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The very last minute slide
The very last minute slide
Abbreviations in
SiR-Dicato and Mahon (April 30, p 1108) describe an ingenious method of producing projection slides at the last moment. They suggest photocopying onto acetate film for the overhead projector (OHP) using repeated size reductions so that the final film is small enough for a 35 mm slide mount. I have an even more effective solution for those with a laser printer and a reasonable word-processing package. If the text is prepared in small type (say 6 point) it can be set out on the word processor screen with the right dimensions (34x23 mm overall) and printed directly on to laser quality OHP film. Your efforts can be proof read first by a print on paper. The print quality will probably be better than that obtained by repeated photo-reproduction. Most wordprocessing packages will allow enlargement on screen so that it is not too difficult to do the original slide composition. My limited trial of the method suggests that the slide will be very clear when projected if the final type size on the acetate film is 6 point.
SiR-"We need to evaluate critically the efficacy of PE (with without BSE) as an alternative screening method in future randomised trials" (Feb 5, p 342). Is The Lancet so short of space or are doctors so short of time that these abbreviations are needed? Will we soon be reading of "PE±BSE as ASM in FRT"? Abbreviations are more often a hindrance to understanding than a help. They are useful in informal discussion within small groups of common interest; they are an annoyance, and confusing, to those outside the groups. Guides to writing style may allow standard abbreviations, but standard to whom? "We need to evaluate critically the efficacy of physical examination (with or without self examination of the breast) as an alternative screening method in future randomised trials" is immediately understandable. If The Lancet wishes to save space, then "We need randomised trials of screening by physical examination with or without self-examination" is shorter, and means the same as the original sentence.
1) Letter height: no lettering less than six per cent of longest dimension of slide (2) Letter thickness: no letter height more than six times its thickness (3) Data content. no more than six times two (twelve) items of information (4) Number of slides/OHPs, not more than six in each quarter of an hour (5) Colour. six per cent of your audience is colour blind, use colour carefully (6) Visibility: all visual materials legible at six times their diagonal dimensions
University Department of Anaesthesia, Medical School Unit, Southmead Hospital,
journals
or
Neville W Goodman
Table: The rule of sixes
For some years I have been trying to promote better slides for use at scientific meetings. My "rule of sixes" (table) reminds colleagues of the criteria for producing slides that will be clearly legible under the less than perfect projection conditions sometimes found in conference halls.’I The eye has difficulty in distinguishing features which subtend an angle of less than about one minute of arc at the eye. Thus whether an image is small and close or large and distant, its impact on the visual system, within the limits of illumination, will be the same. In practice, a slide (or artwork to be made into a slide) will be suitable if it can be read at a distance of six times its diagonal. For a 35 mm slide this is about 25 cm; for a drawing or graph on A4 paper it is about 200 cm. The same rule can be used to specify the size of screen required in a lecture room (the screen diagonal must be no less than one-sixth of the furthest viewing distance) and it can be used to define legibility in OHP films. This is a test strip for the Use of Slides. You really should not produce a slide with text much smaller than this because it will not be legible. The Rule of Sixes applies equally in the case of hand made shdes as in those produced by conventional means. The Key rule is that the slide must be legible at a distance which is SIX times its diagonal, ie, SIX point
stnp for the Use of You really should not produce a slide with text much smaller than this because It will not be legible. The Rule of Sixes applies equally m the case of hand made slides as in those produced by conventional means. The Key rule is that the slide must be legible at a distance which is SIX times its diagonal, Ie, SIX pomt
type
type.
Test text set in 6 in The Lancet
Figure:
This is Slides
point type in
a test
the two
type faces used
I now have a dilemma: thanks to Dicato and Mahon’s letter I find that the optimum type size on the 35 mm slide itself is six point (figure). My six-part rule now has seven items and I shall have to rearrange it. N J Birch Biomedical Research Laboratory. School of Health Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton WV1 1DJ, UK
Bristol BS10 5NB, UK
SiR-Specialists often take for granted that certain trade
self-explanatory. In their report of a randomised of coronary intervention with c7E3 for clinical restenosis, Topol and colleagues (April 9, p 881) use the acronym EPIC without explanation. Acronyms are necessary, because they simplify and accelerate modern medical communication. However, they can be aggravating if you do not know their meaning.’According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editorsthe full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text. This same rule should be applied to acronyms. Like Topol and co-workers and many speakers at national and international scientific meetings, we share a bad habit of drifting away from standard practice. Because of my personal frustration in recent years at reading many articles in various medical (especially cardiological) journals that use acronyms without exaplanation I compiled a table of acronyms of major cardiological trials.3 Lancet readers may find it helpful, especially when they realise that several trials may share the same acronyms-eg, CATS, PACT, and TIPE.3 Although EPIC in Topol’s report stands for Evaluation of IIb/IIIa Platelet receptor antagonist 7E3 in preventing Ischaemic Complications, the same acronym has also been applied to the Echocardiography Persantine International Cooperative study.’ Therefore, confusion is bound to arise unless the specific acronym is explained when first used. Finally, when the same study evolves into the next phase, certain letters in the same acronyms may stand for a different word, and consequently the acronyms would have a different connotation. For example, the first N stands for North in CONSENSUS but New in CONSENSUS II; the second S stands for Streptochinasi in GISSI but Soprawivenza in GISSI-2; the I stands for Intermediate in VALID but Indeterminate in VALID II; the V stands for Veterans in V-HeFT but Vasodilator in V-HeFT II; the C in PLAC stands for Coroanry but in PLAC-2 refers to Carotid.’ terms are
trial
Tsung O Cheng Department of Medicine, The DC 20037. USA 1
2 1
Birch NJ. The rule of sixes. Biochem Educa 1988; 16: 22.
1434
George Washington University, Washington,
Cheng TO. Acronym aggravation. Br Heart J 1994; 71: 107-09. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. N Engl J Med 1991; 324: 424-28.
Abbreviations in
SiR-Dicato and Mahon (April 30, p 1108) describe an ingenious method of producing projection slides at the last moment. They suggest photocopying onto acetate film for the overhead projector (OHP) using repeated size reductions so that the final film is small enough for a 35 mm slide mount. I have an even more effective solution for those with a laser printer and a reasonable word-processing package. If the text is prepared in small type (say 6 point) it can be set out on the word processor screen with the right dimensions (34x23 mm overall) and printed directly on to laser quality OHP film. Your efforts can be proof read first by a print on paper. The print quality will probably be better than that obtained by repeated photo-reproduction. Most wordprocessing packages will allow enlargement on screen so that it is not too difficult to do the original slide composition. My limited trial of the method suggests that the slide will be very clear when projected if the final type size on the acetate film is 6 point.
SiR-"We need to evaluate critically the efficacy of PE (with without BSE) as an alternative screening method in future randomised trials" (Feb 5, p 342). Is The Lancet so short of space or are doctors so short of time that these abbreviations are needed? Will we soon be reading of "PE±BSE as ASM in FRT"? Abbreviations are more often a hindrance to understanding than a help. They are useful in informal discussion within small groups of common interest; they are an annoyance, and confusing, to those outside the groups. Guides to writing style may allow standard abbreviations, but standard to whom? "We need to evaluate critically the efficacy of physical examination (with or without self examination of the breast) as an alternative screening method in future randomised trials" is immediately understandable. If The Lancet wishes to save space, then "We need randomised trials of screening by physical examination with or without self-examination" is shorter, and means the same as the original sentence.
1) Letter height: no lettering less than six per cent of longest dimension of slide (2) Letter thickness: no letter height more than six times its thickness (3) Data content. no more than six times two (twelve) items of information (4) Number of slides/OHPs, not more than six in each quarter of an hour (5) Colour. six per cent of your audience is colour blind, use colour carefully (6) Visibility: all visual materials legible at six times their diagonal dimensions
University Department of Anaesthesia, Medical School Unit, Southmead Hospital,
journals
or
Neville W Goodman
Table: The rule of sixes
For some years I have been trying to promote better slides for use at scientific meetings. My "rule of sixes" (table) reminds colleagues of the criteria for producing slides that will be clearly legible under the less than perfect projection conditions sometimes found in conference halls.’I The eye has difficulty in distinguishing features which subtend an angle of less than about one minute of arc at the eye. Thus whether an image is small and close or large and distant, its impact on the visual system, within the limits of illumination, will be the same. In practice, a slide (or artwork to be made into a slide) will be suitable if it can be read at a distance of six times its diagonal. For a 35 mm slide this is about 25 cm; for a drawing or graph on A4 paper it is about 200 cm. The same rule can be used to specify the size of screen required in a lecture room (the screen diagonal must be no less than one-sixth of the furthest viewing distance) and it can be used to define legibility in OHP films. This is a test strip for the Use of Slides. You really should not produce a slide with text much smaller than this because it will not be legible. The Rule of Sixes applies equally in the case of hand made shdes as in those produced by conventional means. The Key rule is that the slide must be legible at a distance which is SIX times its diagonal, ie, SIX point
stnp for the Use of You really should not produce a slide with text much smaller than this because It will not be legible. The Rule of Sixes applies equally m the case of hand made slides as in those produced by conventional means. The Key rule is that the slide must be legible at a distance which is SIX times its diagonal, Ie, SIX pomt
type
type.
Test text set in 6 in The Lancet
Figure:
This is Slides
point type in
a test
the two
type faces used
I now have a dilemma: thanks to Dicato and Mahon’s letter I find that the optimum type size on the 35 mm slide itself is six point (figure). My six-part rule now has seven items and I shall have to rearrange it. N J Birch Biomedical Research Laboratory. School of Health Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton WV1 1DJ, UK
Bristol BS10 5NB, UK
SiR-Specialists often take for granted that certain trade
self-explanatory. In their report of a randomised of coronary intervention with c7E3 for clinical restenosis, Topol and colleagues (April 9, p 881) use the acronym EPIC without explanation. Acronyms are necessary, because they simplify and accelerate modern medical communication. However, they can be aggravating if you do not know their meaning.’According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editorsthe full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text. This same rule should be applied to acronyms. Like Topol and co-workers and many speakers at national and international scientific meetings, we share a bad habit of drifting away from standard practice. Because of my personal frustration in recent years at reading many articles in various medical (especially cardiological) journals that use acronyms without exaplanation I compiled a table of acronyms of major cardiological trials.3 Lancet readers may find it helpful, especially when they realise that several trials may share the same acronyms-eg, CATS, PACT, and TIPE.3 Although EPIC in Topol’s report stands for Evaluation of IIb/IIIa Platelet receptor antagonist 7E3 in preventing Ischaemic Complications, the same acronym has also been applied to the Echocardiography Persantine International Cooperative study.’ Therefore, confusion is bound to arise unless the specific acronym is explained when first used. Finally, when the same study evolves into the next phase, certain letters in the same acronyms may stand for a different word, and consequently the acronyms would have a different connotation. For example, the first N stands for North in CONSENSUS but New in CONSENSUS II; the second S stands for Streptochinasi in GISSI but Soprawivenza in GISSI-2; the I stands for Intermediate in VALID but Indeterminate in VALID II; the V stands for Veterans in V-HeFT but Vasodilator in V-HeFT II; the C in PLAC stands for Coroanry but in PLAC-2 refers to Carotid.’ terms are
trial
Tsung O Cheng Department of Medicine, The DC 20037. USA 1
2 1
Birch NJ. The rule of sixes. Biochem Educa 1988; 16: 22.
1434
George Washington University, Washington,
Cheng TO. Acronym aggravation. Br Heart J 1994; 71: 107-09. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. N Engl J Med 1991; 324: 424-28.