What about character styles?

[srd]

Although I use paragraph styles religiously, I have never used character
styles. Is there anything to be gained generally by using them, or do
users invoke them only for special purposes?

Stephen R. Diamond

 

[Stefan Blom]

Character styles can be used to apply character formatting (font,
size, etc.) to part of a paragraph.

Like paragraph styles, character styles help you apply consistent
formatting to text. And of course, modifying a character style
immediately reformats any text where that style is applied.

There are also built-in character styles. For example, apply the
built-in Emphasis character style to format important terms in italic.

A downside to character styles is that there is no way to "revert to
character style". In other words, there is nothing which corresponds
to Ctrl+SpaceBar (which clears font formatting not in the paragraph
style).

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message newsp.tb3rdlsitfv13d@jq0arm4...

 

[Jezebel]

You're probably using them already, albeit unknowingly: Word's default
handling of hyperlinks uses the Hyperlink and FollowedHyperlink character
styles.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Character styles can also be used with StyleRef fields. See
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/StyleRef.htm.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I believe that Word 2007 offers a way to revert to character style; at least
this was one of the scenarios we discussed with Stuart Stuple. I forget
where to find the dialog in Word 2007, but there is a dialog that allows you
to clear formatting selectively.

 

[srd]

Users are advised to use paragraph styles as opposed to direct formatting
not only because it's easer to apply and change complex formatting that
way but also because various problems arise from direct formatting. Most
infamous are the problems in directly applying numbering to a list.

Do similar warnings apply to using direct character formatting? Here's one
such warning that I encountered recently, at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/FastTables.htm


. Applying manual formatting is very resource-hungry – apply predefined
styles instead.

This isn't exactly analogous to the warnings about direct paragraph
formatting, because the adverse consequences affect the functioning of the
computer rather than the outcome. Still, it's a good reason not to use
direct formatting in tables. Is this stricture limited to tables? When
should the user be wary of applying direct character formatting?

Stephen Diamond

 

[Stefan Blom]

This is good news.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

 

[Stefan Blom]

Well, since paragraph styles apply both character and paragraph
formatting, the need for direct character formatting should be
limited.

But, in cases where direct character formatting *is* needed, I
honestly doubt that it would be relevant (to the document structure)
whether it was applied as direct formatting or as a character style.

Still, if you want to encourage users to apply character styles, a
good start would be to attach the Emphasis and Strong character styles
to the Ctrl+I and Ctrl+B shortcuts, respectively.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

Users are advised to use paragraph styles as opposed to direct formatting
not only because it's easer to apply and change complex formatting that
way but also because various problems arise from direct formatting. Most
infamous are the problems in directly applying numbering to a list.

Do similar warnings apply to using direct character formatting? Here's one
such warning that I encountered recently, at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/FastTables.htm


. Applying manual formatting is very resource-hungry - apply predefined
styles instead.

This isn't exactly analogous to the warnings about direct paragraph
formatting, because the adverse consequences affect the functioning of the
computer rather than the outcome. Still, it's a good reason not to use
direct formatting in tables. Is this stricture limited to tables? When
should the user be wary of applying direct character formatting?

Stephen Diamond

 

[Klaus Linke]

I believe that Word 2007 offers a way to revert to character style; at
least
this was one of the scenarios we discussed with Stuart Stuple. I forget
where to find the dialog in Word 2007, but there is a dialog that allows
you
to clear formatting selectively.

Yes, it's in the style inspector (Styles pane, bottom, middle button. Then
the last button in the "Style Inspector" dialog).

It's also a new built-in command (available for customization or keyboard
shortcut): RestoreCharacterStyle.

The other three new commands on the style inspector:
ParagraphRemoveStyle (applies Normal style, similar to "NormalStyle" Ctrl+N,
but does *not* clobber manual character or paragraph formatting),
RestoreParagraphStyle (seems to do pretty much the same as "ResetPara"
Ctrl+Q, or reapplying the style: removes manual paragraph formatting),
CharacterRemoveStyle (removes character styles including their formatting
from the selection, but leaves manual font formatting).

I'd hoped for a way to delete/remove character styles without changing the
formatting (that is, turning it into manual formatting), and similarly a way
to delete/apply a different paragraph style without changing the formatting.
Maybe in the next version? Or maybe something for Add-In developpers?

At least in Word2007, if you delete a paragraph or a character style, you
can choose that the text should revert to the base style (that is, it won't
necessarily revert to Normal, or DPF, as in previous versions). Kudos for
that!

Greetings,
Klaus

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Coming rather late to the party, but reasons I often use character styles
include:

1. They always stay applied when you change paragraph style, instead of
possibly being wiped, dependent on how much direct formatting was applied
(over 50% and it's hosed, I think).

2. They allow you to apply more complex font changes than just bold or
italic or a change of size as one package - particularly useful for special
fonts for "computer text" quotes, for instance.

3. They allow you to combine formatting with "no proofing" (or indeed other
language formatting) as one package - useful for "computer text" again.

4. They allow you to separate semantic from appearance - useful if you might
get a House Style change late in production, and find you have to modify
appearance of all your italicised titles, but not your italicised
parameters, for instance.

One annoying feature is that if you apply a character style to a field, it
doesn't automatically add the "MERGEFORMAT" flag (direct formatting
generally does) - though Charformat would generally be more appropriate for
references anyway.

I am really, really pleased about the restore character style - that's been
on my wish list for a while - and also the more sensible ways of removing
styles in 2007. May not be enough to get me past the ribbon though.

 

[srd]

Could someone point me to a reference that elaborates on effect below.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Direct character formatting added to more than half of a paragraph
will be removed as you apply a different paragraph style; but an
applied character style will be preserved (no matter how much text is
formatted with that character style), as you change the paragraph
style. You can easily test this with (say) the Emphasis character
style and italics applied as direct formatting.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message