Crystal Reports® 2008 For Dummies®

Chapter 25. Ten Ways to Give Your Reports More Pizzazz

In This Chapter

• Use the correct fonts

• Use color tastefully

• Enclose text in boxes

• Emphasize objects with drop shadows

• Produce a consistent appearance with templates

• Add an image

• Add a chart

• Add a map

• Combine two objects with an underlay

• Separate the summary from the details with drill down

You say you want to make your reports more visually appealing? Crystal Reports can help you do that. In this chapter, I mention ten simple ways to help you lift your reports out of the category of ordinary into the rarified atmosphere of truly extraordinary. You can give your reports maximum impact by tastefully combining several of the techniques in this chapter.

Use the Correct Fonts

Beyond the bare facts presented in a report, you might also want your report to convey a feeling or emotion. Perhaps you want the report to put the reader in a sober, strictly business frame of mind. Or you might want the report to playfully remind readers of things that are fun. You might want to call particular attention to certain parts of the report, while burying other parts in a way that makes them easy to overlook. You can accomplish much of this with a judicious choice of fonts.

A wide variety of font styles are available, and you can use several in the same report although you should try to avoid going overboard with too many font styles. Three different styles are usually plenty. You can also vary the size of the font, and whether it is bold, italic, or underlined. ...