A national centre will typically have newsletters, formal documents and other texts – some being text translations into other languages: all these need some level of type-setting to be involved. While it's a profession in itself, the objective in this article is to highlight the need to acquire some type-setting skills and point out that, even at a very basic level, type-set text renders easier reading and a more professional appearance.
As for the range of available type-setting software, an open-source yet extensive in its type-setting tools as well as easy-to-use software is found within the LibreOffice suite: the Writer – currently in version 6+. Moreover, freely available tutorials are found at the links described below.
Beginning with the concept of the template – from the simple letterhead to the more complex structures of a booklet, one appreciates the value of investing time into the creation of such templates and into the understanding of using appropriate styles and fonts.
This introduction into template by Ahuka.com, while a bit dated with regard to LibreOffice, is a good starting point:
www.ahuka.com - typesetting primer
Over and above the extensive help files offered by LibreOffice and its community self-help platform, LibreOffice also has published an extensive Writer Guide (.pdf - ~25mb) found at:
LibreOffice Writer Guide
More over a generous contribution towards type-setting in LibreOffice has been made by Bruce Byfield in a complete volume or in the form of three booklets:
Styles-and-Templates (.pdf ~11.5mb)
Choosing-Fonts (.pdf ~7mb)
Character-Paragraph-Styles (.pdf ~14.5mb)
All these can be found at Bruce Byfield's Webpage
With regard to the diacriticals often found in Bahá’í texts eg, á [alt+160] and í [alt+161], there are only a few fonts that support a comprehensive range; among these are:
Noto Sans
Times New Roman
Yu Gothic
Cambria
Carlito
Courier New
DejaVu Sans & Serif
Gentium Basic, Gentium Book Basic
Linux Libertine G
Liberation Sans & Serif