White Text On Black

[davec]

I've looked through my printer's settings (Epson) and haven't found
anything helpful there. Is there a setting in Word 2004 that'll
reverse the colors? No sense in running through all that black ink.
Thanks.


Dave

 

[CyberTaz]

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but my guess is that it's best
answered by simply saying that there is no such thing as "white" ink - at
least not at anything less than special spot color at the commercial
printing level. White on the typical home/office printer simply means the
absence of ink in those locations where it's called for... The assumption
being made that you're *not* printing on colored paper. If you are printing
on colored paper then "white" renders as whatever the paper color is.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 10/16/07 1:53 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "davec"

I've looked through my printer's settings (Epson) and haven't found
anything helpful there. Is there a setting in Word 2004 that'll
reverse the colors? No sense in running through all that black ink.
Thanks.


Dave

 

[davec]

Well, I neglected to say that the object of my question is a page of
text on an internet site. This is what I want to print out.

That site producer, no doubt to be a little fancy, has the "paper" in
dark grey with white text. What I'd like to do is to print that
material. What I'd also like to do is to "reverse" the fancyness so
that the paper coming out of my printer will have ordinary white (non-
colored) background with ordinary black text.

Hence, my question: "Is there a setting in Word 2004 that'll reverse
the colors?"

Dave

 

[davec]

Well, I neglected to say that the object of my question is a page of
text on an internet site. This is what I want to print out.

That site producer, no doubt to be a little fancy, has the "paper" in
dark grey with white text. What I'd like to do is to print that
material. What I'd also like to do is to "reverse" the fancyness so
that the paper coming out of my printer will have ordinary white (non-
colored) background with ordinary black text.

Hence, my question: "Is there a setting in Word 2004 that'll reverse
the colors?"

Dave

I should add. The method I use to capture and print such a web page is
to take a screen shot of it and to open it in Word 2004. Then to print
it from there. That's, of course, where Word 2004 comes into the
picture.

Dave

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, not exactly - Word isn't designed for that kind of task. There are a
few things you can play with, but it depends on the specific content as to
what combinations will work... For example:

Once you paste, Select All then use Format> Borders & Shading to select No
Fill, then change the font color to Automatic.

You can also use Edit> Paste Special - Unformatted Text if you aren't
concerned about retaining the graphic aspects of the content.

It may also be a matter of selecting individual elements & changing their
formatting.

 

[davec]

Well, not exactly - Word isn't designed for that kind of task. There are a
few things you can play with, but it depends on the specific content as to
what combinations will work... For example:

Once you paste, Select All then use Format> Borders & Shading to select No
Fill, then change the font color to Automatic.

You can also use Edit> Paste Special - Unformatted Text if you aren't
concerned about retaining the graphic aspects of the content.

It may also be a matter of selecting individual elements & changing their
formatting.

Unfortunately, neither of your first two approaches works when you
drag a *screenshot* of the text into Word. Using the Boarders &
Shading route, the "automatic" option is greyed out. And, in the
second approach, "paste special" is greyed out.

Another approach I've used is only partly successful. If one simply
selects web text and *drags the selection* directly into Word all is
well. The selected text appears in the normal way (black-on-white) and
can be printed without having to use a gallon of black ink. The
drawback of this approach is that interspersed images do not make the
trip, they do not appear in Word ready for printing.

The *screenshot* method, therefore, still is a problem. Images
transfer into Word, of course, but the web page *text* prints white-on-
black.

Dave

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Unfortunately, neither of your first two approaches works when you
drag a *screenshot* of the text into Word. Using the Boarders &
Shading route, the "automatic" option is greyed out. And, in the
second approach, "paste special" is greyed out.

Another approach I've used is only partly successful. If one simply
selects web text and *drags the selection* directly into Word all is
well. The selected text appears in the normal way (black-on-white) and
can be printed without having to use a gallon of black ink. The
drawback of this approach is that interspersed images do not make the
trip, they do not appear in Word ready for printing.

The *screenshot* method, therefore, still is a problem. Images
transfer into Word, of course, but the web page *text* prints white-on-
black.

Dave

I¹ve been following this with curiosity. I think you are asking for too
much. Screenshots give you ³pixels² not text. Unless you have an option to
set your printer to black and white, I don¹t think there¹s a chance of doing
what you are hoping for. And, even if you have that option, I¹d hold out
little hope that you¹d save much ink, as you can¹t set the threshold to
distinguish where the black/white cut off is without some sophisticated
image editing software. If you need to save ink, then select the text and
drag or copy it to word. If you want both text and images, then IŒm afraid
you¹ll just have to buy a lot of ink, or convince the web page author to
make it look different.

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, with screen shots, No - for all the reasons Bob G. mentioned & maybe a
few more. You're dealing with a low-res *picture* of the page, not the
actual page content.

The *only* way I know of to even come close to what you want to do is: In
the browser Select the content - Cmd+A if you want tthe entire page - then
Cmd+C to copy it. In the Word doc try the suggestions I offered before & see
if you can find something that works for you.

Depending on the browser you may also try saving the page as a file &
opening that in Word... No guarantees there, either.

 

[davec]

I¹ve been following this with curiosity. I think you are asking for too
much. Screenshots give you ³pixels² not text. Unless you have an option to
set your printer to black and white, I don¹t think there¹s a chance of doing
what you are hoping for. And, even if you have that option, I¹d hold out
little hope that you¹d save much ink, as you can¹t set the threshold to
distinguish where the black/white cut off is without some sophisticated
image editing software. If you need to save ink, then select the text and
drag or copy it to word. If you want both text and images, then IŒm afraid
you¹ll just have to buy a lot of ink, or convince the web page author to
make it look different.

Sorry, I wasn't aware that I was asking too much. There have arisen
two issues, as it happens: 1) can/should Word be able to convert a web
document consisting solely of text (but originally white-text-on-
black) into a normally black-text document; and 2) can/should Word be
able to reproduce a single document which is "mixed" (pixels/images
and non-pixeled text)?

I gather that it's best to forget the second point. Can't be done/
won't be done, technical difficulty, etc., okay.

However, the first point doesn't seem to be something that should be
out of Word's reach. A simple inversion of color, I think it is
called. Making what is "black" in a screenshot (hence, entirely
pixels) into colorless/white and turning what is white/colorless into
black. (This capability can be important. Black ink usage can be
significant when you're printing a page that is all "black" except for
its text.)

Anyway, thanks all for your attention.

Dave

 

[Clive Huggan]

Sorry, I wasn't aware that I was asking too much. There have arisen
two issues, as it happens: 1) can/should Word be able to convert a web
document consisting solely of text (but originally white-text-on-
black) into a normally black-text document; and 2) can/should Word be
able to reproduce a single document which is "mixed" (pixels/images
and non-pixeled text)?

I gather that it's best to forget the second point. Can't be done/
won't be done, technical difficulty, etc., okay.

However, the first point doesn't seem to be something that should be
out of Word's reach. A simple inversion of color, I think it is
called. Making what is "black" in a screenshot (hence, entirely
pixels) into colorless/white and turning what is white/colorless into
black. (This capability can be important. Black ink usage can be
significant when you're printing a page that is all "black" except for
its text.)

Anyway, thanks all for your attention.

Dave

Hello Dave,

I pull text and images off the web all the time. I transfer the text as
CyberTaz mentions -- copy text in browser, Paste Special (unformatted) into
Word -- and either drag the image on to the resulting page in Word or on to
the desktop and then use Word's Insert menu. A quick adjustment of the flow
around the graphics is sometimes necessary.

In practice, to save time a keyboard shortcut is used for the Paste Special
step.

Formatting is taken care of by virtue of the pasted text taking on whatever
formatting is at the insertion point, giving a high degree of control over
the subsequent appearance.

This procedure inherently assumes that "text is text, not just pixels" and
images are pixels. If you want to stick to pixels-only, I'd recommend using
a graphics application, as Word is in the back of the class in that
department. Hence Bob's observation that you were asking too much of Word.
The reality is that in practical terms we are obliged to distinguish between
the text and the graphics.

So the answer to your questions above are:

1. Yes, easily, provided you put it into Word as text.

2. Yes, fairly easily, as long as you work around the inherent dichotomy
between text and images.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

 

[CyberTaz]

Sorry if I'm mistaking your tone, but you seem a little miffed Remember,
Word is - first & foremost - a word processing program. Asking it to perform
conversions, interpolations, inversions etc. on mixed content *dragged* from
a totally different environment is... Well, think it over.

Even if it "could", reconsider the last point of your post. All this would
accomplish is a reversal of the "problem" areas, so what started out as
black on white would then become white on black. How is Word supposed to
know _which_ content should be reversed & which *shouldn't*? And what about
the colors which appear to be white but may actually be several shades off
from 255? Or a color such as very dark blue? What's a word processor
supposed to do with them?

Good Luck |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

I¼ve been following this with curiosity. I think you are asking for too
much. Screenshots give you „pixels¾ not text. Unless you have an option to
set your printer to black and white, I don¼t think there¼s a chance of doing
what you are hoping for. And, even if you have that option, I¼d hold out
little hope that you¼d save much ink, as you can¼t set the threshold to
distinguish where the black/white cut off is without some sophisticated
image editing software. If you need to save ink, then select the text and
drag or copy it to word. If you want both text and images, then Iåm afraid
you¼ll just have to buy a lot of ink, or convince the web page author to
make it look different.

Sorry, I wasn't aware that I was asking too much. There have arisen
two issues, as it happens: 1) can/should Word be able to convert a web
document consisting solely of text (but originally white-text-on-
black) into a normally black-text document; and 2) can/should Word be
able to reproduce a single document which is "mixed" (pixels/images
and non-pixeled text)?

I gather that it's best to forget the second point. Can't be done/
won't be done, technical difficulty, etc., okay.

However, the first point doesn't seem to be something that should be
out of Word's reach. A simple inversion of color, I think it is
called. Making what is "black" in a screenshot (hence, entirely
pixels) into colorless/white and turning what is white/colorless into
black. (This capability can be important. Black ink usage can be
significant when you're printing a page that is all "black" except for
its text.)

Anyway, thanks all for your attention.

Dave

 

[davec]

Bob says::

"...reconsider the last point of your post. All this would
accomplish is a reversal of the "problem" areas, so what started out
as
black on white would then become white on black. How is Word supposed
to
know _which_ content should be reversed & which *shouldn't*? And what
about
the colors which appear to be white but may actually be several shades
off
from 255? Or a color such as very dark blue? What's a word processor
supposed to do with them?"

I guess you're referring to my second point (the "mixed" pixel and
text one). If I understand it, you're correct. Of course interspersed
images (pixels) themselves within the flow of text would not have to
be inverted. No need to touch these images themselves at all. And I
see your point: surrounding these images on the margins and in spaces
above and below would be that nasty black stuff. How would Word, in a
sense, be able to "separate" each image per se (untouchable) from its
surrounding black crud (touchable)? That's, I guess, one of those
can't-do technical matters I suspected would be there.

My first scenario, though, the one with pure text, would be another
matter.

Dave

 

[davec]

As Bob says:
....reconsider the last point of your post. All this would

accomplish is a reversal of the "problem" areas, so what started out as
black on white would then become white on black. How is Word supposed to
know _which_ content should be reversed & which *shouldn't*? And what about
the colors which appear to be white but may actually be several shades off
from 255? Or a color such as very dark blue? What's a word processor
supposed to do with them?

I guess you're referring to my second point (the "mixed" pixel and
text one). If I understand it, you're correct. Of course interspersed
images (pixels) themselves within the flow of text would not have to
be inverted. No need to touch these images themselves at all. And I
see your point: surrounding these images on the margins and in spaces
above and below would be that nasty black stuff. How would Word, in a
sense, be able to "separate" each image per se (untouchable) from its
surrounding black crud (touchable)? That's, I guess, one of those
can't-do technical matters I suspected would be there.

My first scenario, though, the one with pure text, would be another
matter.

Clive's suggestion, with some nice refinements, adds to what I've been
doing when "mixed" web pages occur whether the "black page" problem
arises or not.

Uh huh. Word is a processor and not a graphics program. Yes indeed.

Dave

 

[CyberTaz]

But if it's just text or if the text is all you need, copy/paste special
does exactly what you want

 

[davec]

As Bob says:
....reconsider the last point of your post. All this would

accomplish is a reversal of the "problem" areas, so what started out as
black on white would then become white on black. How is Word supposed to
know _which_ content should be reversed & which *shouldn't*? And what about
the colors which appear to be white but may actually be several shades off
from 255? Or a color such as very dark blue? What's a word processor
supposed to do with them?

I guess you're referring to my second point (the "mixed" pixel and
text one). If I understand it, you're correct. Of course interspersed
images (pixels) themselves within the flow of text would not have to
be inverted. No need to touch these images themselves at all. And I
see your point: surrounding these images on the margins and in spaces
above and below would be that nasty black stuff. How would Word, in a
sense, be able to "separate" each image per se (untouchable) from its
surrounding black crud (touchable)? That's, I guess, one of those
can't-do technical matters I suspected would be there.

My first scenario, though, the one with pure text, would be another
matter.

Clive's suggestion, with some nice refinements, adds to what I've been
doing when "mixed" web pages occur whether the "black page" problem
arises or not.

Uh huh. Word is a processor and not a graphics program. Yes indeed.

Dave

 

[davec]

Bob says::

"...reconsider the last point of your post. All this would
accomplish is a reversal of the "problem" areas, so what started out
as
black on white would then become white on black. How is Word supposed
to
know _which_ content should be reversed & which *shouldn't*? And what
about
the colors which appear to be white but may actually be several shades
off
from 255? Or a color such as very dark blue? What's a word processor
supposed to do with them?"

I guess you're referring to my second point (the "mixed" pixel and
text one). If I understand it, you're correct. Of course interspersed
images (pixels) themselves within the flow of text would not have to
be inverted. No need to touch these images themselves at all. And I
see your point: surrounding these images on the margins and in spaces
above and below would be that nasty black stuff. How would Word, in a
sense, be able to "separate" each image per se (untouchable) from its
surrounding black crud (touchable)? That's, I guess, one of those
can't-do technical matters I suspected would be there.

Clive's suggestion, with some nice refinements, adds to what I've been
doing when "mixed" web pages occur whether the "black page" problem
arises or not.

My first scenario, though, the one with pure text, would be another
matter.

Dave