A: (emotional response): NOOOOOOOOoooooooo!

A: (professional response): Actually, it would be much better if you would please write your changes on the proof and send the markup to us by PDF or fax. Or, if you prefer, explain the changes needed in an email. 

Here's why: We've spent hours copyediting, laying out and proofreading your text. If you send us new Word documents, we have to start over. Then you will have to read the articles again in the next proof, rather than just checking to verify that the requested changes were made correctly. The added unnecessary work adds stress for everyone at a point in the process when we should all be focused on fine-tuning and perfecting the product.

Then is used when speaking about time and consequences.

a. Earl Grantham walks with the dog, and then he dresses for dinner.

b. If Thomas asks Daisy to the fair, then William will be disappointed. 

Than is used for comparisons.

c. Lady Edith has fewer advantages than Lady Mary.

Sometimes substituting one for the other changes the meaning of sentence.

d. Mrs. Crawley would rather get a stick in the eye than have tea with the Dowager Countess.

e. Mrs. Crawley would rather get a stick in the eye, then have tea with the Dowager Countess. 

Writers make the then/than mistake often when typing. Perhaps that's because the words are pronounced very similarly and the writers are tripped up while taking dictation from their inner muses. Spell check doesn't help, as both are correct spellings, even if used incorrectly. 

So, every time you see then or than while editing, a little red flag should pop up, alerting you to make sure you have the right one. 

• DO pay extra attention to uses of then and than. Mixing them up is a very common mistake.
   
• DO know thyself. Every writer and editor has a few Achilles' heels. Give the attention that is due when you see words and phrases that have flummoxed you in the past. 

A: If you don't have the original photo you received or purchased — only the photo as it was used in the brochure — then no, she can't make it any larger.

The correct way to do pre-press production work on an image is to reduce the file size to exactly the size needed for display in the actual final dimensions. For example, the original photo may have been 8×12 inches. In the layout, the photo was used at only 2×3 inches – only one-quarter the size of the original. So during pre-press production, the designer would have reduced the file size substantially. From then on, that "knocked down" version of the photo can never be used larger than 2×3 inches. 

Designers should always save the original photos, but not all of them do. Be sure your new designer is following this best practice, so that in the future you don't have to re-acquire a photo to get it at the size you need for a different use.

Also, before re-using a purchased photo, re-check the original terms of purchase. Some stock photo rights are sold for one-time use only.

On the left, he's sporting a $30,000 watch – stylish, but a controversial choice of wristwear for the leader of a church beset by corruption and fraud scandals. Jinkies!  

On the right – presto-chango-Photoshoppo – no watch. Zoinks! 

They would have gotten away with it, too, if they had bothered to Photoshop out the watch's reflection on the table. Rut-row!  (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/world/europe/in-russia-a-watch-vanishes-up-orthodox-leaders-sleeve.html)

We're not advocating fraud, but sometimes you need a little Photoshop magic. Let's say Mr. Burns wants you to put a picture of him on the website of his new investment property, a flagging and possibly haunted amusement park. Burns wants to use a photo that shows him with his suddenly and mysteriously missing partner in this business venture, Sideshow Bob. But he wants Bob removed from the photo.

To fool the Scooby Gang into thinking that Bob was never in the picture: 

• DO get rid of all parts of Bob, not just his face and torso. Disembodied hands, hair and feet are a dead give-away of photo doctoring. Fred and Daphne will figure it out.
   
• DON'T forget other evidence of Bob. That includes shadows and reflections. Velma looks for that sort of thing.
   
• DON'T elongate or truncate Burns' body to cover up Bob. That's plain creepy. Even Shaggy will notice.

P.S. DON'T worry, Bob is fine. He's been walking around late at night in a glowing sheet, trying to drum up publicity for the amusement park. Burns was, like, in on it the whole time. 

P.P.S. If you are pals with Matt Groening, DO pass this story treatment along. We've always dreamed of writing for The Simpsons.

A: Not unless you want him to look like Super Mario circa 1985 as opposed to the new 3D Super Mario. 

Web photos won't work in print. Digital photos are made of tiny squares called pixels. For a photo to look sharp in print, each square inch must be densely packed with 300 pixels. (That's why you'll hear designers talk about needing photos at 300 ppi.) A Web image has only 72 pixels per inch. If you take 72 pixels and spread them out to fill a space meant to hold 300, you create "gaps" in the image information. This might be interesting if you were an impressionist painter, but not if you're a graphic designer. The computer compensates by filling the gaps with colors that approximate those in nearby pixels. The result: a ragged, blurry photo.

On the plus side, this effect has given our language some colorful words. Photos like these are said to be "pixilated" or "bit-mapped" (pixels are sometimes called "bits."). It even inspired Hollister designer Georgette Klotz to dress as a pixilated photo for our annual Halloween celebration!

Oh, enervate, you sneaky little word, you. Charlatan! Mountebank! Knave! You sound impressive and exotic. We want to trot you out to show off our eloquence. And – oh hubris! – you beat us at our own game, for you are not what you seem.

Many, many people think enervate is a fancy-schmancy way to say energize, wake up or rejuvenate. In fact it is quite the opposite. To enervate is to sap the energy, weakening or destroying mental and physical vigor.

Lois Lane energizes Superman. Kryptonite enervates him.

Proscribe is another wily fellow. It looks like prescribe, and it's got that positive-sounding "pro" on the front, so many folks think it must mean "tell you to do something." Wrong again. It means to prohibit or condemn, e.g. "Grandma proscribed skateboarding in the house."

• DO put enervate and proscribed on your watch list. They are tricky.
   
• DON'T be afraid of using uncommon words – they can make writing more fun. Just make sure you use them correctly.

A: Please don't shoot the designer. Comic Sans was created for comic-book-style talk bubbles containing informational help text. It was meant to project "friendly," "fun" and "non-threatening." But its overuse on flyers, invitations and passive-aggressive bulletin board notes have turned it into a typographical menace and a cultural shibboleth: If you use it, you've alerted the design cognoscenti that you're either an ironic hipster or an amateur.

Comic Sans may be just the thing for announcing your school bake sale, but do not use it on anything meant to look professional. Your designer can convey "playful" or "informal" without resorting to (shudder) Comic Sans.

The Internet is chock-full of very funny unlove for Comic Sans.

•  Here is a "translated" movie clip in which Hitler freaks out over Comic Sans.
   
• Here is a very profane rant in which Comic Sans defends himself. 

Always begin with the end [date] in mind. With a nod and a wink to Stephen Covey, we suggest to clients that this is Habit 1 for highly effective project managers.

• Do plan out your project schedule by starting with the due date and working backward.
   
• Don't leave client review for last – plan ample review time at several interim project milestones.
   
• Do build in time to accommodate unforeseen problems.
   
• Don't live by "drop-dead" deadlines unless you're willing to risk having the annual report ready the day after the annual meeting.

A: Instead of hearing those clipped phrases as if they were coming from a drill sergeant, think of your client speaking the same words with a smile on his face. Hear the difference?  

Email is great for quick notes, but manners can fall victim to efficiency and the writer's tone of voice is lacking. Without vocal cues to the emotion behind the message, a lot can get lost in translation.  

But you can do something about it. Instead of always emailing back, pick up the phone every once in a while. You'll build a better relationship and you'll be able to offer better service because you can ask follow-up questions and get more detailed answers. If possible, make an appointment to meet in person sometimes, too.

If your client turns out to be just as terse on the phone and in person, you'll have to be satisfied with the compliments he implies every time he barks a new request at you rather than one of your competitors. If you want to keep the work coming, keep in mind that you're on the same team — and both of you want the work you do to be great!    

A: Good for you! Contrary to Kermit the Frog's famous lament, it is easy being green when it comes to paper choices.

You can be a Great, Responsible, Engagingly Enlightened, Nicely Innovating Environmentalist (GREENIE) by choosing printers certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization devoted to responsible management of the world's forests. It tracks certified wood products from the forest of origin all the way through the supply chain. 

The FSC label ensures that the products used were responsibly harvested. That means no conversion of natural forests or other habitats, no use of hazardous pesticides, no cultivation of genetically modified trees and no violation of the rights of indigenous peoples. Each certified operation is checked out at least once a year and if it is found not to comply, the certification is withdrawn. 

Side benefit: FSC has a very cute logo you can display on your printed pieces to let readers know you are a GREENIE.