I began to do this, then realized I had no way to represent what I
wanted....
Dear whoever,
There is a way of formatting fractions elegantly. The procedure requires
about ten minutes' work, once off, then after that a fully formatted
fraction is inserted instantly by AutoCorrect.
I originally devised these specifications because I wanted a typographically
elegant set of fractions without having to purchase special Mac fraction
fonts (which the other party wouldn't have anyway). Compatibility in all (as
far as I know) Mac versions of Word, ditto PC, is a useful side-effect.
My comments are based on Word 2001 and I now use them on 2004, but it's
fairly certain you'll find they apply to Word X.
These are a clip from a post I did 18 months ago, taken from notes on the
way I use Word titled "Bend Word to Your Will", whic are available as a free
download from the Word MVPs' website at
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/Bend/BendWord.htm
(I may have amended these particular notes since then but I don't think so.
If you do download the notes, do a Find command for "typographically
elegant".)
Here are the notes:
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These notes describe how to format fractions for running text that look like
the ones inserted by special "fraction fonts" -- that is, typographically
elegant fractions with a sloping fraction bar and appropriately sized and
positioned numerals. Not having to use "fraction fonts" is convenient if
you
don't have such fonts installed, and is especially useful if you send your
documents to people who don't have such fonts. They work on the Windows
platform too -- and look identical on Mac and Windows computers when the
"common to both platforms" standard Windows TrueType fonts (Times New
Roman,
Arial, and Courier New and Wingdings) are used.
To format a fraction from scratch and prepare it as an AutoCorrect entry, as
shown below, requires about ten minutes' work -- but only once off, because
from then on Word will automatically insert a fully formatted fraction via
AutoCorrect.
Notes: The fraction bar is Shift-Option-1.
1. FORMATTING THE CHARACTERS
a. For 7-point components suitable for 12-point Times text
[Note added 31 January: In Word 2004 one would need to do this in Times New
Roman, because TNR looks far better than Times in the new ATSUI display.]
After experimenting with several variations for 12 point Times I settled on
"At least 13 point" line spacing, all three characters in 7 point ("1" is
raised 3 points; fraction bar is raised 2 points; "2" is not raised).
To format this:
Type "1" followed by Shift-Option-1 (which is a fraction bar) and "2". Key
Shift-[left arrow] to select the "2". Key Command-d, click the "font" tab
and enter "7" in the "font size" field. Click "OK".
Left arrow to de-select the "2". Shift-[left arrow] to select the fraction
bar. Key Command-d, click the "font" tab and enter "7" in the "font size"
field. Click the "Character spacing" tab and enter "2 pt" (raised) against
"Position". Click "OK".
Repeat for the "1" character but raise it 3 points.
b. For 6-point components suitable for 11-point Times text
For 11 point Times the best appearance came from "At least 13 point" line
spacing; "1" in 6 point is raised 3 points; fraction bar in 7 point is
raised 1.5 points; "2" in 6 point is not raised.
To format this:
Type "1" followed by Shift-Option-1 (which is a fraction bar) and "2". Key
Shift-[left arrow] to select the "2". Key Command-d, click the "font" tab
and enter "6" in the "font size" field. Click "OK".
Left arrow to de-select the "2". Shift-[left arrow] to select the fraction
bar. Key Command-d, click the "font" tab and enter "7" in the "font size"
field. Click the "Character spacing" tab and enter "2 pt" (raised) against
"Position". Click "OK".
Repeat for the "1" character but enter "6" as the font size and raise 3
points.
2. SETTING UP THE AUTOCORRECT ENTRY
Select the three formatted characters (if you do not have "Smart cut and
paste" enabled (Edit menu [Word menu in Word 2004 and (?)X] --> Preferences
--> Edit tab), you may also want
to select a 12 or 11 point space after them).
Go to the Tools menu » AutoCorrect.
In the right-hand field, "1/2" will be present. Click the "Formatted Text"
button above the right-hand field.
Click in the left-hand ("Replace") field and type in the term you want
AutoCorrect to amend. I did not want to use "1/2", because it's likely that
I will want to type those characters in other contexts, such as two
alternative dates (1/2 March). And of course I couldn't use "half". I
therefore allocated the term "hhalf" ‹ with the "h" repeated.
Click the "Add" button, then the "OK" button.
Now I only have to type "hhalf" and the formatted fraction is inserted
immediately by AutoCorrect.
I don't use fractions often, so I opted to have only the one entry and to
manually alter the "1/2" to "3/4" and so on. If I were using fractions more
often I would prepare more examples by altering the formatted "half"
fraction directly and allocating an AutoCorrect term for the new fraction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cheers,
Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 5 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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