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Lesson 9: Frames and Boxes
Rules and Best Practices for Page Layout

From Jacci Howard Bear, Instructor, About.com Guest

Ever felt “all boxed in?” Boxes, borders, or frames are useful design and organizational devices. The problem is that they are just too easy to create.

You have probably seen a flier, brochure, or report that has box after box after box — even boxes within boxes. A frame loses its ability to emphasize blocks of text if every other block on the page is boxed. Frames around text also interrupt the flow of text, and the flow of the reader’s eye. Too many boxes of text make the document harder to read. In many cases, simple frames are best.

Explore the great variety of options shown in this lesson. View Rules and Best Practices in Page Layout Illustrations: Frames and Boxes for a quick visual on some appropriate ways to use frames, boxes, and borders. Each of these is covered in more detail on the next 3 pages of this lesson.

Use Frames with Purpose

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