Synopses & Reviews
First, the good news: Microsoft Word is magnificently malleable. If
you don't like the way a certain part of Word works, nine times out of
ten all it takes is a little gumption and a bit of reading, and you can
probably change things around so they work the way you want them to.
Word is one of the most complex, most sophisticated, and most useful
pieces of software ever created. It's there for you to mold to your
way of working. You don't have to settle for the built-in stuff.
Now the bad news: There's a lot of built-in stuff, and a lot of it
is annoying. Part of the problem is that everyone works differently,
and expects their word processor to work differently also; one user's
favorite feature is another's annoyance. But there are other reasons
that Word can be annoying: a difficulty (both for users and for
the software developers who created Word) to make the transition
from the typewriter to the computer; compatibility and the legacy
of previous versions; and out-and-out poor design, to name just a few.
You may be annoyed that something (it's called Find Fast) takes over
your machine every so often to scan and index your files. Or that
it's so difficult to select a block of text that begins in the middle
of a word. Or that, when you want to select a new style for some text,
a visually attractive drop-down list takes forever to appear. But
whatever the immediate cause of the annoyance, what's most annoying
is that it's taking you longer than you think it should to perform
simple tasks.
Word 97 Annoyances takes a look at many of these annoyances and shows
you how to get rid of them so that you can get your work done more
easily and efficiently. For instance, the book will show you how to:
- Customize the toolbar so it works the way you want it to. You can
create toolbars that reflect the way you work, instead of catering to the
needs of Microsoft's marketing staff.
- Reduce your stress level by taking an in-depth look at what makes Word
tick. By understanding how Word defines sections or formats paragraphs,
you can begin to understand and accept some apparent annoyances that are
built into Word.
- Write simple VBA programs to eliminate your own personal annoyances.
For example, short VBA programs show how to disable the "Float over text"
box that is always checked whenever you try to insert an image into your
document.
And while making Word a more productive and easier tool to use, you'll
also be enjoying a well-written, extremely humorous computer book.
Synopsis
First, the good news: Microsoft Word is magnificently malleable. If you don't like the way a certain part of Word works, nine times out of ten all it takes is a little gumption and a bit of reading, and you can probably change things around so they work the way you want them to. Word is one of the most complex, most sophisticated, and most useful pieces of software ever created. It's there for you to mold to your way of working. You don't have to settle for the built-in stuff.Now the bad news: There's a lot of built-in stuff, and a lot of it is annoying. Part of the problem is that everyone works differently, and expects their word processor to work differently also; one user's favorite feature is another's annoyance. But there are other reasons that Word can be annoying: a difficulty (both for users and for the software developers who created Word) to make the transition from the typewriter to the computer; compatibility and the legacy of previous versions; and out-and-out poor design, to name just a few.You may be annoyed that something (it's called Find Fast) takes over your machine every so often to scan and index your files. Or that it's so difficult to select a block of text that begins in the middle of a word. Or that, when you want to select a new style for some text, a visually attractive drop-down list takes forever to appear. But whatever the immediate cause of the annoyance, what's most annoying is that it's taking you longer than you think it should to perform simple tasks.Word 97 Annoyances takes a look at many of these annoyances and shows you how to get rid of them so that you can get your work done more easily and efficiently. For instance, the book will show you how to:
- Customize the toolbar so it works the way you want it to. You can create toolbars that reflect the way you work, instead of catering to the needs of Microsoft's marketing staff.
- Reduce your stress level by taking an in-depth look at what makes Word tick. By understanding how Word defines sections or formats paragraphs, you can begin to understand and accept some apparent annoyances that are built into Word.
- Write simple VBA programs to eliminate your own personal annoyances. For example, short VBA programs show how to disable the "Float over text" box that is always checked whenever you try to insert an image into your document.
And while making Word a more productive and easier tool to use, you'll also be enjoying a well-written, extremely humorous computer book.
Synopsis
Word 97 contains hundreds of annoying idiosyncrasies that can be either eliminated or worked around. This informative yet humorous book takes an in-depth look at what makes Word 97 tick and shows readers how to transform this software into a powerful tool customized to meet their needs.
Synopsis
Word 97 contains hundreds of annoying idiosyncrasies that can be either eliminated or worked around. Whether it's the Find Fast feature that takes over your machine every once in awhile, or the way Word automatically selects an entire word as you struggle to highlight only a portion of it, "Word 97 Annoyances will show you how to solve the problem. It's filled with tips and customizations, and takes an in-depth look at what makes Word 97 tick -- mainly character and paragraph formatting, styles, and templates. This informative, yet humorous, book shows you how to use and modify Word 97 to meet your needs, transforming the software into a powerful tool customized to the way "you use Word. You'll learn how to: Customize the toolbar so it works the way you want it toReduce your stress level by understanding how Word defines sections or formats paragraphs and accepting some apparent annoyances that are built into WordWrite simple VBA programs to eliminate your own personal annoyances
About the Author
Lee Hudspeth is a co-founder of PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. (Hermosa Beach, CA), a Microsoft Solution Provider. His background is in operations research, financial analysis, and marketing analysis (formerly with Unocal Corp.). He has coauthored several books on Office, including The Underground Guide to Microsoft Office, OLE, and VBA and The Underground Guide to Excel 5.0 for Windows. He is co-editor-in-chief of the monthly newsletter Woody's Underground Office. He's a Microsoft MVP (Most Valued Professional), coauthor of the Microsoft course on application development using WordBasic, and a certified Microsoft trainer in Visual Basic and WordBasic. Along with other PRIME Consulting staff, Lee has developed innumerable lines of VB, VBA, and WordBasic code for the firm's numerous Office add-ins (PRIME for Excel and PRIME for Word), going way back to Word 2.0. Lee also writes and delivers Office usage and development custom courses to hordes of interested parties the world over.
T.J. Lee, a co-founder of PRIME Consulting Group, has a background as a certified public accountant and has done computer and management consulting for years. He has coauthored several books on Office, including The Underground Guide to Microsoft Excel 5 and The Underground Guide to Microsoft Office, OLE and VBA. T.J. is co-editor-in-chief of the monthly newsletter Woody's Underground Office and a certified Microsoft trainer. He has written countless courseware packages and manuals, coauthored the Microsoft Education Services course on Developing Applications in Word, and taught and lectured for thousands of developers and end users.
Woody Leonhard's books include Windows 3.1 Programming for Mere Mortals, The Underground Guide to Word for Windows, The Hacker's Guide to Word for Windows, The Mother of All PC Books, The Mother of All Windows 95 Books, and several others. He was series editor for Addison-Wesley's Underground Guides (11 books) and A-W's Hacker's Guides (4 books). Along with T.J. Lee and Lee Hudspeth he's editor-in-chief of PC Computing's Undocumented Office, a monthly hardcopy newsletter. He's a contributing editor at PC Computing (circulation 1,000,000+), and productivity editor for Office Computing (circulation 400,000), a new monthly magazine from the editors of PC Computing. He also publishes a free weekly electronic news bulletin on Microsoft Office called WOW (Woody's Office Watch), available by sending email to [email protected]. Woody's software company makes WOPR (Woody's Office POWER Pack), the number-one enhancement to Microsoft Office. A self-described "grizzled computer hack, frustrated novelist and Office victim," by day he's a Tibetan human rights activist and co-founder of the Tibetan Children's Fund. Woody lives on top of a mountain in Coal Creek Canyon, Colorado.