Report formats in Word

rogaine · Post by **rogaine** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 9:27 am

I've taken the initiative of revamping the format of my shop's reports. Why? Because while content is well and good, formatting is important as well since the reports may be circulated to other shops (for their amusement). No point in having good content if the formatting is so ugly no one reads it. Currently, the format is a spew of Times New Roman and ugly graphs - think Rorschach in a nappy. I've looked at a ton of report formats - UBS, HVB, ING etc. I kinda like the UBS type where they leave an ample amount margin space, but its a b*tch to format in Word I think. So I am veering towards the 2 column "newspaper style" format. My questions for the NPers:

1. What sort of report formatting do you like?

2. Anyone have spiffy Word report templates to share? Big Smile

FDAXHunter · Post by **FDAXHunter** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:04 am

It's obviously a matter of taste, but I hate it when people use any colors darker than the lightest shade, for tables or text headlines or anything else. Merrill Lynch's reports are notorious for this. They all go directly into the trashcan, I can't even be bothered to look at them.

JPMorgan and UBS have decent choices of colors and try to keep it fairly simple (though JPM could definitely improve quite a bit), don't go overboard with ornamentals. Remember: traders have the attention span of babies... possibly shorter. So if you can't find what you are looking for by perusing the thing in 10 secs, it's unlikely it can get any attention.

The informational value of these "research reports" and "daily updates" is questionable at best and zero at worst. So making it easy to look at and simple to use is the key to getting people to actually devote some attention and assign a value to it (even if it is just a marginal one).

I take a keen interest in architecture, visual arts and design in my free time, so if you want, you can e-mail me some of your drafts and I can give you my opinion (not that I'm saying my opinion is worth diddly, I'm just saying three eyes see more than two).

Also, get a Mac ( :apple: ). I'm not saying that because I tend to prefer Macs myself (my opinion has actually begun to shift since they annoyed this Intel Idiocy). But... the formatting and design capabilities of Office for the Mac exceed that of Office for Windows. I might post two charts later for comparison. Your company is unlikely to get you a Mac, so go buy your own (if your salary permits it). Sometimes you have to ignore corporate bullheadedness to get shit done right, if you know what I'm sayin'.

Hope this helps.

thefoolishfour · Post by **thefoolishfour** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 11:15 am

I would go as far as to forget office and got adobe.....

FDAXHunter · Post by **FDAXHunter** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 1:35 pm

I can see where you are coming from on that, and design-wise, I 'd agree with you. But Adobe PageMaker is a whole other bag of issues. Enterprise-wide, how many people are going to have PageMaker? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Office for Mac offers a good compromise for non-print media (I think) while having a lower learning curve and being perfectably interchangeable in your organization.

rogaine · Post by **rogaine** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 7:46 pm

Thanks for the brain cells, guys.

[i]but I hate it when people use any colors darker than the lightest shade, for tables or text headlines or anything else.[/i]

FDAX you meant to say "colors lighter than the darkest shade" right? Expressionless

[i]So making it easy to look at and simple to use is the key to getting people to actually devote some attention and assign a value to it (even if it is just a marginal one).[/i]

Yeah. As long as it is readable and punchy, the format should be fine. I am spending way to much time on pimping up the formatting. At this rate, I'm gonna get my Word Black Belt (yesh, there are some (sad?) people who have this official accolade) in no time. Puke

[i]I take a keen interest in architecture, visual arts and design in my free time, so if you want, you can e-mail me some of your drafts and I can give you my opinion (not that I'm saying my opinion is worth diddly, I'm just saying three eyes see more than two).[/i]

Noted, with thanks. I wouldn't inflict my turd.doc on innocents though. And... 3 eyes? What? You're gonna use your salami to vet my docs??? Tongue out

[i]I would go as far as to forget office and got adobe.....[/i]

Agreed, TFF. But I think the other fellas will be unwilling to learn PageMaker, no matter how nutritious it is. I'd love it if we can afford to hire a fulltime DTP-monkey though. Then we can send him our hieroglyphics for beautification in Pagemaker.

[b]EDIT:[/b] Did not know Mac-Word's feature set was stronger than Win-Word. Hmmm. But my thinking is, FDAX, if I do require the more powerful features in Mac-Word, then probably it is because I am doing too much pimping on the formatting. Just my 2 ticks discretion. Beer

FDAXHunter · Post by **FDAXHunter** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 8:09 pm

Sorry if that was a bit confusing. But I really do mean darker than the lightest shade. Text should almost always be black. But other ornamental/formatting elements should deviate significantly from black to not drown out the text.

(Counter)Example for illustration purposes (courtesy the aesthetes at Mother Merrill):

[b]DAX[/b]
[b]Var Bid[/b]
[b]Var Offer[/b]

rogaine · Post by **rogaine** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 8:22 pm

[i]Sorry if that was a bit confusing. But I really do mean darker than the lightest shade. Text should almost always be black. But other ornamental/formatting elements should deviate significantly from black to not drown out the text.[/i]

Ah ok, I see what you mean dude. Yesh, Mother Merrill has some wacky aesthetes. Another affliction is the desire to use only colours related to the company logo. BarCap (blue) does it well. ABN Amro (green) tends to look a bit weird. Hehe... mayhap we should start an Analyst Report Format (screw content!) appreciation society? Cool

[i](I can only see on one eye. Courtesy of "resistance to interrogation" classes and too much tear gas. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and all that.)[/i]

Whoops. Sorry about that, dude. Blush

Tradenator · Post by **Tradenator** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 8:59 am

What is good software to use for a small shop to produce monthly client reports (for private accounts), company presentations and other types of things? I don't have or want a Mac, but could get one if required...

HitmanH · Post by **HitmanH** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:41 am

Might be off in terms of scale - but Kurtosys is fantastic for that kind of stuff...

Tradenator · Post by **Tradenator** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 1:10 pm

Thanks. Anyone who has seen any of my reports will confirm that a makeover is required.