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.
I guess I need an attitude adjustment.
Given how much of our documentation is still in Word (inherited from an
acquired company) I should really be taking a friendlier approach to
Word.
A few years ago, I would have (even coming from WorPerfect and then
years of FrameMaker, as I did). But instead of searching out ways to get
around the (as I see 'em) faults of Word, I've apparently been looking
for ways to get around the entire program. I've been making occasional
use of OpenOffice over the past couple or three years, and I can't help
comparing Word with OOo. When I've had occasion to create a document
from scratch in OOo, that includes, say, numbered lists, even nested
ones, I just apply styles and ... omigod... they work. And they keep
working. And they don't break. I've never given up in despair and
"Maggied" an OOo document. I've even used OOo Writer to salvage a
couple of dog's-breakfast, inherited Word docs.
Certainly even OOo is not perfect, and their documentation is a
testament to that, but given my preference for using styles for
everything and given the price differential (100% or infinite depending
on perspective) I really can't help but despise a lot about Word. After
all, as I pointed out in a previous post, this _IS_ effectively version
umpty-twelve of Word. Shouldn't it work better by now, at least on
features it's nominally supported since a previous century?
</rant>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chesler, Lynn [mailto:lchesler -at- auspicecorp -dot- com]
> Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 09:32
> To: McLauchlan, Kevin; 'Dan Goldstein'; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: Combining numbered and bulleted lists in Word
>
> Kevin,
>
> The method that Dan provided for creating lists using fields and
autotext
> works very well. Once I paused and really thought about what I had to
do
> to create the lists, I realized that it's really very simple.
>
> When I first found out that I was going to have to do all of my
> documentation in Word rather than FrameMaker, I was disappointed to
say
> the least. But I have come to see the power and versatility of Word,
and I
> actually (am I really saying this) kind of like it (there, I said it).
> Word was designed for simplicity, so the more powerful features are
> hidden, but they're there. And the challenge of finding them is kind
of
> fun.
The information contained in this electronic mail transmission may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected from disclosure. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer without copying or disclosing it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-