S
Stan Marshall
I don't know if anyone from Microsoft's Word development team actually
reads this b-board, but in case you do...
Here is one user who is fed up with your implementation of sections
(i.e., that the section break contains info for the section *above* it
instead of below it, so you can't cleanly delete the last section.)
For those who have not experienced this wonderful quirk that "works as
designed," suppose you have, say, two sections in a document with
different header and footer information, and you want to delete the
last section.
When you delete the last section (by deleting the last visible section
break and everything after it), the previous section takes on the
header and footer information from the section that was deleted.
If you don't delete the last visible section break and just delete
everything below it, your headers and footers stay OK, but you have a
blank page--the last section which was not really deleted--at the end
of the document.
Thus, it is *impossible* to actually delete the last section of a
document without overwriting the header and footer info in the
previous section. This is absolutely absurd.
(This happens because the section headers contain information about
the section *before* them instead of *after* them. And then, the info
for the last section is stored in an invsible, undeleteable section
break at the end of the document, I guess.)
The workaround is to copy the header and footer (using "same as
previous") from the previous section to the last section and then
delete the last section.
This was an acceptable workaround when this issue was first
identified--about 10 years ago. However, it is not acceptable any
longer.
Come on guys. Obviously this does not make sense from a user
standpoint. A user inserts a section break when he or she wants to
create a new section. Thus, it only makes sense for section breaks to
be tied to the *next* section, not the previous one.
And, even more obviously, a user should not have to deal with messed
up headers and footers just because he or she wants to completely
delete the last section of a document.
While there may be all kinds of good reasons to implement sections the
way you have from a programming standpoint, you can't argue with a
straight face that it makes sense from a user standpoint. And, guess
what--even though you are big bad Microsoft, your users are still
ultimately who pay's your salaries. You owe it to us to do a better
job.
(I've heard the argument that, since paragraph makers include the info
for the *previous* paragraph, so should section break markers.
However, paragraphs and sections are not the same thing and are not
used in the same way. Also, at least when Word first starts up with a
blank document, there is a paragraph marker visible that at least
gives you a clue what is going on. Where is the default section break
that must actually exist at the end of the document, but is
invisible?)
Anyway, fix it. Suck it up and change the implementation. It makes no
sense and is a giant pain-in-the-butt. It is really frustrating that
large software vendors can get away with this type of crap...small
shops could never get away with doing something so stupid.
ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!
(And, although it probably doesn't, it should upset you that you have
users who feel the need to say ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!! when using your
software.)
Stan
reads this b-board, but in case you do...
Here is one user who is fed up with your implementation of sections
(i.e., that the section break contains info for the section *above* it
instead of below it, so you can't cleanly delete the last section.)
For those who have not experienced this wonderful quirk that "works as
designed," suppose you have, say, two sections in a document with
different header and footer information, and you want to delete the
last section.
When you delete the last section (by deleting the last visible section
break and everything after it), the previous section takes on the
header and footer information from the section that was deleted.
If you don't delete the last visible section break and just delete
everything below it, your headers and footers stay OK, but you have a
blank page--the last section which was not really deleted--at the end
of the document.
Thus, it is *impossible* to actually delete the last section of a
document without overwriting the header and footer info in the
previous section. This is absolutely absurd.
(This happens because the section headers contain information about
the section *before* them instead of *after* them. And then, the info
for the last section is stored in an invsible, undeleteable section
break at the end of the document, I guess.)
The workaround is to copy the header and footer (using "same as
previous") from the previous section to the last section and then
delete the last section.
This was an acceptable workaround when this issue was first
identified--about 10 years ago. However, it is not acceptable any
longer.
Come on guys. Obviously this does not make sense from a user
standpoint. A user inserts a section break when he or she wants to
create a new section. Thus, it only makes sense for section breaks to
be tied to the *next* section, not the previous one.
And, even more obviously, a user should not have to deal with messed
up headers and footers just because he or she wants to completely
delete the last section of a document.
While there may be all kinds of good reasons to implement sections the
way you have from a programming standpoint, you can't argue with a
straight face that it makes sense from a user standpoint. And, guess
what--even though you are big bad Microsoft, your users are still
ultimately who pay's your salaries. You owe it to us to do a better
job.
(I've heard the argument that, since paragraph makers include the info
for the *previous* paragraph, so should section break markers.
However, paragraphs and sections are not the same thing and are not
used in the same way. Also, at least when Word first starts up with a
blank document, there is a paragraph marker visible that at least
gives you a clue what is going on. Where is the default section break
that must actually exist at the end of the document, but is
invisible?)
Anyway, fix it. Suck it up and change the implementation. It makes no
sense and is a giant pain-in-the-butt. It is really frustrating that
large software vendors can get away with this type of crap...small
shops could never get away with doing something so stupid.
ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!
(And, although it probably doesn't, it should upset you that you have
users who feel the need to say ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!! when using your
software.)
Stan