"Strict" Word template for end-users?

Subject: "Strict" Word template for end-users?
From: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, Caitlin Gannon <caitlingannon -at- yahoo -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:48:28 -0500

Caitlin Gannon wondered: <<I need to create a bullet-proof Word template for other people to use.>>

Can't be done without a structured document processor that enforces strict adherence to a DTD -- which emphatically ain't Word, particularly in the new version that supports XML as its native format. Sorry! Next question. <g>

That's just a tad facetious, but it's not far from the truth: the best you can do is make it easier for them to do the right thing and harder to do the wrong thing. Then you need to spend time educating them about how to use the template correctly, possibly by beating one new concept per week into their heads. This combination makes it possible to greatly reduce the amount of cleanup work you have to do, but never gets it completely down to a trivial level. That's doubly true if these people are moderately clever, and willing to explore Word's settings. To control them, you may need to implement floggings and summary decapitation -- or a tad less violently, make adherence to the template part of their performance appraisal.

Here's a starting point to point you towards what you're looking for: http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/2000/dynamicstyle.htm

<<These end-users are fond of using blank paragraphs for spacing, adding hard page breaks between sections, using different heading styles so the TOC doesn't work, etc.>>

Some of this you can fix with a simple and cunning macro: Record a macro that does a global search and replace to eliminate double paragraphs, double spaces, hard section or page breaks, and any other infelicities you can think of. Next, assign it to the keystroke for saving a document: Control/Command + S. <g> Store that macro and keyboard shortcut in the template so it will control how all files based on the template behave.

<<They generally don't use styles even if they are pre-built, and even if I write a style guide, they aren't tech writers and may not understand why it's important to follow it.... Is there a way to create a template that forces the use of styles? >>

There are a few things you can do in addition to what I've described here and in my article. First, define only your own styles in the template and set the preferences in the Styles dialog so that it shows only user-defined styles. (You can't delete the other styles built into Word, but you can hide them.) Second, display those styles in a custom toolbar, so that they're easily accessible: make them easier to assign by clicking the toolbar button than by opening a menu and scrolling through a list of styles, and people are more likely to use them. (If people like to use the Formatting toolbar, which contains the style list, open the Tools menu, select Customize, and delete the style list from that toolbar.) Third, for each paragraph style, define the "Style for following paragraph" setting. So, for instance, when they finish typing heading 1 and press return, the next paragraph automatically becomes Caitlin Body Text. And so on.

Last but not least: Explain what you've done and why, and make it clear that if your new setup is causing people problems, they should come to you to discuss potential solutions. Guaranteed you won't get the template perfect the first time, and working with them is your best way to gradually improve it so it meets everyone's needs.

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Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca

(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)

www.geoff-hart.com

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Coming soon: _Effective onscreen editing_ (http://www.geoff-hart.com/ home/onscreen-book.htm)

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"Strict" Word template for end-users: From: Caitlin Gannon

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