This is a technical explanation page for non-technical teachers. We are going to discuss two phrases, without worrying too much about precise definitions:
a) Real Estate
b) Short Form
The reason we are spending time on this is: teachers mostly don't need to know about real estate or footprints, but they do need to know about short-form planning and other short-form issues. In order to discuss the latter, we need to have a grasp of the former, so here goes:
When designers lay out a form, or a screen, they use the phrase 'real estate' to describe how much space they have to play with. For example, a tax form may be designed to fit on a single sheet of A4 paper, or a Web-page order form may be designed to use only 80% of the screen width, to leave space for advertising copy. This idea of 'real estate' overlaps with the idea of 'footprint' which relates to the physical limitations of hardware. For example, a particular printer may have restrictions on how small the margin may be on a page, or a palm-top computer may not be able to display some Web-pages legibly. We are going to use 'real estate' to cover both concepts.
In order to work efficiently, we need to make sure our documents are laid out properly- this means timetables, calendars, lists etc. There are two conflicting issues at work which make this difficult:
1) Brevity and compactness: we don't want to waste time reading waffle or flipping over pages
2) Legibility and clarity: we want our information to be easy to read and clearly understood
In order to achieve an effective compromise between these two issues we inevitably end up producing documents which fit on a single page, but which contain abbreviations, acronyms, and slang. It is perfectly reasonable to grouse about this "I teach Applied Chemistry, not AppChem" but the alternative is a four-page timetable.
The most basic illustration of short-form is a Ticklist. The e-mail from the Examinations Officer may ask 'can you telephone the parent or guardian of Melanie Gildano in 11Baker to discuss whether any special arrangements will be needed for her July examinations' but your Ticklist will read something like 'Mel G 11B ring mum re exams' or - if you have a good memory - just 'Mel G'.
The thing is that short-form representations are much more useful - and much more acceptable - if they are derived and applied personally: in other words, you should do this yourself where possible. You should be familiar with the real estate available to you for your planning, you should modify your document design to suit your needs, and you should tailor your short-form descriptions and adjust your way of working accordingly. You may not be clear how document design will effect your way of working, and this example may help.
Many teachers use wall planners, desk planners, or electronic diaries to record their appointments (for example meetings). These three examples offer different real-estate. Each daily box on a year-planner allows around 20 readable characters per day, your A6-size desk planner may give you 35 characters per time-slot, whereas your electronic diary allows you an almost unlimited amount of room for text. Which should you use?
Well, the obvious answer is 'you use the one that suits you best', but most people arrive at similar answers, using more than one of the means available. Your year planner has terse reminders 'Meet 17:00' - or alternatively your desk-planner has slightly longer description 'Meet 17:00 in Rm18 re Perf Eval; Kirsty chair', and you have a separate document - either paper or electronic - which has more complete information 'Meeting 17:00 in Room 18 re Performance Evaluation; Kirsty to chair - see e-mail for agenda'.
This is absolutely the approach we recommend in TM4T, but we also suggest that you automate this process. If you record your appointments - and any other event or key date - electronically, you should record the short-form description at the same time, and then generate your short-form documents automatically.