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July 04, 2007
We don't Type or Word Process here...
I'm working for a longer time on Microsoft Word 2007. Been meaning to write some mid year reviews of what Vista and Office 2007 has meant to us but that's another day.
Several things with Word 2007:
- For the first time ever, since Word 1.0 for Windows, I've succumbed to the Page Layout view for writing. My previous pedantic insistence (in all previous versions of Word) that I want to see control codes, paragraph marks (hangover of Wordstar 3.3 for CP/M-80)
- The outline numbering, (so buggy in previous Word versions) with mixed paragraphs, is much improved. However, it still gets confused when a normal, numbered paragraph comes after a heading. I could not overcome one instance without stopping my train of thought and again cheated by copying a previous numbered sentence into where the new numbered point would be, then editing the words.
- I don't know whether it is the dual monitors, but at certain times, pressing Enter doesn't move the cursor / editing point. Again, I would know what is blocking it by turning on "Show Paragraph Marks" but for the time being, a few re-tries seems to work enough.
For some time now, working with this market dominant word processor is like issuing commands to a willful delegate of yours. You no longer focus on fast typing or transliteration like people used to do with type writers or dumber word processors (like the MS-DOS word processors - Wordstar, WordPerfect, Word for DOS, Multimate, IBM DisplayWriter, XyWrite). Must upset the serious typist no end.
One reason why WordPerfect for Windows or Open Office Writer might be more attractive for typists is that they don't second guess you. A point not so far used to market these products.
And so, back to work.
Posted by Anandasim at July 4, 2007 02:10 PM
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Comments
When using WordPerfect for Windows (v6,7 and 8) I used to type with Reveal Codes set to half screen. I used to type control codes directly and only once I had finished typing would I check the WYSIWYG half of the screen to verify the layout.
Nowadays, when teaching people how to produce documents, their concentration is mainly on making it pretty, rather than structured.
IMO, people should be taught concentrate on Structure first, Content (a close) second and Layout a very distant third. DocBook is the perfect tool for this, but the lack of easy to use XML editors prevents that. SGML and XML is still in the domain of the hard-core.
Posted by: Dan Woods at July 4, 2007 08:24 PM
Re Item 2: Would copying and pasting the *style* of the previously numbered sentence to the problem one also work? Shift+Ctrl+c and Shift+Ctrl+v. In earlier versions of Word you don't need to copy the text to duplicate the style.
Posted by: David Horwood at July 5, 2007 09:51 AM
I tried using Word 2007 and Excel 2007 but I have reverted back to the 2003 versions that I fortunately kept when I loaded Office 2007. I even upgraded my computer to the latest and greatest Duo-core and still Office 2007 macros run like a dog.
Tests that I carried out showed that macros in 2007 run up to 20 times slower that when run in Office 2003. Furthermore, Microsoft have made it harder to use macros with the removal of the medium level security that enables users to selectively allow macros to run. Effectively, the only way to distribute macros to others is to get them digitally signed, at a cost.
Now most Word users will say that they don’t want to use macros, but macros can provide useful features not normally available in Word and can automate checking and editing chores.
On the other hand, almost all serious users of Excel need to use macros.
Looking at the other aspects of 2007, it seems to me that the improvements over 2003 are mainly cosmetic with a few old bug fixes but with many new bugs introduced. The much touted banner toolbars are easier to use but if the command is not on a banner then it is usually buried deep in the menu structure. The banners take up a significant depth of screen, limiting the available space for the document. The full screen display is next to useless.
Office 2007 reminds me of Windows ME. Now that was a turkey! I would advise anyone contemplating changing from Office 2003 to wait for the next major Office release (Office 2010?), it can only be better.
In the meantime, I have no doubt that I will eventually be forced to use Office 2007 when I start receiving significant numbers of .docx and .xlsx files.
Posted by: KenKen at July 5, 2007 07:46 PM