Publish Print Output For Review

When creating the First Draft we have found it is best to produce your document in printed form only. Having said that, it is often good to publish the other output formats just once, so you can see how your document's structure and format works in each output.

There will probably be several rounds of changes during the rest of the authoring process -- not only to the text but also to the graphics. You may need different formats of your graphics for each output. If you are handling graphic format conversion yourself, you'll only want to do it once, after things are finalized.

The printed form is also easier to review. You can use Microsoft Word's review features or you can just print it out and have people review it by writing straight on the paper. Our recommended approach is to review it on paper. Studies have shown that reading from a computer screen reduces comprehension, so it reduces the chances of picking up errors in the document. Reviewing from paper also lets almost anyone review the document.