Help for onscreen editors

Title | Effective Onscreen Editing: New Tools for an Old Profession
Author | Geoff Hart
Format | Paperback; PDF
Page count | 559 pages (print); 731 (PDF)
Publisher | Diaskeuasis Publishing (January 2008)
Language | English

There are many challenges in writing a how-to book. One challenge is to present without preaching. Another challenge is to present potentially mundane information in a style that will capture the attention of someone who may be reading for general interest. Geoff Hart, an editor with 20 years’ experience, meets this challenge in Effective Onscreen Editing: New Tools for an Old Profession.

Target readers: Windows users unsure about online-editing techniques
Effective Onscreen Editing teaches readers to apply the skills of an on-paper editor in an onscreen editing environment. The author assumes readers know how to edit and are comfortable working in a Windows or Macintosh environment. (The examples, however, are primarily based on Microsoft Word.) The author approaches his subject by first discussing a principle of editing, then explaining how the computer can help readers apply that principle.

This book is useful for anyone who is unsure about online-editing techniques. It gives useful tips and hints in a chatty style. For example:

As of Word 97 for Windows and Word X for the MacIntosh, it was not possible to select noncontiguous blocks of text, but you could accomplish something similar using a feature called the “spike.” Given how bad a job Microsoft did with Clippy the Paper Clip in Word’s online help, it’s probably a good thing that this isn’t a sly reference to everyone’s favourite character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Instead, think of this feature as a large metal spike onto which you can impale pages of paper, face down…. When you remove the items from the spike, they come off in the same order in which you placed them there.

Why edit onscreen?
According to the author, the main reasons to edit onscreen are: minimize errors, reduce revision time, and increase consistency.

But successful onscreen editing requires more than altering text using a word processor. Rather, the approach must enhance the author-editor dialogue. The author suggests that technology can facilitate this: editors can make it easier for authors to revise their manuscripts in response to editorial suggestions. (Because of my interest in this area, I would have liked to have seen more tips about real-time online collaboration techniques in the book.)

Content: software tools, technological barriers and more
Effective Onscreen Editing focuses on mastering software tools, overcoming technological barriers, coping with human factors in the author-editor relationship, and implementing onscreen editing in the workplace.

The book includes sections on:
• personalizing how your software works
• moving around your document
• selecting text
• using revision tracking
• inserting and deleting text
• using search tools
• developing style sheets
• using spelling and grammar checkers
• automating edits.

The book also includes sections on:
• how to handle different file types
• webpages
• desktop-publishing files
• databases
• spreadsheets
• font problems
• alternatives to revision tracking.

Additional content
The book includes a four-step implementation process: get permission to try, develop a test case, solve anticipated problems, and watch for unanticipated problems. It also includes details about determining pay rates, doing initial edits, saving work and backups, doing final edits, following up, archiving, communicating, exchanging files, and ensuring confidentiality.

Credits:
Author | Lynne Quon-Mak

 
About the author
Bio to come...