style feature is a poorly thought-out pain in the ass

[Guest]

Short story: Caption style was left justified (who does this?). Tried to
correct it to be centered. Ended up getting a "caption" style which was
based on the Normal paragraph style. Now auto insertion of captions does not
work (doesn't give me the "Figure 1, Figure 2" starting point. Why!!!????

1) Why allow caption to be left justified (actually not a bad idea)
2) Why not allow it to be centered?
3) Why in the hell would you allow the default paragraph style "Caption" to
be modified to "normal", and then -never- brought back? This makes no sense.

This is another case of an extremely "feature rich" office app that, when
you get right down to it, has been very poorly thought out. This usually
results in people like me spending a ton of time trying to work around the
tool, rather than getting the benefit from it.

Suggestion: Spend some time (and $$) thinking about what really makes
sense, rather than just piling on feature after feature in a random way.
Spend more time -using- the product, and less time just adding poorly thought
out, incomplete, erroneous junk.

If I could find a competing product that didn't have OS or file format
issues, I would gladly use it!!!!

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...436767&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Styles in Word are actually pretty well thought-out and work well, if you
take the time to learn how to use them. If you are going to use Word much,
you really should learn how they work. They are at the heart of how Word
works. http://addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm.

I suspect you have several autocorrect features set (default) poorly.
Tools > AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat As You Type (tab)

I would recommend unchecking everything under "Apply as you type" and
"Automatically as you type."
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[PopS]

Then try Openoffice.org; a free replacement for the Office suite.


: Short story: Caption style was left justified (who does this?).
Tried to
: correct it to be centered. Ended up getting a "caption" style
which was
: based on the Normal paragraph style. Now auto insertion of
captions does not
: work (doesn't give me the "Figure 1, Figure 2" starting point.
Why!!!????
:
: 1) Why allow caption to be left justified (actually not a bad
idea)
: 2) Why not allow it to be centered?
: 3) Why in the hell would you allow the default paragraph style
"Caption" to
: be modified to "normal", and then -never- brought back? This
makes no sense.
:
: This is another case of an extremely "feature rich" office app
that, when
: you get right down to it, has been very poorly thought out.
This usually
: results in people like me spending a ton of time trying to work
around the
: tool, rather than getting the benefit from it.
:
: Suggestion: Spend some time (and $$) thinking about what
really makes
: sense, rather than just piling on feature after feature in a
random way.
: Spend more time -using- the product, and less time just adding
poorly thought
: out, incomplete, erroneous junk.
:
: If I could find a competing product that didn't have OS or file
format
: issues, I would gladly use it!!!!
:
: ----------------
: This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds
to the
: suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion,
click the "I
: Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the
button, follow this
: link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based
Newsreader and then
: click "I Agree" in the message pane.
:
:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...436767&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement

 

[Joe McGuire]

You are not very clear about your problem. IMHO Styles is one of the
better-planned parts of Word. If I could figure it out it could not have
been THAT complicated--I gave up on a lot of other stuff in Word, like
macros. However, there is a certain learning curve with Styles as with most
other Word features. It is not intuitive and, unfortunately, there are a
few trip wires in the form of Microsoft attempts to "simplify" it that
merely add tothe confusion. Try this reference:
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/TipsOnStyles.html

For more information check other papers on styles:

http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/index.html

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

By default, captions are formatted with the Caption style. If you want your
captions to be centered, modify the Caption style to be centered.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Short story: Caption style was left justified (who does this?). Tried to
correct it to be centered. Ended up getting a "caption" style which was
based on the Normal paragraph style. Now auto insertion of captions does not
work (doesn't give me the "Figure 1, Figure 2" starting point. Why!!!????

1) Why allow caption to be left justified (actually not a bad idea)
2) Why not allow it to be centered?
3) Why in the hell would you allow the default paragraph style "Caption" to
be modified to "normal", and then -never- brought back? This makes no sense.

This is another case of an extremely "feature rich" office app that, when
you get right down to it, has been very poorly thought out. This usually
results in people like me spending a ton of time trying to work around the
tool, rather than getting the benefit from it.

Suggestion: Spend some time (and $$) thinking about what really makes
sense, rather than just piling on feature after feature in a random way.
Spend more time -using- the product, and less time just adding poorly thought
out, incomplete, erroneous junk.

If I could find a competing product that didn't have OS or file format
issues, I would gladly use it!!!!

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...436767&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement