Avoid the normal template

[kevs]

In one of his articles. JE, says to avoid the normal template, because it's
hard to control the contents of it and it reformats itself.

For JE, if you are reading, or others:

1) What does that mean, that you can't control content of it?

2) What does it mean that it reformats itself?

I've always just thought that normal is the be all template. Never occurred
to me to make another one. I generally, only use word on my machine.

Thanks
Kevs
10.2.6; Word x

 

[J.E. McGimpsey]

In one of his articles. JE, says to avoid the normal template, because it's
hard to control the contents of it and it reformats itself.

For JE, if you are reading, or others:

1) What does that mean, that you can't control content of it?

2) What does it mean that it reformats itself?

I've always just thought that normal is the be all template. Never occurred
to me to make another one. I generally, only use word on my machine.

Hmm...I wrote that? *I* am not even sure what that means - could you
give me a cite?

I do recommend backing up the Normal template because it does
corrupt from time to time. You can certainly control *most* of the
content, but if it becomes corrupt, you risk losing any
modifications you've made.

I have an applescript I use to start Word that takes my saved Normal
template and copies it to the Office Templates folder (well,
actually to my MUD folder - then I create an alias to that in my
Templates folder) - that way even if it were ever corrupted, the
next time I start Word, I have a fresh copy.

For my macros, I store them in a global template rather than the
Normal template. That way they're accessible, and global templates
seem to corrupt less frequently.

Also, I almost never create a document based on the Normal template.
With rare exceptions, I create templates for a class of documents,
and base documents on that template. I have a couple of templates
for my personal correspondence, a suite of templates for my
business, and a whole raft of templates for my non-profit work
(including templates I use to turn newsletters etc., into web pages).

 

[kevs]

Hmm...I wrote that? *I* am not even sure what that means - could you give me a
cite?

I do recommend backing up the Normal template because it does corrupt from
time to time. You can certainly control *most* of the content, but if it
becomes corrupt, you risk losing any modifications you've made.

I have an applescript I use to start Word that takes my saved Normal template
and copies it to the Office Templates folder (well, actually to my MUD folder
- then I create an alias to that in my Templates folder) - that way even if it
were ever corrupted, the next time I start Word, I have a fresh copy.

For my macros, I store them in a global template rather than the Normal
template. That way they're accessible, and global templates seem to corrupt
less frequently.

Also, I almost never create a document based on the Normal template. With rare
exceptions, I create templates for a class of documents, and base documents on
that template. I have a couple of templates for my personal correspondence, a
suite of templates for my business, and a whole raft of templates for my
non-profit work (including templates I use to turn newsletters etc., into web
pages).

Yes JE:
From the "How word differs from WordPerfect article" in the # 5 section.
So I'm still curious about the thing about controlling content, and
reformatting itself.

PS:
Is your "bend word to your will available in Word doc. Thanks!!

Kevs

 

[Daniel Cohen]

Clive Huggan wrote "Bend Word to your Will", a magnum opus based on
years of experience. I learned and re-learned an enormous amount
reading his document.

Thanks for this. I've downloaded the article and glanced at it. Looks
very interesting.

How should I print it out? This isn't a trivial matter, as it's set for
US Letter, and I am using A4. Just changing the margins (A4 is narrower
and longer than US Letter) would presumably alter the page layout, which
I'ld prefer not to do. But maybe that is the best thing.

 

[J.E. McGimpsey]

How should I print it out? This isn't a trivial matter, as it's set for
US Letter, and I am using A4. Just changing the margins (A4 is narrower
and longer than US Letter) would presumably alter the page layout, which
I'ld prefer not to do. But maybe that is the best thing.

The initial page size for this document is A4, not US Letter ‹ but that
should not make any difference as the notes have been formatted for ³minimum
maintenance², free of such things as hard page breaks except at the beginning
of main sections.

so I'd just print it out using your default A4 settings (though I
rarely print anything anymore).

Note: My copy may be a slightly earlier version than the one posted
- I haven't checked.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Daniel (and further in, J.E. and Kevs),

I created the Word and PDF documents for "Bend Word to your Will" in A4, as
per J.E.'s excerpt, and they don't appear to have been changed. But do get
back if that's how they come up on your computer -- that would be
interesting.

The page size doesn't really matter (in Word), because the Word document is
formatted for "minimum maintenance", meaning among several other things that
there are page breaks only before a new appendix or main section (see
appendix A for more details). So whether anyone operates under US letter, A4
or whatever, Word will just flow the text through the page sizes. To have
totally accurate page numbers in the table of contents and in the many
cross-references you will need to re-compile the toc or toc+cross-refs (F9
-- do a "Find" command for "F9" and you'll see how to do it -- it takes
maybe 20 seconds to do).

It's best to print from the PDF (if you are going to print at all) and to
keep the Word copy for on-screen reference. Since "Bend Word to your Will"
is in effect a dictionary-style document (after the intro material and with
the exception of the styles section) it's much quicker and easier to use the
hyperlinks in the toc or to do a Find command to go direct to the reference.

Hmm, having thought about your question, maybe we should have the PDF in A4
and US letter versions, though -- must ask John McGhie when he gets back.

In a few weeks' time a new version will be posted. It isn't *radically*
different, but it will incorporate a lot of improvements, mainly generated
from ideas in this newsgroup in the past 4 months and from my refinements as
I have responded to people's questions.

J.E., I think you have an earlier version. Many of my ideas that have
differed from some MVPs were either modified or described much better (i.e.,
it was the description rather than the method that was weak) just before the
13 May 2003 edition.

And thank you for your kind words about my notes, J.E. And it makes the
effort of modifying them for wider use worthwhile when I see people are
using them.

Kevs, What J.E. says is spot on:

"Also, I almost never create a document based on the Normal template.
With rare exceptions, I create templates for a class of documents,
and base documents on that template. I have a couple of templates
for my personal correspondence, a suite of templates for my
business, and a whole raft of templates for my non-profit work
(including templates I use to turn newsletters etc., into web pages)."

I do exactly the same. I have a button on a toolbar that allows me to
quickly attach a document to a template or check which template an existing
document is attached to. You'll see some relevant comments on pages 28, 63
and 68 of "Bend Word".

-- Clive Huggan
* Please post all comments to the newsgroup for the benefit of others who
may be interested.
* Remove "the" from my address above if you need to send an e-mail to me
directly (although that would be exceptional). Please note that e-mails
with an attachment will be automatically rejected.
* If anyone is still reading down this far, here's a question: is it time
for you to back up (to a medium other than your hard drive) your Normal
template and all your Word settings?
============================================================

 

[Clive Huggan]

Daniel,

Thank you very much for your feedback. This has alerted me to the possible
(probable?) need for separate US Letter and A4 versions in PDF to be
downloadable (though I'll check on this with John McGhie unless someone else
can resolve it in this thread before John gets back in due course). Also --
in the Word version -- I now realize I need to expand the notes on updating
the cross-references to include comment about the respective page sizes and
move the notes right to the front.

As to what you have observed, I'm mystified (not that that is difficult with
printing -- it's not my strong area). I had tested the Word and PDF versions
yesterday before responding to your comments and found both the Word file
and PDF file were A4 (these are my defaults too). Could you just clarify
whether you are finding US Letter page size with PDF, Word or both? And what
OS, Word version and web browser are you using? Are you opening the PDF in
Acrobat Reader?

I have don't open PDFs created in US letter often enough to have noticed any
page discrepancy (I had assumed that, since the PDF file is in effect the
same as what the originator would have sent to their printer, any PDF
retains its original pagination, and believed that was what I was seeing.
But maybe my understanding is incomplete.) As for Word, I often get files in
US letter because in Australia, where I live, people using Windows in the
corporate world -- my main clients -- often do not reset the page to default
to A4. So I'm never surprised to receive a document in US letter. But in
this case the Word doc was created in A4, and when it downloads it's in A4
for me. Curious ...

I will ask for this to be checked out when the next version is uploaded. In
the meantime, does anyone have any clues? Corentin? J.E.?

In the meantime, Daniel, with "Bend Word..." open in Word, just apply A4 in
File menu -> Page Setup and update all the cross-ref and toc links by keying
Command-a to select the whole document then the function key F9 to do the
update. 20 seconds later it will have adjusted to the settings determined by
your particular printer driver and all the cross-refs will be correct for
you. And there is no reason you can't print from that.

Thanks again for your query and comments -- it's sometimes difficult to
think forward enough to forestall problems that users may have until someone
asks a question like yours! I look forward to receiving your feedback as
above.


-- Clive Huggan

* Please post all comments to the newsgroup for the benefit of others who
may be interested.
* Remove "the" from my address above if you need to send an e-mail to me
directly (although that would be exceptional). Please note that e-mails
with an attachment will be automatically rejected.
* If anyone is still reading down this far, here's a question: is it time
for you to back up (to a medium other than your hard drive) your Normal
template and all your Word settings?
============================================================

 

[Daniel Cohen]

Daniel,

Thank you very much for your feedback. This has alerted me to the possible
(probable?) need for separate US Letter and A4 versions in PDF to be
downloadable (though I'll check on this with John McGhie unless someone else
can resolve it in this thread before John gets back in due course).

I'm not myself sure what happens when one prints a PDF or Word document
set for one page size on diferent-sized paper, especially as A4 and US
letter aren't too different. It may depend on the margins. For PDF, the
top and bottom margins and the left and right ones will be relevant. for
Word, it may be different. I think I have once or twice printed out a US
letter document without noticing it, and it printed ok but with
unexpected margins.

As to what you have observed, I'm mystified (not that that is difficult with
printing -- it's not my strong area). I had tested the Word and PDF versions
yesterday before responding to your comments and found both the Word file
and PDF file were A4 (these are my defaults too). Could you just clarify
whether you are finding US Letter page size with PDF, Word or both? And what
OS, Word version and web browser are you using? Are you opening the PDF in
Acrobat Reader?

PDF seems to be A4 (8.26x11.69 inches) when opened in Acrobat. Word
definitely claims, when I go to Page Setup, to be US letter. Using OS
10.2.6, Word X (I think 10.1.2 and 10.1.4, since I upgraded between my
first look at the document and my second). Browser was either Safari
(probably) or IE, I'm not sure.

In the meantime, Daniel, with "Bend Word..." open in Word, just apply A4 in
File menu -> Page Setup and update all the cross-ref and toc links by keying
Command-a to select the whole document then the function key F9 to do the
update. 20 seconds later it will have adjusted to the settings determined by
your particular printer driver and all the cross-refs will be correct for
you. And there is no reason you can't print from that.

As you noted, I may as well print from the PDF, but even more, wait till
the next version before printing.

If one is printing the Word document, then of course there's another
adjustment in Page Setup even if the page size is fine. Users may want
to change from "any printer", which of course you must use, to the
printer they use. I'm not sure if this makes any difference in the
print-out.

 

[Gene van Troyer]

I'm not myself sure what happens when one prints a PDF or Word document
set for one page size on diferent-sized paper, especially as A4 and US
letter aren't too different. It may depend on the margins. For PDF, the
top and bottom margins and the left and right ones will be relevant. for
Word, it may be different. I think I have once or twice printed out a US
letter document without noticing it, and it printed ok but with
unexpected margins.

They print okay. I'm always printing US letter size on A4 and vice versa.
Sometimes you have to use the "Fit to available page space" option, though,
if you have particularly narrow margins.

Gene van Troyer