Publishing Layout

P

patrick j

Hi

I've been using the new Word for Mac 2008 for a couple of weeks. I like it
for the most part and it has one excellent thing which is the new
"Publishing Layout". I'm really glad to see this view added as it means for
the first time I can really enjoying using the drawing capabilities of
Word.

With older versions of Word there were good drawing tools but because they
were always being put in on "Print Layout" there was a problem if, for
example, you wanted to marquee several items. That was something I wanted
to do quite a lot. Because clicking on a space outside any drawing object
would just move the insertion point in the text "behind" you couldn't do
this.

Word for Windows had the "Drawing Canvas" which was a good-ish way around
this problem, but I hugely prefer the "Print Layout" on the Mac version.

The word processor I have used more than any other, Nisus Writer on the
classic OS, was excellent in the way you could switch to its "graphics
layer" and then draw away on the just as if it were a drawing program. You
could still see the text behind the graphics layer but you could not select
in while in the graphics layer.

ClarisWorks had the excellent drawing module and for creation of
newsletters and that kind of thing it was very excellent indeed.

I think that for very many years Word was not as good as Nisus Writer or
ClarisWorks in this regard but now that they have introduced this
"Publishing Layout" they have moved ahead imho.

As well as being able to marquee groups of graphic objects it is great to
have the ability to put in guides in the master document so that each page
of the newsletter will be easy to keep visually coordinated.

All in all I say: "hooray for Publishing Layout" :)
 
C

CyberTaz

Hi Patrick -

Not to burst your bubble - or dampen your enthusiasm for Pub Layout - but
apparently you've been overlooking the Select Objects tool on the Drawing
Toolbar... and it isn't new in 2008 - been there for ages:) It does have a
slightly different appearance than before, but it allows you to do exactly
what you describe while working in Page Layout View - create a selection
marquee. Not only that, but it "deactivates" the text layer & allows you
select objects which have Behind Text text wrapping applied by selecting
right through the overlying text.
 

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