Text Messaging: A Necessary Tool For Business And Personal Use

Text messaging, also identified as Short Messaging Service (SMS), is rising up as a trendy form of digital writing. It is rapidly becoming the favorite over e-mail in sending private messages from a computer or cellular phone. Teens along with the hearing impaired have embraced this electronic form of keeping in touch. Even schools are utilizing text messaging as an alternate form of emergency contact. Rapidly Advancing in the Messaging World Originally directed at businesses as an additional feature, Short Messaging Service (SMS) has advanced in the United States as an inexpensive plan for long distance or local communication for everyone. SMS is characterized as text messages, giving up to 160 characters in a message to be sent to or from mobile phones. This form of messaging has become a convenient alternative to voice messaging and e-mail because it is private and it means less usage of airtime minutes. Likewise, consumers and businesses utilize text messaging for their personal or professional communication needs. Teenage cellular users have picked up on the “texting” fad also. Teens and Text Messaging What is the ordinary teens’ preferred writing tool? Well, it sure isn’t a pen or a #2 pencil. Believe it or not, it’s not a computer either. Their favorite composition tool is a cellular phone. Though mass amounts of adults complain about e-mail, instant messaging, and the text messages that sent juvenile fingers dancing over their cell phone keys, numerous experts take a firm stand that teenage authorship is as robust as ever. This proliferation of composition, in all its vexed, hurried contours, has in reality produced a generation more skilled with the scripted word. American teenagers have been the leaders in worldwide trend setting; and actually were trailing behind when it came to the text-messaging trend. This has been fashionable in Asia and Europe for a few years. Text messaging has presently become a favored form in which American teenagers pass notes to each other. It will thrive, as today’s text-grasping teens grow older. The next generation of teens will proceed to use text messaging because it is inexpensive, quick and a discrete way to communicate. Teenagers and adults alike can opt to receive text traffic updates, updates for local weather conditions, breaking news of a favorite pop artist or daily horoscopes. Some sports teams have even begun using SMS to keep in touch with fans. While attending entertainment events such as an amusement park or concert, you could program your cellular service to alert you when anyone on your buddy list enters your area. Or maybe use the same service to locate your roaming teens in a shopping mall. The service, which is location-based, could alert you when your teen has come within close proximity. In return you would be able to text your teen and arrange a meeting place. Dissimilar from e-mail, a single text message may cost the transmitter as much as 10 cents per message, and receiving the message may likewise cost the recipient a few pennies. Therefore, heavy spamming is not as likely as it is through e-mail. As a result, businesses find it less of a hindrance than e-mail; therefore they have utilized “texting” for employee reminders of upcoming meetings or audits. Texting for Businesses Not very often will you find a business owner perched at his/her desk. They have much to oversee which keeps them busy, allotting little to no time for siphoning through e-mail that is at most times rubbish. With text messaging, employers are able to inform members of their staff of rush orders, emergency meetings just planned or a surprise audit entering the building. A majority of cellular users have their cell phones with them wherever they go. If an employee is not at their desk, a text message is more accessible than e-mail. Text messaging is also a great tool for business owners who employ the hearing impaired and it’s an efficient method for communication with hearing impaired employees. Text Messaging Assists the Hearing Impaired The deaf or hearing impaired has embraced this engineering science rather advantageously. When there is interconnectivity of cellular phone reticulations, users transmit with their phones and are able to reach anyone who has a mobile phone. Text based cellular messaging has staggeringly benefited the hearing or speech impaired. By utilizing text messaging, such people can order take out, invite over company, do research and send or receive messages on their own. Text messaging has been very popular among hearing or speech impaired ensuring that their group of friends extends beyond and does not confine them exclusively to their shared community. Schools Can Benefit Text messaging has brought a few benefits to schools as well. Past studies have demonstrated that up to 40% of a school's phone bill consists of calls to locate absentee students and calls to ascertain substitute teachers at short notice. With many parents off to work, text messaging is a sure way to communicate without the possibility of erased answering machine messages or intercepted calls. The payback on this investment could be a significant growth in student attendance and their parent’s involvement with the school itself. Choosing the Right Plan Virtually, all cellular phone carriers offer a text-messaging plan. Many cell phone carriers offer a potpourri of plans to oblige an individuals or businesses needs. The text messaging plans usually offered by cellular providers can be similar in plans yet differ in cost per message. Text messaging can be included with a particular plan or a consumer can be charged a monthly fee allowing a certain number of text messages without an additional fee. Text messages are dispatched in a variety of modes; depending on which mobile provider you choose to go with. Cellular phone providers envision you as the cornerstone of their business. It's a serious benefit for you to acknowledge this before you shop for a cellular phone plan. Cellular service providers require your business to help advance their business, so they will try to romance you with their finest service plans. Choosing a desirable cellular service provider with the most advantageous text-messaging plan may necessitate more than checking out one or two diverse providers and comparing their service plans to your text messaging needs. You may have to check into your own usage as well. For example, how many text messages do you send in a month? While a provider may offer a low rate per message, you may find it less costly to go with a monthly plan or go with a text-messaging plan that is already included with another plan. For whatever the purpose, text messaging is taking off at high speeds in the communications field. The hearing impaired, parents, teens and businesses alike have all benefited from this electronic form of conversing. It has been a necessary tool in many consumers’ lives. Text messaging is an inexpensive, timesaving way to keep in touch.

Better Typography and More Readable Text in PowerPoint

PowerPoint is, fundamentally, a tool for communication, and the heart of that communication is written words. As many charts, videos and illustrations a presentation might have, without text these add up to little more than a collection of disjointed elements pasted between slide transitions.

Words remain the glue that ties information together. Because of this, good typography is as important -- if not more so -- than any visual element in a presenter's PowerPoint file. (This not to say good presentation is a substitute for weak content; after all, content is king.)

"Typography" is a medium-independent term used to describe how type is presented. This includes everything from mixing fonts to choosing colors and point sizes to laying elements on a page in certain relation to other objects.

Good typography doesn't happen by accident -- it is a skill that is developed through practice and experimentation. Just as there are some general, fundamental guidelines that are as applicable to presentation software as they are to billboards and annual reports, there are a few typographical principles that relate directly to PowerPoint alone. Adhering to these simple strategies can result in a much more polished and professional-looking piece.

1. Fonts should never be less than 12 points in size. Even with substantial magnification over a projection system, people have difficulty focusing on smaller type. This really works against you anytime the audience needs to carefully read something, since most of their effort is spent squinting and leaning forward and not on actually understanding the content. The only exception to the 12-point rule would be small copyright information, dates or watermarks that are not related to the primary content.

2. Bigger is better. Headlines should float around 20-24 pt, larger if needed. Body copy generally works well in the 16-18 range, although 14-point is not uncommon for squeezing a few extra lines in. Headline point size should never be smaller than the content size.

3. Don't be afraid of leading. "Leading" is the term for adjusting the space between lines, and can be found under Format > Line Spacing. This does not have to be drastic; often, a subtle 1.1 - 1.5 can really open up the design on a page and make long blocks of text much easier to read.

4. Stick with the standard font faces that are included on a typical Windows machine. These include Times New Roman, Impact, Arial, Verdana, Georgia and Trebuchet. Using off-beaten fonts that you've installed may make your presentation more visually interesting, but it will cause numerous problems when moving the piece between different computers. While these non-standard fonts can conceivably be moved with your file, the end product is rarely worth the resulting headaches.

5. When choosing fonts, it is often better to stay with sans-serif typefaces like Arial and Verdana. Their blocky, minimal nature makes them ideal for headline applications, where they can be displayed at larger sizes and still retain maximum readability. In PowerPoint, it is even more important to use sans-serif fonts in bullets, paragraphs and other small point size applications. Serif fonts like Times New Roman and Georgia are more decorative, and while they perform superbly in the printed realm (look no further than The New York Times for endless columns of the Times face), study after study demonstrate they hinder reading speed and comprehension when presented on screen.

6. Pick font colors that contrast with the background:

* For white backgrounds, black and dark versions of red and blue work exceptionally well.

* For dark backgrounds, like black or rich blues, white is ideal, but options such as yellow or very pale, icy blues can achieve interesting and often captivating color combinations.

* A good visual trick is to use a background color that accepts both white and black font colors. Dark oranges, rich greens (apple green especially) and even certain blues can be excellent choices for the design-adventurous.

* Color combinations to avoid: Black and red, in any situation. Color-similar combinations, such as orange text on yellow backgrounds, or light blue text on dark blue backgrounds.

7. Since PowerPoint works so well with bullet points, it is a presentation technique widely adopted as a means of displaying important information in bite-sized chunks. But consider exploring different typographic solutions for bullets; small changes can often encourage better readability and audience interest. There are several techniques that I have successfully used.

* Consider making the actual bullet a different color than the text. For instance, if your text is black, a medium gray bullet might work well. They serve to primarily guide the eye from line to line, so it is not always critical to make them as visually important as the text.

* Also, making the active bullet line a different color might be a good way to reinforce what you are saying. If each bullet appears manually, dependent on where you are in your speech, this can be a subtle but powerful means of reminding the audience what you are talking about.

* Also, try using different shapes for bullets! PowerPoint's flexible options allows a variety of pre-installed symbols, or even an imported graphic, to be used in place of the rather dry default circles.

8. Consistency. This is, without a doubt, the most important typographic tip in any medium, PowerPoint or other. Design your master template and stick to it. If you use 24-point Arial as a headline font, 16-point Verdana as the body font and a customized set of bullets that change color, use that combination through the entire presentation. And not just sizes and colors, but also positioning. The first sign of amateur PowerPoint is text fields jumping from spot to spot across different slides.