Styles Spacing Strategy

  • Thread starter Thread starter robo
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robo

Hello,

We are implementing new styles into our firm. My question is about the
Header Styles (1,2, etc)

What is the concept with these styles having 12 pt before and 3 pt after?
Would you not want it the other way?

We are creating some firm header styles and wonder if I should use the same
paragraph spacing.

Thanks
 
This is a question for a graphic designer, not a question about Word.
But, as a reader, I certainly expect a heading (not header) to be
closer to what it introduces than to the text in the previous section
above it.
 
Agreed. And if the text is double-spaced (as it often is in manuscripts)
then I increase the Spacing Before to 24 points and remove the Spacing
After. I should add that by "double-spaced," I mean, with Exact line spacing
of, say, 24 points, not using Word's "double" spacing. There is a difference
in where the extra space is added; Exact line spacing add the space above
the text, multiple spacing below. If I were actually double-spacing, I guess
I'd set 18 and 6?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

This is a question for a graphic designer, not a question about Word.
But, as a reader, I certainly expect a heading (not header) to be
closer to what it introduces than to the text in the previous section
above it.
 
Depending on the version of Word you are using (I think 97 and higher) by
default Word will only use the larger of the space before/after. So if say,
Body Text has 6 pts after and the following paragraph is a Heading style
with 12 pts before by default there won't be 18 pts of space in between, it
will be 12 pts which is the larger of the two.

The option that controls this behavior is a Compatibility option called
"Don't use HTML paragraph Auto spacing" so if you want the combined space
between then this option needs to be selected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx
 
I'd just like to clarify that the compatibility option was introduced in
Word 2000; in Word 97 Spacing After for a paragraph was always added to the
Spacing Before in the following paragraph.

~~~
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
 
Thanks Stefan. I knew it was either 97 or 2000 but was too busy to try and
find it at the time. :-)

Stefan Blom said:
I'd just like to clarify that the compatibility option was introduced in
Word 2000; in Word 97 Spacing After for a paragraph was always added to
the Spacing Before in the following paragraph.
Click to expand...

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx
 
I remembered it was 2000 because that was the version where all sorts of
webby things were introduced (to make Word more HTML-compatible). You can
also check by setting the Compatibility to various versions and seeing what
is checked by default and what is not.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
Suzanne,

I was interested to learn in your post that "exactly" and "multiple"
work differently as line spacing options.

Is this different placement of "space" documented by Microsoft
somewhere -- or is this based on your own observations?

Do you have any idea why they would work differently? That is, why
would MS design it so that the placement of the spacing would be
different for "Exactly 15 pt" vs. "Multiple 1.25"?

David

*********************************************
 
I guess this is my own observation. Note, however, that there are also some
Compatibility Options that relate to this: one of them is "Don't center
'exact line height' lines," which I really don't understand, since it
doesn't appear to me that they're centered to begin with. In fact, the
effect of this seems to be to move the spacing from above the text to below;
in neither case is it "centered."

There are also settings for "Suppress extra line spacing at bottom/top of
page," which refer to Exact and Multiple spacing as opposed to Spacing
Before/After, which is automatically suppressed (except in the circumstances
previously discussed).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
I remember that particular compatibility option because it was very
difficult to figure out what it actually means. :-)
 
I remember it because I didn't encounter it till Word 2002 (having skipped
2000), and by the time I encountered the problem (and couldn't figure out
why I wasn't getting the additive spacing I expected), other Word MVPs were
fully up to speed and could point me to the right option to change. That's
the *only* "custom" setting I have in Word 2003 Compatibility Options, I
think.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
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