Formatting Word with Photos

[Michael]

I use Word a lot: I have written several books using it. I
use Word 2000 on my XP. I am trying to organize a short
document 12 pages (so far) with photo inserts and using
headings (1,2,3). Why is it so $$#@T%^ difficult? When I
get a photo in the right position using advanced layout
(not a small task in itself) there can be a 1/3 gap before
the next paragraph begins. This usually happens at the end
of a page. So out of a 12 page document, I have 3-4 pages
that are only 1/2 to 1/3 full of text. I try move, I play
with keep together with next, I check the paragraph
spacing (never more than 6 spaces after). I cannot bring
teh text together. It is like Word is haunted or
possessed. Why is Word so recalcitrant to formatting? What
am I missing?

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Michael,

I use Word a lot: I have written several books using it. I
use Word 2000 on my XP. I am trying to organize a short
document 12 pages (so far) with photo inserts and using
headings (1,2,3). Why is it so $$#@T%^ difficult?

Because Word is a word processor and not a graphics layout
program...

When I
get a photo in the right position using advanced layout
(not a small task in itself) there can be a 1/3 gap before
the next paragraph begins. This usually happens at the end
of a page. So out of a 12 page document, I have 3-4 pages
that are only 1/2 to 1/3 full of text. I try move, I play
with keep together with next, I check the paragraph
spacing (never more than 6 spaces after). I cannot bring
teh text together.

Try turning off ALL the paragraph formatting options that
have to do with keeping text together on the page. Also on
the paragraph where the graphic is anchored, and above. In
some cases, Word has a terrible time trying to reconcile text
layout flow and graphics layout flow. The less you give it to
worry about, the more accurate the graphics textflow will be.
(IOW, you can have graphics text flow or text layout, but
rarely both to perfection.)

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep
30 2003)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[Mark Jerde]

If you're open to trying a different program you may want to consider Lotus
Word. IIRC, this is the descendant of Samna's Ami Pro word processor. I
used Ami Pro in Win 3.x for a number of mixed text and graphics projects.
It worked very well. I have not used Lotus Word but I can't imagine that
they removed features or made it harder to use.

At the higher end, I have also used PageMaker for writing user manuals. It
has a bit of a quirky interface for those used to "traditional Windows"
interfaces but it doesn't take too long to get up to speed. It has snaking
columns, "stories", and best of all <g> graphics stay where you put 'em.

After purchasing PageMaker I found out FrameMaker would have been a better
choice for writing books. However, I occasionally make documents on
large-format paper (24" x 60") and PageMaker is great for that.

Microsoft Word has a host of great features, but painless mixing of text &
graphics isn't one of them.

Just my $0.02.

-- Mark