Handbooks and Guides

E-training

Handbook design options

The key features of all Omfax handbooks are:

• full observance of RNIB readability standards so the text size is always point size 12 or larger. We never compromise this in order to fit more text on a page. This brings about a healthy discipline in how much you say about any topic
• an excellent 'navigation' system so the reader can easily find the topic they are looking for. Typically a 'menu' system along the top or side of each page or the topic/chapter name appears on the edge of every page
• a high level of embedded cross-referencing so the reader can move immediately to another related topic.

Take a look at our layouts styles and then read what we say about the different size, layout and binding options. We hope this will help you choose.

Which size to choose?

This is a simple decision between A5 or A4 size. Although A5 is the most popular, we have clients whose tenants or leaseholders chose the A4 option and continue to be very pleased they did. They often say they are much more 'findable' in the home.

The A4 size incurs slightly higher print costs than the A5 size even though it has a lower number of pages.

Under the current Royal Mail pricing structures, the postage costs will be much the same for both sizes.

Portrait or landscape?

We have been producing handbooks for 20 years and until recently these were always produced in our unique landscape design with its very popular 'menu' showing on the side of each page. However, in recent years we have been offering portrait styles as well and have tried to incorporate some of the features that have always made our books easy to navigate.

• Landscape: Although unusual, this layout allows you to use the spread of two pages to much better advantage. It allows you to have more space on each page to set out the information, with quite a bit of 'white space' too. It also allows for a topic 'menu' to appear on all pages of the book.
  
  Using this style you need to be sure that each topic you address only covers a two-page spread (ie does not roll over onto a third of fourth page). This means you need to be quite disciplined in how much you say about each topic ... or break up the topic into two titles.
  
  
• Portrait: This style is the more usual way of reading a book and therefore might be seen to be more 'comfortable' for the reader. The layout allows you to cover a topic on more than two pages as it is natural to roll over. The disadvantage is that you are able to fit less text or pictures on a page because you have a larger amount of margin either side of the page. It is also difficult to build in a 'menu' system to help the reader around the book. We usually just have a conventional contents page at the front and an simple index at the back.

The Omfax layout styles:

Click on the icons to see the different styles being offered. Each pdf shows a few pages taken from different parts of the book to give you an idea of how we present the different information.

Repairs Handbooks

A5 landscape
A5 portrait	1 2 3
A4 landscape
A4 portrait	1 2 3

Tenancy Handbooks

A5 landscape
A5 portrait	1 2 3
A4 landscape
A4 portrait	1 2 3

Leaseholders Handbooks

A5 portrait

1 2 3

If you want to discuss a variation to one of these designs or how we would could adapt your preferred style to your corporate image, please contact us.

Binding options

We believe the best, and most cost-effective option, is staple binding because:

• it makes the books robust and have a good shelf-life in the home
• the reader finds them easy to handle and can open out each page spread fully for reading
• they are the cheapest to produce
• they do not take up much room as so are easy to put in a drawer or a file
• they are easy to package and distribute by mail.

Each handbook will have two staples which are normally flat ,but you can also have looped staples which allow the book to be kept in a ring binder.

You may be thinking of producing your handbook in a ring binder. This is a much more expensive option in terms of production costs: cost of binders, printing of pages and binder cover, drilling of pages and assembling each binder. They are also less robust, as each page can get damaged, and the rings often become misaligned. Also, we have to create larger margins on each page to allow for the holes and so this reduces the amount of text you can fit on each page.

The updating issue

"We need to have the book in a ring binder" I hear you say. "We want to be able send out updated pages now and then,and so it would be more cost-effective to go for a binder". Although the logic is sound, in practice things rarely work out this way. Many of our customers went down that route before they came to us and learned that on-going, drip-feed updating did not take place, and so the extra costs involved were rarely recouped by lower updating costs. Even if you do regular updating, there is a likelihood that the single pages that you send out never get put into the binders or get put in the wrong place. It may even give a bad impression that you are constantly changing things about.

We believe that you should use other means, particularly regular newsletters, to inform your customers of the occasional changes to the services your provide.

We offer a fast and efficient updates and reprints service for when you need more copies of your handbooks or want to review and redistribute your books, perhaps in a new corporate look or even in a different layout design. Find out more about updating and reprinting