template backwards compatibility

[JanAdam]

Two questions please:

Q1. I am to coordinate writing a technical book with many contributors. I
would like them to use a template I have created in Word 2003, containing new
styles, including marginal notes. Would the template be usable in previous
versions of Word? Any caveats?

Q2. For the marginal note, is it possible to define font, font size and
color for the marginal note frame, different from the rest of the document?
If so, how to do it?

Also, many thanks to Suzanne Barnhill for her tutorial on marginal text at
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/MarginalText.htm (as well as her other
excellent articles there).

Thanks,

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Most of what you are likely to put in such a template would be
backward-compatible at least to Word 2002 and probably Word 2000 as well.
Unless you have gone wild with font and border/shading colors or nested
tables or picture bullets and the like, you're probably good back to Word
97.

A framed style can have all the attributes of any paragraph style, including
font, font size, and color. Your question suggests that you are not familiar
with using styles. I would suggest you compare, say, Normal, style (on which
most of the other built-in styles are based) and Heading 1 and Heading 2
styles, which have distinctly different font and font sizes from Normal, as
well as Spacing Before/After, Keep with next formatting, etc. That's the
point of styles: to be able to apply a variety of font and paragraph formats
in a single stroke.

 

[JanAdam]

Thank you. You are right, in the past I have not been using styles. To the
contrary, it was one of those annoing things where the application seems to
know better what I want. A need for marginal notes forced me there. I have a
fair understanding of the concept, I think, but I do not have the 'how to'
knowledge. With a bit of experimenting, a few try and errors, I will get
there, I hope

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Have a look at these articles for a start:

How to apply a style in Word
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ApplyAStyle.html

How to modify a style in Word
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ModifyAStyle.html

How the Styles and Formatting pane works in Word 2002 and 2003
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/sfpane/StylesAndFormattingPane.html

Shauna Kelly’s article on styles
http://www.microsoft.com/office/using/column14.asp

Why use Word’s built-in heading styles?
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html

 

[JanAdam]

Thanks again Suzanne,
--
JanAdam

Have a look at these articles for a start:

How to apply a style in Word
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ApplyAStyle.html

How to modify a style in Word
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ModifyAStyle.html

How the Styles and Formatting pane works in Word 2002 and 2003
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/sfpane/StylesAndFormattingPane.html

Shauna Kelly’s article on styles
http://www.microsoft.com/office/using/column14.asp

Why use Word’s built-in heading styles?
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html