Bend Word to Your Will update?

[Norm]

As a result of suggestions here, I'm beginning to use this resource and
finding it very helpful. I'm coming from Word 5.1a, to Word vX and now
Word 2008.

I'm curious if there is a planned update to "Bend Word to Your Will" and
whether the Word 2004 is close o 2008 so the recommendations hold.

Thank you.

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Norm,

there are not too many differences between Word 2004 and Word 2008 as far as
basic functionality is concerned, so most of what Clive has written in his
monumental work still holds true for the latest version of Word. That being
said, VBA macros are not part of Word 2008's feature set, so anything
involving macros will not work, and you will have to wait for the next
version of Word (2010/2011) for that functionality to be restored.

As for a potential update to "Bend Word to your Will": you'll have to
convince Clive to upgrade to Word 2008 first, a task which you should find
rather difficult. If I remember correctly, Clive likes Word 2004 too much to
upgrade (or downgrade, depending on the point of view) to Word 2008.
However, Clive is a very nice and approachable guy, so asking him won't hurt
(just don't tell him I told you to!).

 

[Norm]

As for a potential update to "Bend Word to your Will": you'll have to
convince Clive to upgrade to Word 2008 first, a task which you should find
rather difficult. If I remember correctly, Clive likes Word 2004 too much to
upgrade (or downgrade, depending on the point of view) to Word 2008.
However, Clive is a very nice and approachable guy, so asking him won't hurt
(just don't tell him I told you to!).

Thanks for that info.

Since moving from Word 5.1a, I've never spend time to learn even the
basics. I think I was frustrated by all the new (and improved )
features and just "used it." I'm now finding that just going through the
setup of preferences in the first part of his doc to be helpful but the
references to different Preferences and pre OS X had me wondering if I
was going to go down any wrong paths.

Thanks again.

 

[CyberTaz]

Adding to Michel's reply, I doubt you'll see any revision of "Bend Word..."
for the Office 2008 version. The lack of VBA support, alone, prevents many
professionals such as Clive from using it on a regular basis. If you don't
use a product you can't very well speak authoritatively on it if you have a
shred of integrity, and Clive well above that threshold. That's precisely
why you've seen so few responses from him pertaining to Word 2008...
although he's most definitely lurking about out here somewhere. I'm certain
he'll make his own contribution to to this thread before long, but I
wouldn't expect any revisions to "Bend Word..." until he's had an
opportunity to wrap his head around Word Next

 

[kpknight]

I'd like to see Clive's masterpiece. Could someone point me to it? Thanks.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Norm,

Sorry -- have been on a round-the-clock project and have only just got rid
of it.

My extraordinarily learned colleagues Michel and Bob have pretty well
covered the reasons why I won't be including Word 2008 content in "Bend Word
to Your Will".

When VBA returns I will consider moving from Word 2004 to the next version
-- provided the amazing number of oddities in Word 2008 are drastically
reduced. I hope Microsoft will be less hasty to rush the product to market
this time. Essentially I need to see a business case to change over.

Having said that, it isn't all that difficult to extrapolate to Word 2008
from the notes, because the underlying principles haven't really changed.
Certainly there are bells, whistles and functional improvements in 2008 that
one has to discount, but they are of most interest to people who don't want
to go too far into an application or look beyond the bells and whistles (I
don't say that at all pejoratively -- I think it's ridiculous that people
have to put 100+ hours into learning how to drive a new application as you
did when you moved "up" from Word 5.1a). In essence, "Bend Word to Your
Will" is for users at all levels using Word 2004 and earlier, but for people
who want to look beyond the bells and whistles in Word 2008.

I'd welcome any feedback about your experience using the notes; I am still
improving them. I expect, for example, to be removing the material on pre-OS
X (such as about memory management) fairly soon, since it's eight years
since OS 10.0 came out (my, how time flies when you're having fun). ;-)
And I have in mind some radical changes to the coverage of styles, which
just grew like Topsy...

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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[Michel Bintener]

Hi,

you can download it here:

<http://word.mvps.org/mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html>

 

[kpknight]

Thanks a million!

Hi,

you can download it here:






--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP - Macintosh

*** Please always reply to the newsgroup. ***

 

[Clive Huggan]

That's inflation of Zimbabwean proportions!* ;-)

A short note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically
and most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you
decide to read it widely , it's important to read the front end of the
document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select some Word settings
that will allow you to use the document effectively.

* A friend came back from Zimbabwe last week with a 50 trillion dollar
banknote; it's worth 17 cents Australian -- about 13 cents US. But that was
last week.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

Your post via Mactopia may not be seen by the volunteer experts in the
Word:Mac newsgroup. To make sure, please see
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/AccessNewsgroups.html
====================================================

 

[Norm]

My extraordinarily learned colleagues Michel and Bob have pretty well
covered the reasons why I won't be including Word 2008 content in "Bend Word
to Your Will".

OP back.

Clive:

Thanks much for the response and status. Appreciate.

I think I'll continue with "Bend...." and the MVP site to try to learn
more about MS Word (2008 now since I've pretty much stopped using Word
vX and I didn't convince Gates to go back to Word 5.1a ).

I've never really understood Styles and Templates after moving from 5.1a
and now I'll try. While I'm a very vanilla user, I tried Pages and still
prefer Word even if it is overkill for me.

Thanks much.

 

[dow]

OP back.

Clive:

Thanks much for the response and status. Appreciate.

I think I'll continue with "Bend...." and the MVP site to try to learn
more about MS Word (2008 now since I've pretty much stopped using Word
vX and I didn't convince Gates to go back to Word 5.1a  ).

I've never really understood Styles and Templates after moving from 5.1a
and now I'll try. While I'm a very vanilla user, I tried Pages and still
prefer Word even if it is overkill for me.

Thanks much.

I'd be delighted with Word 5.1b...

Dow