February 2002

There were 4 posts published in February 2002 (this is page 1 of 1).

Nameswapper

Do you ever work with lists of personal names--authors, meeting lists, and so on? If so, you could probably use NameSwapper, our new add-in program that swaps last names and first names (or vice versa, if that makes sense) in a list of names. For example, if you've got a list of names like this--

Cather, Willa

Harrison, G. B., Ph.D.

Lewis, C. S.

Tolkien, J.R.R.

--but you want them to look like this--

Willa Cather

G. B. Harrison, Ph.D.

C. S. Lewis

J.R.R. Tolkien

--NameSwapper will do the job.

I'm giving this program away! Subscribers to Editorium Update will be the first to have it, but please feel free to share it with friends and colleagues who might find it useful.

To download NameSwapper for Word 97, 98, 2000, 2001, or 2002, click here:

http://www.editorium.com/ftp/nameswapper8.zip

To download NameSwapper for Word 6 or 7 (95), click here:

http://www.editorium.com/ftp/nameswapper6.zip

The program will work on PC and Macintosh.

Once you've downloaded and unzipped (or unstuffed) the proper version of the program, you'll see the documentation, which is named NameSwapper.doc. (Open it in Word to read it.) You'll also see the NameSwapper program template, which is named NameSwapper.dot. (If you need software to unzip or unstuff the program, you can download it from http://www.winzip.com or http://www.aladdinsys.com.)

To use the template (NameSwapper.dot), follow this procedure:

1. Open it in Microsoft Word by clicking File > Open. Don't just double-click the template to open it. If you do, you'll run into problems later.

2. Double-click the large button that says "Double-Click here to install."

3. Follow the prompts on your screen.

If you have trouble with the installation, just copy the program template to Word's Templates or Startup folder. You can learn more about this here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707012536

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707100224

After the program is installed, you'll see the NameSwapper menu at the top of your Microsoft Word window. To use the program, open your list of names in Microsoft Word. The list should look something like this (if last names are first):

Cather, Willa

Harrison, G. B., Ph.D.

Lewis, C. S.

Tolkien, J.R.R.

Or, it can look like this (if first names are first):

Willa Cather

G. B. Harrison, Ph.D.

C. S. Lewis

J.R.R. Tolkien

Each name, including the last one, should be followed by a carriage return.

To swap the names in your list, click the NameSwapper menu. Then click "Put First Names First" or "Put Last Names First," depending on your list. After NameSwapper is finished, you can use Word's Sort feature (Table > Sort) to sort your names alphabetically.

NameSwapper knows how to deal with the following name "suffixes": Jr., Jr, JR, Sr., Sr, SR, I, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, Esq., Esq, Esquire, Ph.D., Ph.D, PhD., PhD, M.D., MD., MD, D.D.S., DDS., DDS., J.D., JD., JD, Ed.D., Ed.D, EdD., and EdD.

Be sure to use NameSwapper only on lists of names--with no other text in the document. *Please* don't use it on, say, your master's thesis. Also, be sure to keep backup copies of your lists in case you need something to go back to.

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READERS WRITE

My longtime friend Richard O'Regan (raor@bluewin.ch) wrote:

I have another of my long legal books to do. In this one the author, preparing his work in Word for Windows, has been inconsistent about how he punctuates at the footnote reference numbers. Sometimes he puts his comma or the period after the footnote reference number and sometimes he puts it before.

I want the comma or period to precede the reference number. I can't do it with search and replace because you can't put the footnote reference (^f) in the replace box.

I replied:

You can do it with a not-so-simple find-and-replace.

In the Find What box, put this:

(^02)([.!?])

The ^02 will find the note reference numbers. The characters in square brackets will find the closing punctuation you want to transpose. If you like, you can add other punctuation, such as commas, colons, and semicolons:

(^02)([.!?,:;])

The backslash on the ! and ? are necessary to tell Word that you're using them as characters and not as wildcards. The parentheses group the items so that you can switch them around in the Replace With box, which should have this in it:

21

That tells Word to put the second group (the punctuation) first, and the first group (the footnote number) last. Doesn't the Bible say something about that. 🙂

Finally, you'll need to put a checkmark in the box labeled "Use Wildcards" (you may need to click the "More" button before it's available).

If you'd like to know about searching with wildcards, see Editorium Update for March 25 through April 25, 2001:

http://editorium.com/EUIndex.htm

If you'd like to know more about searching with numeric codes (such as ^02), see the November 21, 2000 issue of Editorium Update:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1704081834

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RESOURCES

This week, another Microsoft resource: Microsoft Office newsgroups. The Web site says you can "ask questions, share information, or exchange ideas with others who use Office products, including more than 750 Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) worldwide." To use the newsgroups, go here:

http://communities.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.asp?icp=Prod_Office

Then select a newsgroup from the list on the left.

Customizing Shortcut Menus

Don't you love Word's shortcut menus? You know--the ones you get when you click the right mouse button. (If you're a Mac user, you can access the shortcut menus by holding down the Control key while pressing the mouse button.)

But did you know can customize the shortcut menus, putting the features you use most within easy reach? Here's how:

IN WORD 97 OR LATER

1. Click the "Tools" menu.

2. Click "Customize."

3. Click the "Toolbars" tab.

4. Scroll down the "Toolbars" list until you see the entry for "Shortcut Menus." Put a check in the checkbox next to it.

At this point, you'll see the "Shortcut Menus" menu bar in your Word window. It includes three menus: "Text," "Table," and "Draw." For now, click the "Text" menu. You can play with "Table" and "Draw" later.

You'll see a long list of the various text shortcut menus. Boy, there are lots of them! To see the one you usually get if you just click in the text of a document, click the one labeled "Text." Look familiar? If you're using our Editor's ToolKit program, you'll see a bunch of useful editing features. If not, you'll see the regular old Microsoft Word standards. You can add all kinds of commands, however, including Word features, macros, styles, fonts, and a bunch of other stuff. To do so:

1. Click the "Commands" tab in the "Customize" dialog, which should still be open on your screen.

2. Use the "Categories" and "Commands" lists to explore the various commands you can put on the shortcut menus. If you see something that catches your eye, use the mouse to drag it over to the text shortcut menu. If you change your mind, drag it off into your open document, where it will vanish into electron limbo. Want to use a different shortcut menu, such as "Comment"? Feel free.

3. Right-click an item on the menu to change its name, image, and so on. You can learn more about these options here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707444986

IN WORD 6 OR 95

1. Click the "Tools" menu.

2. Click "Customize."

3. Click the "Menus" tab.

4. Click the drop-down arrow in the box labeled "Change What Menu."

5. Use your mouse to scroll down the list and click the entry for "Text (Shortcut)" or one of the other shortcut menus.

6. Use the "Categories" and "Commands" lists to explore the various commands you can put on the shortcut menus. If you see something that catches your eye, select it with your mouse.

7. In the box labeled "Position on Menu," click an existing menu item below which to place your new command. (You can also click "Auto" [to let Word decide the position], "At Top," or "At Bottom.")

8. Click the button labeled "Add Below" (or "Add"). (To remove a command, click the "Remove" button.)

9. Click the "Close" button.

Now, when you click that right mouse button, you'll see the features *you* put there.

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RESOURCES

Well, look at that. Microsoft has a "Frequently Asked Questions" page for Microsoft Word. This resource is definitely worth checking when you have a question about you-know-what:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/word/faq

Content Vs. Presentation

Last week I introduced a program that creates typographic spaces by changing a space's point size relative to the surrounding text. But why is that a good idea? If you save a document with such spaces in almost any other kind of format--HTML, XML, or even ASCII--those spaces are going to cause problems. For example, that hair space you so carefully placed in front of those closing quotation marks will turn into a full-fledged *space*--with no "thin" about it. That can't be good.

So what's the point of using special characters and formatting? To enhance the *presentation* of a document's content. Presentation is what the document looks like. It includes such things as typeface, point size, kerning, tracking, and all of the other paraphernalia of the typesetter's art.

*Content,* on the other hand, is a document's text--and its structure: words, sentences, paragraphs, block quotations, subheadings, and chapter headings--the kind of thing you should designate with paragraph styles. In fact, the whole point of a paragraph style is what it represents--not what it looks like. The fact that your chapter heading style is named "Chapter Head" is what's important. The fact that it's currently formatted as Baskerville 16-point bold is immaterial as far as content goes.

In today's publishing environment the distinction between content and presentation is especially important, because your Word document may end up as a Web page, a Help file, an electronic book, or some other kind of presentation document that hasn't been invented yet--each with different formatting than the others. For that reason, you need to keep your Word documents free from such tinkering as artificially created thin spaces.

But there is an exception. If your Word file itself will be the presentation document (to be printed or displayed in Word), then you can go ahead and put in those thin spaces, optional hyphens, and so on--whatever will make the document look good. Be aware, however, that this *is* a presentation document--a final product. So be sure to keep a backup of your *content* document safely in a separate file. Then, when it's time to create that Web page, you won't have to spend hours cleaning up the manual tweaking you did in your presentation document. Just open the content document and off you go.

Editors need to be concerned with both content and presentation. As a book editor, I look almost exclusively at content when editing a manuscript. I usually don't even know what typeface the designer will use. But after the book has been typeset, I look almost exclusively at presentation--widows, orphans, line breaks, and so on. The difference is that the manuscript is a content document. The galleys are a presentation document. And that distinction should be kept firmly in mind.

I do not know which to prefer,

The beauty of inflections

Or the beauty of innuendoes,

The blackbird whistling

Or just after.

--Wallace Stevens

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READERS WRITE

Martha Bowes wrote, "Is there a workaround to get Word to show custom heading styles in the document map?"

Microsoft Word's Document Map is a highly useful feature, especially for editors. To display it, click View > Document Map. Text formatted with Word's built-in Heading styles will be displayed in the map, and you can click one of them to go to that heading in your document.

Martha wants to know if there's a way to display text formatted with custom styles in the Document Map. And there is:

1. Put your cursor on some text formatted with the custom style.

2. Click the Format menu.

3. Click Style.

4. Click Modify.

5. Click Format.

6. Click Paragraph.

7. Click the Indents and Spacing tab.

8. In the Outline level box, select the level you want the heading to have. (This is the key to making this work.)

9. Click OK.

10. Click OK.

11. Click Close.

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RESOURCES

The Computer Tutor of San Francisco offers an excellent online tutorial on using styles in Microsoft Word:

http://www.geocities.com/w2css/styles/

You can read the complete text of Wallace Stevens's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" here:

http://boppin.com/poets/stevens.htm

SpaceCadet

Two weeks ago, I explained how to "roll your own" typographical spaces (thin spaces, hair spaces, and so on) in Microsoft Word. Last week I explained how to use typographical spaces with Unicode. But if you don't want to make typographical spaces by hand and your version of Word doesn't support Unicode, you might want to try SpaceCadet, our new add-in program that makes it easy to use typographical spaces in Microsoft Word. I'm giving it away! Subscribers to Editorium Update will be the first to have it, but please feel free to share it with friends and colleagues who might find it useful.

To download SpaceCadet for Word 97, 98, 2000, 2001, or 2002, click here:

http://www.editorium.com/ftp/SpaceCadet8.zip

To download SpaceCadet for Word 6 or 7 (95), click here:

http://www.editorium.com/ftp/SpaceCadet6.zip

The program will work on PC and Macintosh.

Once you've downloaded and unzipped (or unstuffed) the proper version of the program, you'll see the documentation, which is named SpaceCadet.doc. (Open it in Word to read it.) You'll also see the SpaceCadet program template, which is named SpaceCadet.dot. (If you need software to unzip or unstuff the program, you can download it from http://www.winzip.com or http://www.aladdinsys.com.) To use the template (SpaceCadet.dot), follow this procedure:

1. Open it in Microsoft Word by clicking File > Open. Don't just double-click the template to open it. If you do, you'll run into problems later.

2. Double-click the large button that says "Double-Click here to Install."

3. Follow the prompts on your screen.

After the program is installed, display the SpaceCadet toolbar by clicking View > Toolbars > SpaceCadet. Then click a toolbar button to insert the kind of space you need. Or, press CTRL + SPACEBAR and then the character that is underlined on one of the buttons. For example, pressing 3 would create a 3-to-em space. M means em space, N means en space, T means thin space, and H means hair space. For more information, see the program documentation or the January 24, 2002, issue of Editorium Update:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1709472543

Please note, however, that if you *can* use Unicode, that's the better way to go. You can learn more about Unicode here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1709529895

____________________________________________________

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READERS WRITE

Leonard Will (L.Will@Willpowerinfo.co.uk) wrote:

"It might just be worth while adding the warning that you should not insert any additional spaces of any kind into character strings that might be used as URLs to access Internet resources. People may use these as active links or cut and paste them into an address bar. If the spaces are very small or invisible this might lead to irritating errors that are hard to track down.

"I presume, though, that your main concern is the appearance of text printed on paper, when additional spacing may make it look better, as long as people don't realise that there is a space there!"

Right! Thanks to Leonard for this important tip.

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RESOURCES

If you haven't yet seen Jean Hollis Weber's book on electronic editing, you owe it to yourself to take a look:

http://www.jeanweber.com/books/e-edit.htm

This 248-page book is titled Electronic Editing, with a subtitle of Editing in the Computer Age. Published by WeberWoman's Wrevenge, the book (ISBN 0-646-38037-0) is available for Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF). The author describes it as "a quick start guide for editing students, experienced editors making the switch from paper to online, and anyone who needs to write or edit electronically."

A broad but detailed overview of electronic editing, this beautifully formatted book makes a nice complement to our book Total Word Domination (which gives a more in-depth look at various Word features--usually different from those in Electronic Editing). I'd recommend that you get them both. Jean Weber's book explains how to:

* Define your role as an electronic editor

* Work online

* Work remotely

* Edit using Microsoft Word, Lotus Word Pro, FrameMaker, and Adobe Acrobat

* Manage e-mail when traveling

* Back up data and programs

You can see a complete (and very tempting) contents listing here:

http://www.jeanweber.com/books/edbktoc.htm

If you like the book, be sure to pay Jean for her efforts. The Web site explains the procedure:

http://www.jeanweber.com/books/payme.htm