TEXTUAL
MEDIA
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
“Text is the written language. Every one expects to
communicate through the use of the written word.
While graphics, video, audio, and animation help to
explain the text, they are often dependent upon text.
Text may be used alone, however, other elements
enhance and help explain text and improve
understanding. In multimedia, text can be plain, fancy,
funny, large, small, colored, texturized, or animated.
The ways to present text are endless. What a change
from the limited typewritten word. Most text should be
easily read and interpreted. This means that the
majority of text must be plain, and the fancy text should
be left for titles and emphasis.”
Sprankle and Johnson
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Some Font Characteristics
 Spacing - Proportional or fixed
 Pitch - Characters per horizontal inch
 Point size - Character height
 Style - Upright or italic
 Stroke weight - Medium or bold
 Typeface - Courier, Times Roman, Arial
 Color
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Spacing
W I
FIXED
WI
PROPORTIONAL
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Pitch
Number of Characters per horizontal inch
This pitch is 10 characters/inch
This pitch is 12 characters/inch
This pitch is 16.67 characters/inch
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Point Size
Absolute character height
(1pt = 1/72 inch)
Times Roman 2 pt
Times Roman 6 pt
Times Roman 12 pt
Times Roman 24 pt
Times Roman 36 pt
Times Roman 72 pt
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Additional Type
Measurements
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Style
UPRIGHT UPRIGHT
ITALIC ITALIC
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Stroke Weight
MEDIUM MEDIUM
BOLD BOLD BOLD
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Typeface
Times Roman
Arial
Old English
Sprint
Brush Script
Gigi
Harlow
Twentieth Century
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Font Substitution
When using PowerPoint (or most products for
that matter) you have to be aware of “font
substitution”. This can happen if you develop
a product using a font found on one computer,
and then transfer it to the same product, but in
another computer. If the receiving computer
does not have that font, then Windows will
automatically substitute another font for the
non-existing one.
See Table 4-1 for common fonts and Table 4-2
for font mapping between Windows and Mac
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Font Substitution
Suggestion: always use TrueType fonts
indicated by the TT symbol
AND...
Office 97
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Font Substitution
Office 2000
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Font Substitution
Office XP/2003
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Font Substitution
Office 2007
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
TEXT
SOFTWARE
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Text Software
Basically any word processing (Word, WordPerfect,
Microsoft Works, or AppleWorks) or text editing
(NotePad, WordPad, or TextEdit) package can be
used to create and edit text. Most packages allow you
to cut, copy, and paste between it and another
product. You can also cut, copy, and paste Internet
sources using any of the current browsers (FireFox or
Internet Explorer). However, there are a couple of
potential problems when using more than one
product or machine.
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Potential Problems
If the source and destination fonts are
different, which is used when copying and
pasting? Some products use the source font,
while others use the destination font.
If a text document is created and saved in
one product, then the file may not be able to
be opened by another product.
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
TEXT FILE
FORMATS
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Text File Formats
.doc (Word)
.html (Web sites)
.wps
.rtf **
(Works)
.txt * (ASCII)
.pdf + (Acrobat)
Converters/Readers
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Consider the following examples:
EDC.doc
(41k)
EDC.htm
(11k)
EDC. mht
(64k)
EDC.pdf
(16k)
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
EDC 601 Instructional Technologies
Consider the following examples:
www.irs.ustreas.gov/formspubs (54k)
Note: Adobe Acrobat Reader is
www.tirerack.com
(562k)
a helper and not a plug-in. That
Ch07.pdf
is, it can be used both within and(809k)
outside of a browser.
CIT2000program.pdf
(683k)
© Anthony J. Nowakowski, Ph.D.