Spaced Out on Space Above/Below

[Steve Lefevers <scl -at- pcisys -dot- net>]

My Email Address is scl -at- pcisys -dot- net

I've got a question about Hard Returns and the fickle, elusive Space
Above/Below Problem in MS Word.

I'm going thru John Mcghie's Create a Template II Series.  He says the
following regarding hard carriage returns in Professional Documents:

"Pros Never Use Blank Lines for Spacing. They get Separated from the thing
they?re supposed to Space and create Problems when you are Trying to
Paginate.
In Word, a Paragraph Not a ?Blank Line? it?s a Container that Stores lots of
Document Properties.  Never Put a Paragraph in a Document unless you intend
to put something in it (e.g. text!)"

My Question - In MS Word, Is there ever any situation in a Technical
Document when you would want  to insert a hard carriage return (by pressing
the enter key). If so, for what purpose?

I have Word 97 - John also says there is a Pagination Bug in Word 97 (it may
have been fixed in Word 2000, I don't know)
The bug relates to Space Above and Space Below.

Since Ver. 6 of MS Word , it does Not Suppress ?Space Above? at the Top of
all Pages.

Thus John says.
"So I Now Only Specify Space Below on All my Body Text and List PGHS and Set
Space Above to Zero. That way at Least I get the Page Top Even.  To Avoid
Triggering the Bug, in your Pagination Control Use ?Keep With Next?.

This causes Word to Move the Paragraphs and correctly Suppresses Space Above
on the Headings. It's Much less work than Filling the Document with Hard
Page Breaks that you have to Adjust Every Time you Edit the Document."

Do you agree with John?
Do you also Set Space Above to Zero?

Or Do you have a Different Standard Procedure for using Space Above and/or
Below in your Technical Documents.

Thanks in Advance - Have a Great Day.


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