![mastering crystal reports 9](/books/2/825/1/html/2/coverimages/0782141730.gif) | | Chapter 3 - Formatting Fields and Objects | Mastering Crystal Reports 9 | by Cate McCoy and Gord Maric | | Sybex 2003 | |
In addition to the information a report gives to its user, it leaves a visual impression as well. In fact, it’s an error to think of content and presentation as separate matters in the finished report. Marshall McLuhan became famous over three decades ago for his observation “The medium is the message.” In other words, your presentation both conveys and manipulates your content; the two have a symbiotic relationship. While a wonderfully formatted report hits the eye and is easily accepted, it’s the badly formatted information that really gets attention—negative attention. Formatting the text and data objects so that they are visually pleasing is a key part of the report design process, and you should take time to explore all the visual options available in the Format Editor as well as the judicious use of text objects.
The ability to integrate external information and external applications using hyperlinks and OLE either by linking, embedding, or copying objects allows a report to be a starting point of information gathering. The idea is to capitalize on the product features in external software and make those features available in Crystal Reports.
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