Hello,
I have carefully formatted a resume, but when I a) look at it in print
preview b) print the document or c) save it as a PDF, the formatting
gets all screwed up. I have finally re-written the whole thing on a
PC, and it seems to be working fine--but I would like to be able to
save a usable version on my ibook!
Thanks for any help you can offer,
It is all of London to a burnt match that you carefully formatted your
CV on a machine with a different printer drivers and different fonts,
and that you used tons of "manual" formatting.
Unknown to you, Word was fighting you all the way, just waiting for you
to move the document from one machine to another, or choose a different
printer, before it scrambled it all up.
It is really really easy to make portable documents that slide from
machine to machine with hardly a hiccup. It is far easier than trying
really hard to perfect your layout by hand even on a single machine.
http://word.mvps.org/mac/UsingWord-macIndex.html#TakeCharge
....is an excellent place to find out how. A couple of articles there
are obviously relevant, but the best place to see what I'm talking
about is "Bend Word to Your Will" referenced twice on that page.
Download it and go straight to Appendix A.
Then go back when you have a quiet hour or three and get your head
round the section on Styles.
That said, if you want typographically excellent product, use a
professional page layout program like InDesign or Quark Express.
Word is fine for editing the text, but not quite there if you want
proper kerning, hanging punctuation, baseline grids, ligatures and
utterly perfect page design. It is possible to do a fair job in Word,
but at some point of perfectionism, using Word is no longer
cost-effective, even given the outrageous price of Quark or InDesign.
But then you would only be doing that if you were applying for a
typographer's job and you would know all this already.
Do have a lash at Clive's "Bend Word..." You will find it amusing,
informative, and perhaps even a career enhancing activity.
