Under the "Post New Topic" button towards the top of the page, you'll see in teensy letters "search." Click on that and then type in "characters per line."

That will search this forum for previous messages where this topic has been discussed and might be quite helpful to you.

Gaile

Are you using the same Font, pitch and margins when you count 65 character lines? I realize that these things can change the amount per line. Is the 65 characters per line an average of what most lines would be or can you physically count 65 keystrokes (including spaces, underlining, etc) in your line. I certainly want to be fair to me and to the doctors. If the doctor would actually sent down and count the keystrokes on your document, would he actually count 65?

When people speak of a 65-character line, they are speaking of counting 65 characters and space combined and calling it a line. It is a fair way of charging the client because you are always using the same unit of measure (the character) and this is never changed by font, font size, or margins.

One of my clients wants his work done in 10 pt Times New Roman, another in 10.5 Ariel, the third and fourth clients in 12 pt Times New Roman. I would be cheating myself if I charged the same for a 10 pt font as for the 12 pt.

None of my clients ever asked me how I determine a line. Yours may not either, but if they do, be sure you aren't cheating yourself. If you feel you must go with the printed line count, make sure you have written down how much you must charge for each different font size or you won't make much money.

My software doesn't count spaces, so I have to add them to my characters (words + sentences + paragraphs because each of these have a space behind them).

Hope this helps.

http//home.toltbbs.com/bror/pageone.htm