Fractions in Word98

[mick___]

Hi all,

I'm using Word98 on a Power Mac 8600/200 with OS 8.6.

Please don't insult my system. When I get richer I'll get newer

My problem is that I need to insert a fraction. I need to write 'one
and a half' in numerals, so I type the 1, but... then what? How do I
get a 1 over a 2, divided by a line, all in a smaller font size than
the surrounding text? As I understand it, in some more recent versions
of Word I could just type 1/2 and it would be appropriately converted.
Not so in Word98, as far as I can tell. I can play around with font
size plus superscript and get a result, but not an ideal result.

BTW, 1.5 is unlikely to be acceptable. The document is a short story in
a collection, and most of the collection is set in early 20th C
Australian mining. The authors have not used decimal terminology in
general, and the original of this particular piece had a fraction.

Thanks in advance,

Michael Jameson.

 

[Elliott Roper]

Hi all,

I'm using Word98 on a Power Mac 8600/200 with OS 8.6.

Please don't insult my system. When I get richer I'll get newer

My problem is that I need to insert a fraction. I need to write 'one
and a half' in numerals, so I type the 1, but... then what? How do I
get a 1 over a 2, divided by a line, all in a smaller font size than
the surrounding text? As I understand it, in some more recent versions
of Word I could just type 1/2 and it would be appropriately converted.
Not so in Word98, as far as I can tell. I can play around with font
size plus superscript and get a result, but not an ideal result.

BTW, 1.5 is unlikely to be acceptable. The document is a short story in
a collection, and most of the collection is set in early 20th C
Australian mining. The authors have not used decimal terminology in
general, and the original of this particular piece had a fraction.

That reminded me of Henry Lawson's "The Loaded Dog"

You might try equation fields. I jumped straight from 5.1 to v.X and
that a long time ago as well, so this advice might be off target by a
fair bit.
{EQ \f(1,2)}
might be a starting point. Try help for field or fraction or math.

If you get really stuck, ask again, and I'll crank up the old 8500 in
the barn and remind myself how it used to be done in the late 20th
Century ;-)

 

[Clive Huggan]

That reminded me of Henry Lawson's "The Loaded Dog"

You might try equation fields. I jumped straight from 5.1 to v.X and
that a long time ago as well, so this advice might be off target by a
fair bit.
{EQ \f(1,2)}
might be a starting point. Try help for field or fraction or math.

If you get really stuck, ask again, and I'll crank up the old 8500 in
the barn and remind myself how it used to be done in the late 20th
Century ;-)

Elliott's solution is effective, Mick. If you want a more typographically
elegant solution you might like to have a look at Appendix G: Formatting
fractions using AutoCorrect, in some notes on the way I use Word for the
Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available as a free download
from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Bend/BendWord.htm).

The solution described in "Bend Word to Your Will" involves setting up
formatted fractions, once-off, which are invoked after that by plain-text
keystrokes. Takes about 10 minutes for the first one, from memory, then zero
afterwards.

This process is not necessary for Word 2004 (not sure about Word X) --
elegant fractions are substituted automatically.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 7 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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[Elliott Roper]

On 19/5/05 5:33 AM, in article 180520052033528561%[email protected], "Elliott
Roper" <[email protected]> wrote:

Elliott's solution is effective, Mick. If you want a more typographically
elegant solution you might like to have a look at Appendix G: Formatting
fractions using AutoCorrect, in some notes on the way I use Word for the
Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available as a free download
from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Bend/BendWord.htm).

The solution described in "Bend Word to Your Will" involves setting up
formatted fractions, once-off, which are invoked after that by plain-text
keystrokes. Takes about 10 minutes for the first one, from memory, then zero
afterwards.

What Clive suggests is better than mine. I forgot he had written it up
in "Bend". I also forgot I had corrected my autocorrect to do the HFM
(Huggan Fraction Method)

This process is not necessary for Word 2004 (not sure about Word X) --
elegant fractions are substituted automatically.

Word X has no Unicode, therefore no elegant fractions.

 

[mick___]

Clive Huggan <[email protected]> wrote:

Elliott and Clive, thanks for your replies.

I'm wary of using any complicated formatting because I will send the
file to a layout artist for her to place and use as necessary. I don't
know if complicated formatting will be retained - or worse, might
disrupt something - so I might be better off just including an
instruction with notes for this piece.

Do you know if formatting such as suggested should easily translate to
a layout artist's programme?

Thanks again,

Mick.

 

[Elliott Roper]

Elliott and Clive, thanks for your replies.

I'm wary of using any complicated formatting because I will send the
file to a layout artist for her to place and use as necessary. I don't
know if complicated formatting will be retained - or worse, might
disrupt something - so I might be better off just including an
instruction with notes for this piece.

Do you know if formatting such as suggested should easily translate to
a layout artist's programme?

Give it a go Mick. And include the instructions. If your layout artist
is using InDesign or Quark, there is a good chance Clive's trick will
work. Mine might be more interesting. Include some instructions in case
it doesn't work. It is not like her computer will catch fire or
anything. InDesign has about 20 lovely ways of dealing with fractions.
It also imports Word styles with aplomb.

A good trick is to 'print to PDF' and send the .pdf along with the .doc
to your layout lady. That way she won't have to guess what *you*
thought the formatting was like before her copy of Word had its wicked
way with your beautiful document.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Give it a go Mick. And include the instructions. If your layout artist
is using InDesign or Quark, there is a good chance Clive's trick will
work. Mine might be more interesting. Include some instructions in case
it doesn't work. It is not like her computer will catch fire or
anything. InDesign has about 20 lovely ways of dealing with fractions.
It also imports Word styles with aplomb.

A good trick is to 'print to PDF' and send the .pdf along with the .doc
to your layout lady. That way she won't have to guess what *you*
thought the formatting was like before her copy of Word had its wicked
way with your beautiful document.

Mick,

This fraction formatting never gives problems with the graphic designers I
send my output to (I send most of my finals to graphic designers). Since the
formatting is actually manually applied (the AutoText only avoids having to
re-do it laboriously each time), it should appear as intended when imported
to Quark XPress or InDesign. Whether the typographer retains it or
substitutes a dedicated fraction font or not will depend on the font he/she
is going to use.

Elliott's idea of sending a PDF as well is always a good idea anyway.

Your rigid fear of Word doing something horrible is a widespread phenomenon.
;-)

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
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