Word Help (problem solved)(OT)

[chasity mcwilliams <chas -at- fcs -dot- uga -dot- edu>]

I've already sent a response regarding the misunderstanding 
of this thread.  However, I feel that I need to make a few 
more things clear.

As I said in my earlier email, the help I received did not 
fall within the specifications for a Grad student writing a 
Thesis for the University.  I work for a smaller college at 
the University and have been working with the Graduate 
School's IT department on this particular project.

Everyone who has responded to my problem solved email seems 
to have some gripe about hidden characters and improper 
formatting.  None of you have mentioned that sometimes as 
tech communicators we have to do what we can to work 
within the specifications we are given.

What makes matters worse is that somehow many of you have 
gained the (wrong) impression that I discarded helpful 
information provided by me on this list.  That is not true. 
Many of you sent me sample documents that do exactly what I 
asked in the email.  The problem with this is that those 
documents cannot be used until after the specifications for 
the Thesis are changed.  I don't know how many of you have 
worked in an academic environment, so I will say that it 
usually take a very long time for something this important 
to be changed and then approved for use.  

I should also point out that the templates won't just be 
handed over to students without explanation.  Once they are 
completed, I will be writing a read me file as part of the 
training seminar that the Graduate students will be 
required to take.  My plan is to make it known to them 
exactly what is happening and why it is not a good idea to 
use Word in this way. 

As I said in the earlier email, the students are trained by 
me to use Word in building things like resumes (I'm still 
not sure how resumes became a part of this discussion).  
None of them will have the problems described by other 
contributors to this thread.

I am sorry if some of you thought that your help and advice 
were not appreciated.  However, random speculation about my 
work ethics and abilities as well the quality of student 
that I am helping to build, are not only uncalled for, but 
just plain rude.

I have encountered many situations on this list in which 
the TW's hands were tied by the specifications given as 
well as by the knowledge base of the audience.  Those 
people are usually met with some semblance of empathy on 
the part of other members on this list.  I am in the same 
situation here.  The fact that I didn't provide that 
information in asking for help is my fault.  It is one of 
those failings that I can only improve as I work more in 
this field.

Again, thank you to everyone who responded to my call for 
help.  Special thanks to those who actually sent documents. 
When the new specifications are approved, they will be used 
with gratitude.

Until then, there is nothing more that I can do to make 
this document fall within the guidelines.  If I were to 
give the graduate students the documents that were sent to 
me from this list, they would not pass the initial format 
check. Since they are my audience, their concerns are more 
important than wounded pride or whether or not someone from 
this list would hire them.

Thank you for hearing me out.

chas


On Wed, 29 Nov 2000 08:29:10 -0600 bryan -dot- westbrook -at- amd -dot- com 
wrote:

> I worked on a military writing project where the lead of 
> the Operator level manual (the only one that had a paper 
> copy) seemed to be afraid of page breaks.  There is no 
> telling how much time and money (ultimately from the DOD 
> budget and our taxpaying pockets) were wasted on adjusting 
> pages that had rolled (a few of these files were over 100 
> pages).
> 
> The biggest irony is that it's easier to insert a page 
> break anyway if you hold the Ctrl key while hitting Enter 
> (a trick I picked up while fixing some of that mess).
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Sharon Deitch [SMTP:sharon -at- sintecmedia -dot- com]
> > Sent:	Wednesday, November 29, 2000 2:18 AM
> > To:	TECHWR-L
> > Subject:	RE: Word Help (problem solved)
> > 
> > I HATE seeing spaces and paragraph marks all over 
> documents that cross my > computer.   Given a choice, I'd 
> also delete a resume that was not properly > 


----------------------
"You're not dying, you just can't think of anything
 good to do."
-Ferris B.

chasity mcwilliams
chas -at- fcs -dot- uga -dot- edu


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver! (STC Discount.)
**NEW DATE/LOCATION!** January 16-17, 2001, New York, NY.
http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.

Sponsored by SOLUTIONS, Conferences and Seminars for Communicators 
Publications Management Clinic, TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, and more 
http://www.SolutionsEvents.com or 800-448-4230

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.