M$ Word is making me mad

nb3004

nb3004

Postmaster General
the spacing btw letters in Word look messed up all the time when i use Word. Its been like this for a while. It basically looks like there are extra spacing in random places all over the paper. Does anyone know what would cause this, thanks
 
Can you post an image, please? Is the problem the same with all fonts? Anyways, I think you must have enabled a setting or something... Post a picture please! :)
 
Don't get mad but I have to ask this! Did you consider that the spacing between the letters can vary when you are writing in block-mode? ;)
Well, I have word and it works just fine here.
 
Certain fonts are more affected than others with this spacing issue, and you've probably noticed that the printed output does not show this. Go into Word Preferences, printing tab, and turn off fractional character widths (or fractional widths). This selection is probably greyed out in Page layout view, so use normal instead of Page layout under the view menu.
 
I was working some years ago with the unix-terminal version for LaTeX and it really scared me to death. There are even some ppl here on my work that can't leave their fingers of it. They probably have their reaons, but watching them making a layout for a paper or add some charts... *goose pimples*
Probably it got much better, but I just wanted to express my fear toward it. ;)
 
It did get a lot better: TeXShop is awesome, just give it a try!

I didn't understand your remark about pimples, I thought they were called goose bumps ...
 
I won't! I checked: My Oxford - Duden indeed gives "goose pimples" as first translation of Gänsehaut, but checking the other way round it also gives "Gänsehaut" as translation of goose-bumps.
I would have understood Gänsehaut as well ... ;) :D
 
I just figured he was talking about the nerdiness of LaTeX... Nerds, pimples (not "goose pimples", which ISN'T what he said), they go together, right? =)
 
Hehe. Next time I will skip scanning my translator since german works as well ;)
Btw, just a chance or you know some german?
(sorry! off topic)
 
I knew what "goose pimples" were, since I've heard it before, and it makes sense, but not just plain "pimples." But that's off-topic...

I've noticed that when I write something in Word using Calisto MT, the spacing in Normal view is quite a bit different than in Page Layout view, which is how the pages will print. It's a little annoying, but it's not too hard to compensate for the wider spacing by switching to Page Layout view (or even Print Preview). It's just something you've got to put up with. After all, despite its flaws (and the 6 fingers it will cost you), Word is still one of the best, fully-featured word processors you can buy.
 
Zammy-Sam: I am partially German, so I do know some German.

Word is indeed the most expensive, full featured WYSIWYG text editor, BUT: there are a lot of alternatives, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. OpenOffice, K-Office, AbiWord, Mellel, TextEdit, etc. Their usefulness depends on what you want to do with them.

LaTeX is what works for me and automatically avoids all the typical Word-related problems.
 
nb3004,

Get the invisible characters on in Word and send a screenshot of your page. Word adds nbsp's (non breakable spaces) after/before punctuations, this may be it.
 
Weird - I have experienced exactly the same problem with random spaces, but in Powerpoint. So I transferred my brochure to Word (yes I know, I do the indesign course next month thank the lard) and it worked fine (except for the usual image placement guesswork).

I assumed it was cos PPT was not designed for smaller fonts (~10pt)...
 
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