The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #67222 Message #1122839
Posted By: JohnInKansas
24-Feb-04 - 04:20 PM
Thread Name: Tech: Alternatives to Office and Word
Subject: RE: Tech: Alternatives to Office and Word
Almost any program has features that few people use, and in many cases they can be quite helpful. Many programs also have features that people do use that can be a real problem to others with whom they work - without ever realizing that there are better ways.
An example of one of the latter in Word is the "Insert Symbol" piece of $#@%^. Authors like to get fancy and put special characters in their stuff. No problem if they select a font that contains the character they want, so that the document contains the ASCII/ANSI (or UNICODE) character number. The editors and proofers can get it right. If you use the "Insert Symbol" utility in Word, it looks like the character you want, but it's actually a "special graphic," non-ASCII, known only to Word, that CANNOT be converted to anything that the printers/publishers can get into your book, except by using incredibly arcane methods.
I personally find it helpful to turn off the "Formula Editor," since I find it easier and more accurate to format equations with the suitable fields. It gives me better control - much like doing it in LaTeX, and with most of the capabilities you'll find there. Unfortunately, if Equation Editor is not removed, any accidental double-click in the field converts it automatically and instantly to Mickey'$ idea of how you should lay it out, and you can't "unconvert" it.
I can remember when I created much of my simpler text in DOS with "copy con filename.txt" type the text and Ctl-Z to end it, and you get a perfectly good "document." Edit with edlin - it's still on my machine. Let's NOT go back to there.
John