Recent Posts

3851

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 28, 2010, 12:20 PM »

ARmando!  i totally missed your long post above.  Thanks, it's good to know how you do things.  So is that what you would do?  Use html export from IQ, and then paste in Word and apply a table style?

Could you maybe post a screenshot of a finished product table you've inserted using this method?  I'd appreciate it.

3852

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 28, 2010, 09:30 AM »

Here's an example of what I'd like the glossary to look like.  This is done in excel: (see attachment in previous post)

-superboyac (May 27, 2010, 06:09 PM)

What happens when you copy that table from Excel and simply paste it into Word?

And when you talk about "headers" I only see the one (Item   Description) at the top of your sample.  I assume there are others since it's easy to make the first row/rows of a Word table repeat at the top of each page.

-AndyM (May 27, 2010, 11:35 PM)

When I paste from Excel, it seems to work fine.  I haven't had any problems yet.  From the articles, it seems like you get more problems when you edit the table within Word (move cells, add rows, columns, drag drop text, etc.)  So now I'm doing everything in Excel and then copy/paste to Word.  It's easier in Excel anyway.

I didn't know about this headers on top of each page.  I'm going to do that!

3853

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred font?

« Last post by superboyac on May 28, 2010, 09:26 AM »

I think gdipp initially screws up some stuff on your computer.  there's a lot of flickering, errors, weird problems.  But then they go away.  Almost like it's rendering for the first time, and once it does it, things are ok.

3854

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred font?

« Last post by superboyac on May 28, 2010, 08:36 AM »

I just installed gdipp.  I can't tell the difference.  It's a service, so I stopped it and restarted and I didn't see anything change.  but maybe I don't have an eye for these things.  What should I be looking for?

-superboyac (May 27, 2010, 11:54 AM)

Actually, i rebooted, and there is quite a bit of difference.  Wow.

3855

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 27, 2010, 11:01 PM »

I have used the html export feature, but is that the "best" way of putting it into a Word document?  I make a point of this, because this is the first time I'm using Word the "right" way with styles, templates, fields, etc.

-superboyac (May 27, 2010, 08:46 PM)

HTML Export is one way,

The other way is :

1- Select the content
2- Edit>>Copy and choose Tab-delimited format.
3- Paste this into Word (paste special > unformatted text)
4- Select the text and Table >>  convert it to a table (tab delimited)

-PPLandry (May 27, 2010, 10:11 PM)

Interesting.  I'll have to try that tomorrow.  incidentally, when I have carriage returns in one of the cells in my grid in InfoQube, when I export it in anything besides HTML export, those carriage returns become a new line or cell, which makes sense, I suppose.  The problem is that it adds blank cells under the cells next to it to make it all fit.  The problem with that is when you use it to make a table, it messes up all the grid border format, because all the blank cells get borders also.  If there's a way around it, that would be nice.  I can't think of a good solution.

3856

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 27, 2010, 08:46 PM »

Sorry to jump in, but isn't that exactly what the InfoQube built-in HTML export (settings mode) gives you ?

-PPLandry (May 27, 2010, 08:17 PM)

I have used the html export feature, but is that the "best" way of putting it into a Word document?  I make a point of this, because this is the first time I'm using Word the "right" way with styles, templates, fields, etc.  If I use the html export from IQ, how does that integrate with the styles I've set up in my document?

All the MVPs are very strict about what they do and don't do with Word.  I haven't heard anyone say anything about bringing in html, that's why I don't know.  But they have very strong opinions about the proper way to use (or not use) tables.

3857

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 27, 2010, 06:09 PM »

Here's an example of what I'd like the glossary to look like.  This is done in excel:

3858

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 27, 2010, 04:29 PM »

I just have to chime in with emphatic agreement on: Use the right tool for the job! Tables (and text boxes) in particular have been hugely problematic for me with Word. Huge tables created in Word when they should have been done in Excel. And text boxes used when they just shouldn't have been used at all (to accomplish things like aligning text properly, because the person doesn't know how to use tab stops!).

So yeah, it's a big problem when people get focused on just 1 tool and use it for all their problems.

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (May 27, 2010, 03:23 PM)

So, what would you do if you already had a long glossary completed in another program (i.e. InfoQube) and you wanted to stick that information into a Word document?  That's what I'm doing.  Before I can stick it in, I have to massage IQ's output a little (headers, formatting, etc.)  So what I'm doing now is doing that all in Excel, and copy/paste it into Word.

I'm not sure how effective these tabs stops would be for the same thing.  Please advise, thanks.

3859

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred font?

« Last post by superboyac on May 27, 2010, 11:54 AM »

I just installed gdipp.  I can't tell the difference.  It's a service, so I stopped it and restarted and I didn't see anything change.  but maybe I don't have an eye for these things.  What should I be looking for?

3860

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 27, 2010, 11:27 AM »

That's interesting, Andy.  i would have never thought of that.

I'm thinking of doing all of the formatting in Excel, and then bringing it directly into Word with copy/paste normal.  That seems to be working pretty well, even though all Shauna Kelly prefers pasting the chart in as a picture instead.  The problem with that is the table is pretty long (spans 5-6 pages).

3861

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 26, 2010, 10:37 PM »

If I'm importing rows and columns of data that I'm ultimately going to put in Word, sometimes it's easier to first import the data into Excel, do some massaging/formatting and then copy it to Word where it automatically turns into a table, and then finish the massaging and formatting.  This is because some things are easier in Excel than Word and the reverse.

Yes, i may have to do this, it sounds easier.  I'm trying to make a glossary.  Nothing fancy, but there is formatting involved.  two columns, bold words, normal definitions, headers are formatted.  But there are a lot of items.  I already have all the words and definitions in InfoQube, so I want an easy way to bring it into Word.  So when I did at first, I copied and pasted, then adjusted some stuff, removed some rows, appleid some styles.  That's when it all broke.  So now, I'm going to try the Excel method.

3862

Living Room / Re: What happened to my DC forum avatar?

« Last post by superboyac on May 26, 2010, 10:31 PM »

Here you go, my friend.  Feel free to use or not use it.

3863

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 26, 2010, 05:39 PM »

Question:
would it be better to make the table in Excel and link it inside Word?

3864

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 26, 2010, 05:37 PM »

Holy crap:
Do Not Use Tables!!

I just did a table, and it completely fucked up my manual I've been writing.  It crashed word, then it said it was recovering.  Then the recovery file didn't have a lot of my latest changes, including all the table stuff I did.  If not for Autover (thanks 40hz!) I would be losing it right about now.  Microsoft needs to fix this pronto.  you can't let this go version after version.  That is bullshit.  Tables are a fundamental feature of Word.

3865

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 26, 2010, 04:38 PM »

Very interesting. Well obviously they've put more thought into it than I have. I guess they would still say the same today, most of the Office MVPs are pretty good at staying up-to-date.

-daddydave (May 26, 2010, 03:40 PM)

yeah, but all their official documents that everyone references were written years ago.  So I'm wondering if things have changed, because there are a lot of significant changes in word 2007.

3866

General Software Discussion / Re: church song software

« Last post by superboyac on May 26, 2010, 02:54 PM »

I have a brother in law who is a pastor. I think I've heard him talk about the software they use to project the lyrics and stuff during the worship.  I'm sure he might find a mini review useful.

3867

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 26, 2010, 02:47 PM »

http://word.mvps.org...dwordtoyourwill.html
There's also John Mcghie's famous templates.  They both say how tables are bad, unstable, and highly recommended to avoid.  Apparently, they often lead to corrupted documents.

here's an exceprt:

The things to avoid with tables because they lead to instability, according to experts on the MacWord MVP newsgroup, include the following:
•   tables within tables;
•   merging or splitting table cells;
•   dragging text between cells (“you will still end up with a corrupt document if you do too much of this; it’s OK if you are sure that you only have text selected, but if you make a mistake and select a cell, there’s trouble ahead”);
•   dragging individual cells (but “it’s OK to drag rows or columns around”);
•   cutting and pasting in tables (“it will do it, but table corruption is likely to result sooner or later — although cutting and pasting or dragging and dropping whole rows is usually OK”).
Further, the more of the following you use, and the more often in a document, the less stable things become: text wrapping, automatically resize to fit contents, allow rows to break across pages, and nested tables.
One expert said that “if you do it properly, Word will handle a table of about 160 pages [without trouble]”. One tip he gave to speed things up and minimise problems while working on such a document was to choose Table menu » Split table (every few pages — no more than five) while editing, then when finishing the document remove the splits so the table re-joins itself.
To remove corruption in tables (revealed by slowness of actions, caused by the need to use huge amounts of memory), select each table and use Table » Convert » Table to Text to turn the table into tabbed text, then without moving the selection use Table » Convert » Text to Table to convert it back to a table again. If that does not work, the document may be corrupt: see page 129.
If a document has tables extending over more than a few pages and is slow, select each table in turn and for each table go to Table menu » Insert » Table and de-select “Auto fit to contents” if it’s selected. (Even if the tables don’t extend this far, turning off this characteristic will speed up Word when you work on the document: it no longer has to re-calculate and re-draw the table every time you type a character.)
If you don’t want text in a cell to break (i.e., some lines to carry over to the next page) select the whole table from the left margin and choose Table menu » Table properties » “Row” » de-select “Allow rows to break across pages”. A macro for a button to achieve this is in Appendix D: Making buttons for formatting shortcuts.
It’s useful to know that “Keep lines together” and “Widow/orphan control” have no effect in table cells if “Allow rows to break across pages” is enabled, and “Keep with next” applies only between rows, not between paragraphs in a single row. In general, it’s best not to apply these settings in tables, because they can prevent pages from breaking.
Good advice on table break problems is in http://word.mvps.org...olPgBrksInTables.htm
 If you are using Safari, you will have to click on the circular arrow (“reload the current page”) button a couple of times.
To put a table on the same line with text, put your insertion point in the table and choose Table menu » Table Properties » Table. Then under Text Wrapping, click the button titled Around. For more information, see the article with the heading “Text-wrapped tables and frames” at http://word.mvps.org...sfms/TableBasics.htm (you may have to hit the circular Refresh button a few times if you use Safari).
You may find that a wristwatch icon appears when you work in tables in Word 2001; it did in mine, all the time. Despite having allocated 80 MB of RAM (out of 512 MB of physical RAM), there was nothing I could do about it. Many other people have found the same thing. I lived with it until I moved to Word 2004.

I never use “Table Style” 
I agree with John McGhie when he warns people very strongly never to use Table Styles. They create a number of problems, the worst of which is that there may be no "good" way to remove a formatting defect once it has been applied, short of converting the table to text and back to a table again in another style. John's says:
The person who designed table styles in Word completely misunderstood the use-case. What we got was an object that is a single "style" that attempts to format the text and borders of a table as a single style. Utterly useless. …
A Table Style is applied as a single “collection” of formatting: you either have a table style applied to a table or you have a different table style applied to the table. Once you have used a table style on a table, you can't remove it.
You can, however, modify the Table Style, and add the Table Style to the template, then Update Styles in all the other documents to flow the change through. For example, you could modify the paragraph properties of the heading and body rows of the table style you are using, to give yourself more space above or below the text.
Table Styles are a mess: they're the exact opposite of what we need.
I avoid all this by applying styles based on body text (my “bt” style), which I titled “table text,tt” and “table heading,th”. Their characteristics are described in Appendix B: Specifications for some of my styles — especially to reduce the chances of changed appearance on other computers, starting on page 172.
In practice I rarely think about these problems because I almost invariably insert a table already pre-formatted the way I prefer, via a three-letter AutoText entry as shown on page 124. And it’s so simple that way.

3868

General Software Discussion / Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?

« Last post by superboyac on May 26, 2010, 01:01 PM »

In all the MVPS articles, they say the table styles are unstable.  Actually, they say tables are generally unstable.  They recommend using autotext.  My question is, does this also apply to Word 2007?  Please let me know.

3869

Living Room / Re: Categories of life?

« Last post by superboyac on May 25, 2010, 04:41 PM »

we care superboy.

starting this week I shall visit your website regularly. and from my own device.

now you'll have six visitors instead of five. ;-)

-Gwen7 (May 25, 2010, 04:39 PM)

Ha!  Thanks!
That's my marketing strategy.  Sympathy.  I'm going to guilt my way to one million visitors.

3870

Living Room / Re: Categories of life?

« Last post by superboyac on May 25, 2010, 04:15 PM »

using nonsensical instead of nonsense makes them all adjectives. that's likely more correct if you want to preserve the grammatic schema of the tab labels.

but why would anyone care? 

-Gwen7 (May 25, 2010, 03:38 PM)

Nobody cares.  That's why it's even funnier.  I get 5 visitors a month...and 4 of them are me looking at my website from someone else's computer.

3871

Living Room / Re: Categories of life?

« Last post by superboyac on May 25, 2010, 04:14 PM »

Yes, you are right.  I'm using it now.

unfortunately, I just broke my website by installing beta versions of wordpress and a new beta theme from the developer.  I'll have to fix it when I get home.  It's not broken, I just can't upload the beta version of the theme from work.

3872

Living Room / Re: Categories of life?

« Last post by superboyac on May 25, 2010, 03:11 PM »

Hmmm...I like it because it rhymes also.  But I thought it would lose some of it's humor.  Ok, I'm changing it.  I'm a sucker for systematics.

3873

Living Room / Re: Categories of life?

« Last post by superboyac on May 25, 2010, 02:56 PM »

40, I like the term and explanation.  I'd use it, but I think I'm going to stick with my one word category name, even though I like yours better.  Nonsense give off a similar vibe anyway.  More crude...but similar.

I just saw tomos' answer. Yes, you said it better.

3874

Living Room / Re: Categories of life?

« Last post by superboyac on May 25, 2010, 01:19 PM »

Maybe i don't need a third.  Everything falls into place nicely with personal and professional.  Still, it's always nice to have three.  i can't think of anything good, though.

-superboyac (May 25, 2010, 11:17 AM)

I plan on using the designation Madness & Winks on a website I'm currently in the process of designing.

It's a catchall category for all the oddball art, literature, technology, philosophy, news, and other bits of zaniness that I'm intellectually flirting with. This section will be fairly fluid, with things appearing and disappearing in in response to my ever shifting interests and whims.

Feel free to use it if you like.

 

-40hz (May 25, 2010, 01:17 PM)

I like it!  before I steal it, can you tell me how you came across that phrase?  The backstory would make it more appealing to me!

3875

Living Room / Re: Categories of life?

« Last post by superboyac on May 25, 2010, 01:07 PM »

I do get involved in a lot of nonsense.  It's only fitting.