What is the purpose of "normal" view where all is to the left?

[Jennie R.]

I have been helping a senior citizen with Word (2004) version and he
wants to know why someone would use "normal" view as opposed to the
third box view where things look as they will print.

thanks for any help, Jennie

 

[Jay Freedman]

I have been helping a senior citizen with Word (2004) version and he
wants to know why someone would use "normal" view as opposed to the
third box view where things look as they will print.

thanks for any help, Jennie

When it first appeared in older versions of Word, that view was meant to put
much less of a load on the processor; the full what-you-see-is-what-you-get view
with constant repagination tended to swamp relatively slow processors.

Computers built in the last five years or so have plenty of processor power to
run in Print Layout view all the time. But some people prefer to use Normal view
(Draft view in Word 2007) while writing early drafts of a document because it
lets them concentrate on the prose and not get distracted by the formatting; the
formatting gets done in a separate, later stage.

 

[Jennie R.]

When it first appeared in older versions of Word, that view was meant to put
much less of a load on the processor; the full what-you-see-is-what-you-get view
with constant repagination tended to swamp relatively slow processors.

Computers built in the last five years or so have plenty of processor power to
run in Print Layout view all the time. But some people prefer to use Normal view
(Draft view in Word 2007) while writing early drafts of a document because it
lets them concentrate on the prose and not get distracted by the formatting; the
formatting gets done in a separate, later stage.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP        FAQ:http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroupso all may benefit.

Thanks for that explanation Jay, I appreciate having something to tell
him. ~~~~~~ Jennie

 

[Tony Jollans]

Although not in your question, the title suggests that your friend has text
lines of page width only, rather than using the full screen width.

I can't speak for 2004 on the mac, but on the PC in Word 2003, go to Tools >
Options > View tab, and check or uncheck "Wrap to window" in the Normal and
Outline options section to see the difference.