Digital Sub-Editing and Design (Focal Journalism)

This excellent book covers editing in the digital age, demonstrating the tools needed for effective text editing. Learn how to write powerful headlines and captions, and how to edit body text quickly and cleanly. It also concentrates on design in the digital environment, introducing typography and the related issues of readability and legibility. The skills of picture editing are explored, including image selection, cropping, manipulation and the ethics involved. These core skills and methods are then applied to the World Wide Web. Recent research into how people navigate Web pages is considered, and recommends ways to write more effectively for the online medium.


The first section concentrates on editing in the digital age, demonstrating the tools needed for effective text editing. Dr Quinn shows how to write powerful headlines and captions, and how to edit body text quickly and cleanly.

The middle section concentrates on design in the digital environment. Chapter five introduces typography and the related issues of readability and legibility. Chapter six covers the principles of design and how they can be applied to print and electronic publications. Chapter seven looks at the skills of picture editing, including image selection, cropping, manipulation and the ethics involved. Chapter eight investigates other forms of visual presentation such as diagrams, logos, maps and cartoons.

In the final section, these core skills and methods are applied to the World Wide Web. Chapter nine considers recent research into how people navigate Web pages, and recommends ways to write more effectively for the online medium. Chapter ten examines how the principles of print design can (and cannot) be applied to Web pages.

Stephen Quinn is an associate professor of journalism in the Faculty of Arts at Deakin University in Australia. He previously served as an associate professor of journalism at Ball State University and as both the director of the Center for Media Training and Research and an associate professor of journalism at Zayed University in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. He has also taught journalism in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Between 1975 and 1990, Quinn worked full time as a reporter, writer, editor and columnist in Australia, Thailand, the UK and New Zealand. He started with regional newspapers in Australia (the Newcastle Herald) and has worked -- in chronological order -- for the Bangkok Post, the Press Association in London, BBC-TV, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Television New Zealand, Independent Television News in London, and The Guardian in London.

He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Newcastle in Australia, his master's degree from The City University in London and his Ph.D. from the University of Wollongong in Australia.

Quinn is the author of Convergent Journalism and Conversations on Convergence (both New York: Peter Lang 2005) Knowledge Management in the Digital Newsroom (Oxford: Focal Press 2002), Digital Sub-Editing and Design (Oxford: Focal Press 2001), Newsgathering on the Net second edition (Melbourne: Macmillan 2001) and The Art of Learning (Sydney: UNSW Press 1999).