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