> > Is there a real life example of a Word document of 200+ pages with 
> > embedded tables and minimal graphics (like header and footer lines) 
> > that can be loaded on another system with a different 
> version of Word 
> > and edited ?
> >
> > There are at least several dozens of equivalent TeX 
> documents on the 
> > internet, most of them distributed formatted as ps or pdf, but the 
> > sources are available.
> >
> > Peter
...
> 
> About 3 months ago I could had given you some very well done 
> stuff, 1000 page docs etc.  The woman who did those knew her 
> stuff, you could spot later changes done by others since the 
> formatting didn't match...

Well, then put some 5-10 equations on each page, and add some cross
refferences to the equactions, graphics and tables. Try to make the graphics
and it's captions float entities that can be automatically placed where they
must be (it can be done in Word; I do it usually), and try to do cross
refferences to this floats. Where did the "marco" gone? (sorry, in my
spanish Word version, the floats can be contained in "marco" and "cuadro de
texto"; don't know the english translation). Try to make footers and headers
in a "book way": different headers for the left and right pages. Left pages
with constant headers (title of the doc) and right pages with the chapter
title. Try to make the chapter title in the right headers all in caps, even
if the chapter title is not in caps. Add lists of tables and figures, add
indexes, and table of contents. Put some footnotes, some of them so big they
won't fit in half page (this happens often in certain environments, latin
transcriptions for example). Try to stuff some vectorial graphics with text
and equations in it. Try to make this text and equations the same styles as
the ones in the main doc. Try to use Word styles to do it. Try to force Word
to treat ligatures right (you know: substitute ft, fi and other special
pairs of letters with special symbols, easier to read) (you think it is
exagerated? Then inspect carefully a well-made book, or any newspaper). Try
to convince Word to keep with the task and do the correct spell check once
'fi' and 'ft' are substituted. And so on... (I think I am getting boring)

Try to define a template that can do all this stuff automatically...

> Word does have style sheets, they're called templates.  A template can be
as simple as a
> collection of styles.  You simply re-apply the template.
> PowerPoint does this better than Word, BTW (but MS didn't write PowerPoint
> ;-) ).

Now the good news: IT CAN BE DONE in Word. I've done it. BUT it is easier in
other more-publication-oriented systems. Is the extra large effort in Word
worth it? I think no.

You can do all of this stuff in Word. You can do much more things: use the
VBA to make all those things word was not designed for. You can add some
"intelligence" to your template with a little VBA code. It is not difficult
to an intermediate level programmer. But there are systems specifically
designed to accomplish this tasks with less effort and, perhaps, better
results. Just my two cents.

Alvaro Deibe Diaz.


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