Why won't Microsoft develop method for all fractions?

[KGlennC]

I notice a LOT of questions in this Discussion Group regarding needing the
ability to create fractions - not the basic fractions, but others, such as
3/16, 1/12, etc. Third-party fonts are not the answer; I've purchased several.

I own an engineering related company and our documents look unprofessional
in that if not all fractions can be displayed in the basic fraction format,
then I use the "full-size" format (e.g., 3/16).

One of Microsoft's suggestions discusses recipes; another recommends using
Equation Editor (very, very time consuming, cumersome and does not return
characters consistent with document font).

Just my $0.02.

 

[Bob Mathews]

I own an engineering related company and our documents
look unprofessional in that if not all fractions can be
displayed in the basic fraction format, then I use the "full-
size" format (e.g., 3/16).

One of Microsoft's suggestions discusses recipes; another
recommends using Equation Editor (very, very time
consuming, cumersome and does not return characters
consistent with document font).

Glenn, Equation Editor (EE) returns characters in whatever font
you set it up for. With EE active, the menus on Word's menu bar
aren't Word menus any more; they're EE menus. With EE open,
select Style > Define, and set up the fonts to match your
document fonts. Keep in mind that these styles must be set to
Symbol font: Symbol, LC Greek, & UC Greek. Similarly, select Size

Define, and set the Full size to match your document's font

size. Set the rest of the sizes in percent values. I recommend
these values: 58%, 45%, 150%, and 100%, respectively, from top to
bottom after full-size. Be sure to include the % symbol. Setting
these values to percent values allows you to change your font
size by changing only the Full size value.

You can also program as many fractions as you want into Word's
AutoCorrect feature. Obviously there is an infinite number of
fractions, and you can't include them all in AC, but I'm sure
there are many that you use most often. On our web site, we have
a tutorial on doing this:
http://www.dessci.com/en/support/tutorials/autocorrect/tutorial.htm.
This tutorial specifically discusses MathType, the professional
version of EE, but much of what the tutorial discusses can be
done with EE.
--
Bob Mathews (e-mail address removed)
Director of Training 830-990-9699
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
Design Science, Inc. -- "How Science Communicates"
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide

 

[KGlennC]

Neither option is that realistic.

But, I did find a solution elsewhere in this Discussion Group that APPEARS
to work and is very easy to use once you've developed the Macro and added it
to the Toolbar. See>> http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Insert_Formatted_Fractions.htm

If I can do it (after finding where someone else did it), then Microsoft
could add the same capability/function to its products very, very easily,
thereby ensuring document compatability for all users. Not sure why Microsoft
forces a user to jump through hoops using EE or adding a zillion AutoCorrect
entries. Apparently, Microsoft doesn't think engineering-related enties are
that important, only cooks and their recipes.

/rant

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't think you can blame Microsoft for the Unicode standard. Word makes
available as made-up fractions those that are available in common fonts.

 

[Jay Freedman]

I do see KGlennC's point... Being able to write all fractions in a
consistent format with minimal manual work would probably benefit a
lot more users than something like easy-to-use drop caps.

The improvement over Greg's macro that MS could add is to recognize a
fraction automatically in text and trigger AutoFormat, instead of
having to enter the fraction in a special box. In fact, if it were
available I'd consider that to be one of the few AutoFormat As You
Type options that I wouldn't turn off. ;-)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I have the existing one turned off already because I still use slashes in
dates. When I was membership chairman for the Friends of the Library, our
annual membership mailing went out in late December, so we received a lot of
dues in early January. I didn't want 1/2 and 1/4 converted to fractions!

 

[KCSherrie]

I agree wholeheartedly with KGlennC's point. I too work in engineering, and
I also work part time for a furniture store. When I am placing dimensions of
furniture on the tags being displayed with very expensive furniture, it looks
VERY tacky to have some looking like normal fractions and others full sized
numbers ... as for dates, if you are using 3/21/05 ... you shouldn't get a
fraction with that because there is more than one slash and also ... the
fraction doesn't turn to a fraction until you hit space or enter ... so that
shouldn't be a problem.

There should be a far easier way to accomplish fractions ... for instance
.... I cannot use any of the macros that are suggested numerous times in the
answers to the question on "How to format Fractions" because my company will
not allow us to download or install anything like this to our computers! Its
pretty disgusting that the only thing that Microsoft thinks is important is
someone's recipe collection.

 

[Graham Mayor]

You can hardly blame Microsoft for your choice of fonts. The limited number
of formatted fractions is simply attributable to the character set of the
fonts you are using and nothing whatsoever to do with the Word program. What
is ridiculous is the short sightedness of the IT department that prevents
you from using the tools at your disposal. This is to save them work at the
cost of productivity. IT systems are supposed to aid the workforce, not
inhibit them. It is time you urged management to rethink.

You can format numbers to represent fractions, and macros will aid that, or
you can build them manually. The various methods are described at:

http://www.gmayor.com/createfraction.htm
or
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Insert_Formatted_Fractions.htm
or
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/CreateFraction.htm

Alternatively you may be able to find a specialised font that has the extra
characters you require - but then I don't suppose that your bone idle IT
department will allow you to use it


--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[KCSherrie]

Well since we use every font available which also work in AutoCAD &
MicroStation and their supporting programs ... yes I can blame Microsoft for
being so proprietary and for not making something as common as a FRACTION
work properly particularly in their own programs!!! There are far more
than the 3 fractions they support, if they could make 1/2 look like a normal
fraction they could do the same for any two numbers divided by a / ... but
that's too much to ask of Microsoft.

Microsoft doesn't make their product work properly with other programs ...
and that causes major issues with those programs that run in the engineering
community. Its not short sightedness on our IT department ... its knowing
how many MAJOR issues are caused everytime they migrate something to
Microsoft -- for instance, We just switched from GroupWise to Outlook this
past weekend .. the migration brought down about 100 people for over a half
day because it changed every program we use!! Thanks a helluva lot of
overhead that was caused by Microsoft! This is not a little mom & pop
engineering firm by the way ... its one of the larger ones in the Country!

The IT folks don't allow us to install downloads at will because too many of
them -- particularly from Microsoft change things in other programs and
shared resources ... you can't have 1700 people doing that on a daily basis
-- we'd never get any work done fixing issues caused by Microsoft.

I do find it humorous though ... how many times you and a couple of others
have posted precisely the same post with precisely the same links -- almost
seems like a form letter!

Sherrie

 

[Graham Mayor]

This is not a portal through which your whinges will be addressed to
Microsoft. It is a public newsgroup where the contributors are other Word
users. Microsoft is not listening here.

Yes the links posted are the same, as these are the ones that address the
issue. If you don't like the advice that is freely offered, you don't need
to take it.

If you have fonts that you can use in other applications that provide the
formatted characters you require, they can be used equally in Word. Word
will use any font the current printer is capable of printing. Word uses
autocorrect entries to swap 1/2 etc for their font character equivalents.
Feel free to add any others you have available.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[KCSherrie]

I realize that this is not a site monitored by Microsoft. I simply
responded based upon your insulting comments concerning an IT department
which has to deal with all the issues Microsoft causes, and also the fact
that you were defending Microsoft as though you were a paid spokesman.

I do also realize that at my primary job, where operating AutoCAD &
MicroStation are my primary functions, that I can copy & paste or utilize the
same TT fonts, etc within Word or Excel ... however ... I cannot take
anything from here to another place I work part-time where as I explained in
my first message, it is a high end furniture store and in the process of
printing tags for furniture last evening I was totally and completely over
the fact that Word does not recongize anything but what THEY consider to be
"common fractions". It irritates the daylights out of me that I cannot
either character map something ... or type in an ascii or other code to get
something like 5/16. Microsoft most definitely can do it ... they just
won't.

Sherrie

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

As Graham has said, you can easily create AutoCorrect entries for the
"common fractions" that are included in Unicode fonts, which add thirds and
eighths to the ones already produced by AutoFormat As You Type. Beyond that,
specific formatting is required. Even if you use something as simple as
superscripting the numerator and subscripting the denominator and inserting
a fraction slash between, a certain amount of work is required. This is what
Graham's macro does.

But I can assure you that not everyone wants to do this. I type textbooks in
which a slash is often used in place of a division sign, and a formatted
fraction is *not* what is wanted. And, believe it or not, there are
instances when people type dates with only one slash (in the example I gave,
all the date entries were in the same year, so it was not necessary to add
the year).

You would be amazed at the long list of things that certain people think
that Microsoft can and should do. If you can make an economic case for it,
it will be done. But you have to show that (a) a significant number of Word
users need the given feature and that (b) the feature would add enough value
to Word that it would be an incentive for users to upgrade to a new version.
Aside from bug fixes, which are prioritized in a different way, programming
time is allocated on the basis of the number of users affected and the
economic value of the feature.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Microsoft has provided the tools to do what you want, and I have explained
how to use them, and still you complain. The fact that your IT department
does not allow you to use the tools that Microsoft provides for the purpose
can hardly be a criticism of Microsoft, so whether you find it insulting or
not, it is the IT department that is screwing up your work here and not
Microsoft.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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