Hi, Am I the only one who finds that many of the things you guys have mention= ed Word is able to do, it does very poor? - I mean shure you have styles= and all that. But why for example, is it, that everytime you paste som text into the da= rn thing, it has copied the layout with it too. And this both for paste's= from Word and from fx a browser. And its not very good at just about any math equation, either. And lets n= ot forget references. I find that latex does all of these things and more, in a better way + it= enables cvs-style collaboration with your colleagues. Btw, did I say that I have just switched to using Latex from using Word f= or over a decade? Naah... Word is actually ok for what it does.... I am just beginning to l= ike Latex more. I find that when writing big reports and such (100 pages+= ), it feels like Word isnt quite up to the task. It gets very slow and yo= u start to feel uncertain that it keeps working for you. That was my 2c on the matter. - S=F8ren K. > -----Original Message----- > From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu=20 > [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of Tony Smith > Sent: 7. april 2005 15:39 > To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. > Subject: RE: [OT][AD] MS Word, was Ideas for books on PIC >=20 > I was teaching people Word, Excel & PowerPoint at my last=20 > job, about 15 people, 1 hour per week. I taught them a lot,=20 > fast. After the quick demo of what you can do with styles,=20 > one guys jaw dropped, and he stated that he'd wasted half his=20 > life fiddling with formatting. >=20 > I actually quite impressed with PowerPoint, although I hate=20 > being on the receiving end. I only ever met one other person=20 > who knew it. Learn Styles, Master slide, Outline view,=20 > Layout, Guides, Templates and you're done. >=20 > After I taught them Word, I could teach PowerPoint in 30 minutes. >=20 > My 5% formatting time is based on new documents. For lawyer=20 > & accountants, the time is nearly 0%. They know what format=20 > they want, thank you very much! >=20 > PicList must be elite, my usual estimate is 1/1000 know Word.=20 > Here we have 3/2000! >=20 > My "No-Bullshit Guide to Office" is progressing... >=20 > Tony >=20 >=20 >=20 > > -----Original Message----- > > From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu]On=20 > > Behalf Of Gerhard Fiedler > > Sent: Thursday, 7 April 2005 9:11 PM > > To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. > > Subject: Re: [OT][AD] MS Word, was Ideas for books on PIC > > > > > > Tony Smith wrote: > > > > >>> So what do all you authors use for (non-fiction=20 > writing) software? =20 > > >>> I was contemplating doing some writing, and found=20 > microsoft word=20 > > >>> (which I assumed did everything) to be terribly lacking=20 > in things=20 > > >>> like including source code examples and such. Short of $$$=20 > > >>> packages like Framemaker, ... > > > > >> I've also used Word for writing reports, which included=20 > figures and=20 > > >> images. In my opinion, it is lousy for desktop publishing. > > > > > Styles aren't a good thing, they are THE thing. If you don't > > know styles, > > > you don't know Word. > > > > I'm often amazed at how people who didn't figure out Word=20 > want to try=20 > > their luck with the publishing applications like Framemaker, Quark=20 > > etc. If you don't want to spend the time to figure out how to make=20 > > Word behave and do what you want, you probably won't have much luck=20 > > with these more complex packages either. Of course they can=20 > do things=20 > > that Word can't, but most of the complaints are not about=20 > things that=20 > > Word can't do, they are about things that the person hasn't=20 > taken the=20 > > time to learn how to do. I figure that the time to learn how to do=20 > > them with Quark is not less. > > > > I don't do a lot of advertising or newsletter type publishing where=20 > > complex page layouts, text flowing through several=20 > arbitrarily placed=20 > > frames or professional color handling is important. But I=20 > write a lot=20 > > of non-fiction professional documents, and I have yet to find a=20 > > formatting challenge that couldn't be rather easily resolved with=20 > > Word. If you want to make your life easy, think a bit about how you=20 > > want it to look, create the styles, and work with them. > > > > Sometimes I rework a document created by someone else without using=20 > > styles. > > It's amazing how the visual consistency increases with a bit of=20 > > thought and structuring work. If you want people to read=20 > your stuff,=20 > > /thinking/ about a suitable presentation and actually=20 > designing it is=20 > > not something that should be neglected. (Yes, that's design=20 > work. You=20 > > may be able to add a whole new dimension to your documentation by=20 > > looking at it that way.) > > > > (That's of course not restricted to Microsoft Word. That's the same=20 > > thing with any presentation system.) > > > > > > > Formatting a document should take less than 5% of your time. > > Much less if > > > you're in law or accounting. > > > > Especially if you find yourself writing similarly formed documents=20 > > repeatedly. You can't know how styles makes this easier and=20 > the result=20 > > better until you've tried it. > > > > Gerhard > > -- > > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your=20 > > membership options at=20 > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist >=20 > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change=20 > your membership options at=20 > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist >=20 --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist