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Subject:RE: Need book about Word longdoc techniques From:kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 27 Sep 2001 09:03:57 -0600
Most books will tell you what you don't want to hear: Don't use Word for
long docs.
But if you're like me, and have no choice, that doesn't help. What many
Frame fanatics don't seem to realize is that in the real world, many of us
MUST create documents in file formats that the general public can use.
Enter Word. Sorry.
I have found "Word 97 Annoyances" by Woody Leonhard to be a lifesaver - I
highly recommend it. Most of the info in it applies to Word 2000 easily
enough.
Word can work more like Frame than many people think (particularly when
you use and apply styles in a similar manner) but it can't do it all, and
doesn't do it all in the same way. So the trick is to really learn what
Word CAN do, rather than trying to imitate Frame with it.
Woody's book goes a long way in showing what this sometimes annoying
software is capable of. It's really quite powerful, if you learn where the
landmines are, and accept and avoid them.
>From my experience, with long docs, you'll need to try to keep things
simple. As the length and complexity of your documents increase, the
stability and integrity seem to decrease, sometimes exponentially!
Incidentally, I've found that to be the case with ALL garden-variety word
processing software - not just Word. That's why longdoc software like
Frame was created, I'd assume.
As you'll see, one of TECHWR-L's frequent posters is a big advocate of
Master Documents - you should check out his info, too. Woody Leonhard is
not a fan of this strategy. Nor am I, from some extremely frustrating time
spent with WordPerfect's similarly iffy feature... But check out opposing
viewpoints, definitely.
Good luck, and remain patient!
- Keith Cronin
_____________________________________
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