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Subject:Re: MS Word outpaced by a snail From:Linda Anderson <lindaa -at- PC-SERV1 -dot- EMTEK -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 19 May 1995 08:13:27 -0700
Peter,
As good a program as Word is, it is no desktop publisher. Microsoft would
like to think it can be used that way, but not matter what Microsoft
would like to think, it bogs down for all of us. It just can't compete
with the DTP packages out there.
Considering the number of graphics you have, I would suggest PageMaker or
Framemaker. I used Pagemaker with great success on several manuals the
size of yours. It doesn't have as steep a learning curve as Framemaker.
If you can't get anyone to spring for a DTP program, I would offer this
suggestion. Try breaking your manual into multiple smaller documents.
Before I had Pagemaker, each section of my manuals was a separate
document. That way I had documents in the neighborhood of 20-40 pages
with a lot fewer graphics and that seemed to help a lot although in
comparison to using a DTP program, it was still slow (just not as bad as
it had been before).
Good luck to you. I hope this helps.
Linda
Stand quiet in your own circle
EMTEK Health Care Systems
Tempe, Arizona
USA
On Thu, 18 May 1995, Peter Boothby wrote:
> Dear All,
> I am trying to put together some manuals using Word 6.0. One manual
> is about 360 pages and contains 240 screen dumps (TIFF format) and various
> illustrations from Canvas. I followed Microsoft's advice and attempted to use
> master documents. My machine crashed, strange temp files appeared, the master
> document tool showed weird symptoms, the machine was outpaced by a snail
> walking by (I have a pentium 90 with 16 meg), and the whole experience was
> like rowing
> an overloaded boat across the north sea, taking in water now and again
> having to
> to be very careful not to capsize. Not to mention the 'saves' - go to the
> toilet, take
> a walk around the building, drink two cups of coffee and come back.
> I have given up on master documents, almost given up on Microsoft support
> ("well sir, perhaps you should make your documents smaller"),
> and am considering giving up Word. Am I flogging a dead horse or ......
> Does anyone have similar experiences. Any ideas? I have tried almost all the
> suggestions
> Microsoft came up with (less fonts, more memory, linking Tiffs outside of
> the document,
> regenerating the permanent swap area, more disk room, etc.).
> If anyone has any suggestions, I would be pleased to hear. Also do you know
> of a good "insiders" book about word? Is there a word newsgroup?
> Thanks in advance,
> Pete
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Pete Boothby
> pwboo -at- bob -dot- knoware -dot- nl
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
