TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Word 7 display problem From:"Wilcox, John (Contractor)" <wilcoxj -at- WDNI -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 5 Jun 1997 21:48:00 -0700
----------
From: Tom Herme
A colleague and I both loaded a Word 7 document in a read-only format
from an archive
directory on our LAN. The document is displayed differently on our two
systems. In one
paragraph, I have four lines. My colleague has five, with the last few
characters
wrapping to the fifth line. This difference should not be happening.
We have checked the following on both of our systems (identical Gateway
2000, Pentium
133 megahertz, 21" Gateway monitors, and have found no differences:
1. Printer and print driver definition, including last printer/driver
used.
2. Display differences: resolution, font character sets, dates, and
sizes.
3. Any style setting differences.
The document was created on my machine and displays as it appears in the
printed manual.
It is on my colleague's machine that this doc appears differently. We
loaded this
document into three other machines. On one of these, it displays similar
to the way it
does on my machine. On two others, it displays as it does on my
colleagues.
Does anybody have an idea as to what may be happening? This problem is
only a symptom of
what we're running into. This causes a lot of extra work when all we
want to do is make
minor changes on a revision.
Or is this another of Word's "undocumented features?"
---------------
Probably. My first guess would have been that you have different
default printers, but it seems you've checked that. My second guess
would have been that your colleague doesn't have the original font, but
it seems you've checked that, too. My third guess is that your problem
stems from the same root as MANY other Word display problems. There is
a faulty "round-off" routine in the algorithm Word uses to determine how
to display something wysiwyg, which results in wysinnwyw (Not
Necessarily What You Want). I have come across numerous instances in
which page layout, even pagination, is changed simply by changing the
view magnification -- say from 100% to 75%. In fact, many times I have
had to change from 100% to 99% or 101% to get the doc to look like it's
supposed to. Furthermore, 99% on my computer at the office won't
necessarily look like 99% on my computer at home. I'm not making this
up. I'm telling you the truth with my hand up. Sometimes truth is
stranger than fiction.
Regards,
John Wilcox, Documentation Specialist
Timberlands Information Services
Weyerhaeuser, WWC 2E2
Tacoma, WA 98477-0001 USA
253-924-7972 wilcoxj -at- wdni -dot- com
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
