> Fa3ien wrote:

>>
>>> And yet, no known word processor works like this. I find this deeply 
>>> frustrating.
>>
>> Lotus Ami Pro did that pretty well. Most consistent style-sheets system
>> I encountered in a word processor. Don't know if they still sell Ami's
>> successor, Word Pro.
>>
>> BTW, don't highlight text when applying a style, just put the cursor 
>> within the
>> paragraph, and the style will be applied to the paragraph (that's how
>> it should be).
> 
> So... how would you, for example, apply a style that only applies to a 
> single word rather than a whole paragraph?

There are *paragraph* styles (noted with that strange P), and *character*
styles (noted with an underlined 'a'). Altough Word lets you apply a
paragraph style on a *portion* of paragraph, you shouldn't, you should
use a character style in this situation. Or you'll run into problems.

> The main problem with M$ Word is that it tries to "guess" what you want 
> to do so it can automatically do it for you. M$ seems to think that this 
> is "cleaver" and makes their software look cool. However, any number of 
> HCI studies will show you that non-deterministic software is 
> instrinsically harder to learn...

Very true. Nonetheless, it's mostly possible to master Word, with
a little experience and self-discipline.

  > Once I discovered the secret hidden control panel where you can actually
> change this stuff, I managed to get Word to do what I want. (Although 
> it's still very confusing trying to work out where all the settings 
> here. E.g., why does it add a 12 pt kern there? I didn't ask for that?!)

Automatic numbering is especially frustrating in that respect.  But there
are also some tricks that helps, once it's understood.

> The trouble with OO is that out of the box, there are several hundred 
> styles defined. Most of which aren't appropriate to me, and which don't 
> match my tastes anyway. I did sit down and start reconfiguring them all 
> to the correct font one at a time, but it was taking forever. And the 
> next document I started, it all went back to horrid Arial again anyway!

Why define so many styles ? You just need to define 5 or 6 styles for
an average document.

Fabien.

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