R
Roger Knights
1. Let the user edit a Bookmark's name. It's often desired to
revise their names. Users can edit filenames, so adding this facility
would make Word appear more coherent and intuitive to users.
2. Add warning-text to the Insert Bookmark dialog box saying that
spaces are not allowed in bookmark names. And/or add a diagnostic beep
or message if the user does enter illegal characters. Otherwise, it's
mysterious why the Add button won't appear.
Guidance/reminder sentences are included in other text boxes, so what
I'm proposing has a precedent. For instance, in the GoTo dialog box,
clicking in the left-hand pane on Line (or Section or Footnote or
Comment) will bring up a sentence under the right-hand drop-down menu
that reads, "Enter + and - to move relative to the current
location. Example: +4 will move forward four items."
If that sort of text-help is appropriate within the GoTo box-and it
is-then it's doubly appropriate in the case of Insert Bookmark,
because the quirk that needs to be warned about:
· Is not documented in the "Word ... Inside Out" manual,
· Requires only three words of help text ("spaces not
permitted"), and
· Is a "gotcha," because the user expects spaces to be allowed in
names, since they are allowed in filenames.
3. The Insert Bookmark box shouldn't disappear after adding a
bookmark. I sometimes want to add lots of bookmarks at once. Some
people have a habit of adding bookmarks one at a time as they write,
and some people (like me) have a habit of writing (or pasting) a lot of
text, and then getting it organized and footnoted and bookmarked all at
once, in a separate step. This second group's requirements aren't so
unusual that they should have to write a macro.
A simple and easy solution would be for MS to include a checkbox
labeled "Erase this box after execution." (This is a feature I've
already encountered somewhere in Windows.) Those who wanted the Insert
Bookmark box retained would check it; those who didn't would leave it
alone. (If checked, it would remain checked the next time the dialog
box was invoked.)
4. Users should be allowed to exit the Insert Bookmark box after
they've started to create a bookmark name and then return to it. This
would let them re-position the cursor or fiddle with the text. (They
should also be able to leave and return to the Go To box also.)
But I suspect there may be a good non-obvious reason why this is
forbidden. And this would be a minor improvement.
revise their names. Users can edit filenames, so adding this facility
would make Word appear more coherent and intuitive to users.
2. Add warning-text to the Insert Bookmark dialog box saying that
spaces are not allowed in bookmark names. And/or add a diagnostic beep
or message if the user does enter illegal characters. Otherwise, it's
mysterious why the Add button won't appear.
Guidance/reminder sentences are included in other text boxes, so what
I'm proposing has a precedent. For instance, in the GoTo dialog box,
clicking in the left-hand pane on Line (or Section or Footnote or
Comment) will bring up a sentence under the right-hand drop-down menu
that reads, "Enter + and - to move relative to the current
location. Example: +4 will move forward four items."
If that sort of text-help is appropriate within the GoTo box-and it
is-then it's doubly appropriate in the case of Insert Bookmark,
because the quirk that needs to be warned about:
· Is not documented in the "Word ... Inside Out" manual,
· Requires only three words of help text ("spaces not
permitted"), and
· Is a "gotcha," because the user expects spaces to be allowed in
names, since they are allowed in filenames.
3. The Insert Bookmark box shouldn't disappear after adding a
bookmark. I sometimes want to add lots of bookmarks at once. Some
people have a habit of adding bookmarks one at a time as they write,
and some people (like me) have a habit of writing (or pasting) a lot of
text, and then getting it organized and footnoted and bookmarked all at
once, in a separate step. This second group's requirements aren't so
unusual that they should have to write a macro.
A simple and easy solution would be for MS to include a checkbox
labeled "Erase this box after execution." (This is a feature I've
already encountered somewhere in Windows.) Those who wanted the Insert
Bookmark box retained would check it; those who didn't would leave it
alone. (If checked, it would remain checked the next time the dialog
box was invoked.)
4. Users should be allowed to exit the Insert Bookmark box after
they've started to create a bookmark name and then return to it. This
would let them re-position the cursor or fiddle with the text. (They
should also be able to leave and return to the Go To box also.)
But I suspect there may be a good non-obvious reason why this is
forbidden. And this would be a minor improvement.