller occupies three ems (an em is a square of the type size (10x10) = 100 points or about 1.3 inches In type 11 pts or larger a word occupies 2.5 ems Determine the length of your line and divide the line length by the average word length to get average word per line

Character Count Method

„ Most accurate „ Requires a Characters Per Pica (CPP) chart available from most typesetters and printers. (Remember at 12 points there are 6 Picas Per Inch) „ Determines the total number of characters in the copy that’s already written or that can fit in the space available for the copy

4 CPP Formulas „ Use word processing program to count # of characters (a space counts as a character) „ Determine the CPP from chart for font and size # of characters per line = cpp times the width you decide on expressed in picas Determine the # of lines (total characters divided by characters per line (e.g. 1270/127=10 lines) Determine total points deep. (Typeface height plus leading between lines) Convert points deep to picas (div by 12) or to inches (div by 72) This gives you height of copy

Summary:

„ Having completed this class and the assignments, you are able to: Identify editing markup symbols Correctly apply editing symbols to any given body of text Edit text or scripts to maximize effectiveness while minimizing length or size Fit copy to desired print space in the layout

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