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Advanced Word Processing

Advanced Word Processing

Advanced Word Processing

(OP)
Over the years, like most people, I've used Word to create lots of technical documents. Recently, I've acquired a lot more technical writing jobs and am about to start writing a dissertation.

I'm fairly good at using Word, but would like to use it to its full potential. Where can I find a reference that will help with this? Is there a good book on the subject? Online training? The features in which I'm most interested are formatting features such as using different headings, linking them to a TOC, etc.

Also, I use equation editor a lot and am thinking of trying out something better, like Mathtype. Is it worth the dough? Does it help with equation numbers?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
DBD

RE: Advanced Word Processing

Online help is very good. If you want a book, go have a look at Amazon and look for highly rated books.

Also check out the Word newsgroup -- lots of Microsoft MVPs hang out there. Lastly, look for websites hosted by MS MVPs.

I can't give you any specifics because it's been a long time since I've done it but I went through precisely that curve after becoming a tech writer and that's how I went about it.

--------------------
Bring back the HP-15
www.hp15c.org
--------------------

RE: Advanced Word Processing

(OP)
Thank you all very much. I will check it out.

DBD

RE: Advanced Word Processing

i use a free, trial version of Mathtype.  While it is limited, it does nearly evrything I need to do in my tehnical writing.

As for WORD, I've had great difficulty with it for technical writing; especially if you write, as I do, from an outline.  I've considered getting Acrobat Writer which produces .pdf files but haven't yet been able to afford it.

good luck

RE: Advanced Word Processing

Serif Page plus is a very good and affordable desk top publisher and you can download earlier versions free from the internet (you need to search for the sites). I'm on version 9 while the latest is 10.
This lets you safe in *.pdf in a variety of forms including various publishing formats or in a compact websafe format.
It also has great graphics.
Of course, if you contact Serif they've always got a good package of programs at a good price.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Advanced Word Processing

DBD,

Are you aware of LaTeX? It produces far nicer technical output than Word. It is however a completely different system of writing. It is markup based, rather than WYSIWYG. This can be offputting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX

When I have used LaTeX I have done so via LYX, which is a GUI front-end that makes it much easier to get started.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LyX

Tom

RE: Advanced Word Processing

I would also agree with Tom, that you should consider Latex.  Although it is not a WYSIWYG editor, and can be frustrating when first learning, you will produce far nicer papers.  Also if you are writing a dissertation, making corrections, bibliography, and table of contents is a snap.  Latex also has a windows based program, Miketex.

jason m.

RE: Advanced Word Processing

(OP)
Thanks for the replies!

What happens with Latex if I send the document to somebody who typically uses Equation Editor? I assume that they won't be able to modify the equation, which is ok, but will they be able to view the equation?

As a side issue, is it possible to use Latex within a C++ or other language program to show equations in a rtf memo or other such component? This is something that I've wanted to be able to do for a long time.

DBD

RE: Advanced Word Processing

(OP)
Another question about Latex:

What are examples of things that are possible to do better in Latex? I've been using Equation Editor for over 10 years now and don't think I've ever had a problem doing anything. I am always interested in improvement so am open minded to changing to Latex. Given the learning curve, I have to have a good reason, though. Is it more conducive to folks that type fast? For example is it more typing or more mouse clicking? I always go toward more typing because I type pretty fast and find that I'm more efficient if I don't have to keep moving my hand from the home-row keys over to grab the mouse, which I do ad nauseam when using Equation Editor.

Thank you very much.
DBD

RE: Advanced Word Processing

Latex generates document files based on the text instructions you give it. It will generate pdf, html, dvi etc.

Read the wikipedia entry above and look at the latex input and output example.

Latex is typing based. Given that you have mentioned programming, and you like typing, Latex may well be to your liking.

Latex's mathematical output is far far nicer than Word's equation editor. This document has a nice comparison between word and Latex equation output.

http://www.cs.tau.ac.il/~nachumd/Writing/2004/Shorts/Word%20vs%20Latex%204.ppt

RE: Advanced Word Processing

DBD,

When a LaTeX document is compiled, it can be compiled into different formats(.dvi, .pdf,..).  So anyone with Adobe Reader or a .dvi reader can look at my documents which can include equations, charts, graphs, pictures, ect..  they will not be able to modify these unless they have my source code for the latex document.  Latex is all typing, there is no need for a mouse.  So if you can type fast it is good for you.  For instance, the greek letter gamma would be typed as $\gamma$.

Besides typing equations as opposed to mouse clicking making changes to documents is simple.  Say you have 10 numbered equations in your paper, and you want to add an equation at the beginning.  In latex when the equation is added all subsequent numbers are updated automatically.  This can be especially useful if you are working with a large paper.  

Here is a website to check out:
http://www.latex-project.org/

There is a ton of useful information on the net about this, it is widely used in academics, and there are also many books written on the subject, but most information found in the books can be found on the web.  Hope this helps.  

Regards,

jason m.

RE: Advanced Word Processing

DBDavis,

   If you really are interested in LaTeX, I recommend the following book...

   A Guide to LaTeX 2e
   Document Preparation for Beginners and Advanced Users
   Helmut Kopka and Patrick W. Daly
   Addison  Wesley
   ISBN 0-201-42777

   There are some other books out there, but this is by far and away the best one.

   I suspect that most of the LaTeX advocates here are Linux users.  Linux has excellent LaTeX support.  It is available for Windows.  You will have an easier time if you download a LaTeX aware text editor like Emacs.

   LaTeX generates dvi files, which are easily viewed and converted to PostScript for printing on Linux.  I would make sure I know how to print them on Windows.

   LaTeX comes with the command pdflatex, which creates an excellent PDF file.  If you use the hyperref package, you get a point and click table of contents.

   You can download latex2html and latex2rtf.  

   The resulting html file comes complete with table of contents navigation.   This gives you a lot of flexibility once you have typed in your LaTeX source.  Equations are entered as bitmap files.  They work, but not extremely well.

   The RTF files are readable by Microsoft Word, but little of LaTeX's intelligence is incorporated.  There should be no problem transferring a formatted text file to Windows users, as long as you do not use equations or graphics.  If you plan to transfer files back and forth, I recommend Word or Open Office.

   If people were really disciplined about using Microsoft Word's style sheets, you could write software to translate between Word and LaTeX.  I don't know anybody who is this careful.

                               JHG

RE: Advanced Word Processing

(OP)
I don't think I can use Latex because I exchange documents with several superiors that use Word exclusively. We exchange stuff back and forth with the review comments turned on, etc, so sending just a pdf or other document would not work. They would not be open to the idea of changing.

In any event, I really appreciate the replies!
DBD

RE: Advanced Word Processing

DBDavis,

   Take a good look at "styles and formatting".  The concept is that you can define objects in your document called paragraphs, headings, titles, lists, etc.  If you implement this with the styles, then you can control the formatting of each set of elements, all at once.  This also controls whether or not the object registers on the table of contents.  

   I do not know if this is documented clearly in any books.  You can figure it out by playing with it.

                    JHG

RE: Advanced Word Processing

Take a good look at the Autosummarize feature as well! (if you're in for a good laugh). Advanced word processing is not always as advanced as it appears to be...

RE: Advanced Word Processing

epoisses,

   Fun, fun, fun!

   I have a question though.  How can you be smart enough to write a document, but too dumb to summarize it?

                             JHG

RE: Advanced Word Processing

People who don't know too well what they are writing are generally too dumb to summarize it.

People who do know, though, are sometimes too lazy.

The smartest thing by far is obviously to keep your story short in the first place.

RE: Advanced Word Processing

Just another option that I prefer for all writing, though most think its too hard to learn.

Framemaker is really powerfull, and has all the nice features such ast auto indexing, TOC etc...

http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/main.html

You might even be able to pickup an older version for cheap. I used version 5.xx to write my masters thesis and it was pretty easy. (The layout, footnotes, etc... not the material.)

RE: Advanced Word Processing

I have recently completed my dissertation using WORD.

The best I advice I can offer, is to learn how to work with long documents. Typically, you construct each chapter/section as an individual file. When you have finalished each chapter, you contruct a 'Master Document' by bringing each of the chapters into one single document. There are some simple tools to do this. This makes it much more manageable to edit without having to trawl through a whole report, which may be offer a hundered pages.

Check out the HELP files in word for 'working with long documents'. It will be very helpful.

Further, make sure you know how to use captions, frames and text boxes.

Hope this helps

RE: Advanced Word Processing

(OP)
Thank you all very much for your replies.

DBD

RE: Advanced Word Processing

I recommend you check out Lynda.com or vtc.com for online training. I personally did the Lynda.com Word 2003 course and found it useful.
Alan

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