Re: Using Word for book publishing

[Edwin Skau <eddy -dot- skau -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Hi Leonard,

By discipline, I mean defining paragraph and text styles in the template
you're going to use, and using that consistently. If you have a style that
includes list numbering for numbered lists, and you consistently use that
style, your numbered lists will not break. This works for multi-level list
numbers, captions, headings, etc.

This is discipline that most FrameMaker users are used to following when
using FM. Strangely many FM users do not apply the same logic to using
Word.

As with FM, the secret to having a robust document is to work with a
template that provides for all your formatting needs. As with FM, send out
PDF for reviews.
If you send out Word files to untrained users, the document will return with
bastard styles (technical term).

Further, Word has a limit on the number of list number objects a document
can support. Nearing that limit can cause problems.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions you may have.

Thanks,



On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 7:32 PM, Porrello, Leonard
<lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com>wrote:

> Hi Edwin,
>
> Would you mind briefly outlining the type of "discipline" you are talking
> about as well as the paradigmatic differences (if any) between writing small
> documents versus large documents in Word? I've only ever used Word for small
> to medium (<100 page) documents.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Leonard
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:
> techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
> Edwin Skau
> Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 11:20 PM
> To: McLauchlan, Kevin
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Using Word for book publishing
>
> > 1)  Learn Word completely.  Like other tools, Word has its way of doing
>
> > > things.  If you just bash away with manual formatting and so on, you
> > > will be frustrated.  If you try to use such features as sections
> > > without truly understanding them, you will have bad surprise after bad
> > > surprise.  Master the principles and you'll be fine.  If you want to do
> > > columns and sidebars and such, Word can do it but you have to do it
> > > Word's way using the right features in the right ways.
> >
> >
> I'd modify that slightly to say, learn how the Word object model works.
>
> The problem with Ms Word is that when you first encounter the software, you
> can click it open and start typing almost immediately.
> And then you can tamper with the menus and do awesome stuff to text all
> over
> the place. and then when you use these same principle that work so well
> with
> small documents when you create large documents, Word gets cantankerous.
>
> If we understand that using Word for large documents need more planning and
> discipline that when working on small ones, I think things work out quite
> well.
>
> Almost all problems with word seem to map to the application of superficial
> attributes (text formatting, numbering, etc.).
>
> Then there are the infrequent tasks like mail merge or writing/recording
> macros. Yes, they require referencing the user documentation, but if you
> could do it once, chances are you can do it again.
>
> Edwin
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