Digital Proofreading
With the growing importance of e-books and digital publishing projects, which may include elements such as PDFs and webpages, the need for content to be wholly accurate and consistent remains a top priority for publishers. Even publishing projects that will ultimately be delivered in a printed format may involve production processes that necessitate digital stages, so in-house and freelance editorial staff are increasingly required to add on-screen proofreading to their armoury of skills.
This course will enable you to:
- understand the purpose of proofreading on-screen
- understand effective and efficient on-screen proofreading techniques
- understand the importance of clear briefs and author relationships.
Every student will have sole use of a computer, pre-loaded with all the latest software.
Programme
- Introduction
- What is digital proofreading?
- Digital editing/proofreading: where draw the line?
- Hard and soft proofs: pros and cons of paper vs on-screen
- Working methods
- What are the options for digital mark up?
- Marking up PDFs on-screen: Acrobat and alternatives
- Electronic mark up in MS Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Access)
- Options for marking up web pages on-screen
- Proofreading e-books: common problems
- Checking metatags and HTML/XML coding basics
- Digital content checklist
- Proofreading in content management systems
- Improving accuracy and consistency
- Is digital worse than paper?
- Proofreading 'blind' versus against copy
- Transferring (some) traditional working methods on-screen
- Towards more accurate on-screen reading
- Importance of style sheets
- Common problems
- Easily missed mistakes
- Special characters: common mistakes and display problems
- Style issues: spacing, alignment and position; dashes and hyphens; capitalisation; numbers
- Some words about grammar and punctuation
- The human element
- Preparing a brief for an on-screen proofreader
- Proofreading checklist
- Handling author queries
- Collating changes: what to do when amendments conflict
- Avoiding repetitive strain injury and eye strain
- Resources
- Glossary
- Reference works and further reading
- Internet resources.
Who will benefit from this course?
Anyone responsible for the editorial consistency and accuracy of web-based projects, e-books or with digital elements such as PDFs, CDs, DVDs and PowerPoint presentations.
Note that most of our short courses can also be run as in-company events.
- Dates: 21 May 2012, 13 June 2012, 24 September 2012
- Duration: A one-day course
- Price: £385+VAT
- A number of discounts are available
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