"Strict" Word template for end-users?

[Geoff Hart]

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.ca

(try geoffhart at mac.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)