Just my 2 cents: Yes, you can write long documents in Word. The last set of
books my company produced were written entirely in Microsoft Word, over
5,000 pages. I've been using Word to write books for ten years and the only
problem I've experienced has to do with file size. The fact is, the larger
the file, the more time the file will take to open, the more difficult it
will be to navigate through the file. That is probably why someone would
have difficulty producing a 300 page document all in one file. As a general
rule of thumb (and this is from Word97 days, a few years back), I do not
allow a document go more than 100 pages without breaking it up into
sections. Normally I do not use master documents, but I have tried them, and
have had very little difficulties with smaller documents (less than 500
pages).
As for LaTeX, this may be a good tool, but I am not sure about just how the
document design is merged into the document text. The documentation says
something about leaving "document design to documentation designers." What
if the document design has already been defined, as is usually done with a
company style guide or with a template sent from the publisher? I checked
out the code that would be needed to tie my company's pre-defined styles to
the text, and it did not look like an easy product to learn. Therefore, I'm
not sure if I would want to switch to LaTeX, even if it is free, because
there would be a cost involved -- the cost spent learning a new product, and
making that new product confirm to my document design. Plus I did notice
that there was some line about not having support for installs, which may be
a disadvantage.
The fact is, Microsoft Word is the standard for word processing, and please
note that I started (many years ago) with Word Perfect and was a "hard sell"
to turn to Microsoft Word. If I ever do purchase another tool, I will
probably acquire FrameMaker
(
http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/main.html ) due to the many
recommendations I've received for this product, though I believe that most
people using FrameMaker also use Word as well.
As for books, I started with a Microsoft Word 97 book from Que publishing
(
http://www.quepublishing.com) and have found their books to be very useful
when learning many new products. So, I'd suggest searching for "Word" on
their site and seeing what books they have available for your particular
edition of Word.
Hope this helps,
--Kim
"Gooseman" wrote in message
om...
My blunt advice, having written my thesis (300 pages +) is simply
DON'T.
Word really wasn't designed for this sort of stuff. While it's great
for most things, it's just too cumbersome for large docs. You're
better of using LaTeX. It's also free.
"Charles Kenyon" wrote in
message ...
Try http://addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm.
--
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!
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This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
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from my ignorance and your wisdom.
"Chip Orange" wrote in message
...
thanks so much for this wealth of links.
fyi, the link:
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/legal/Styles.asp
seems no longer to be valid.
"Dayo Mitchell" wrote in
message
news:BCD21E44.2DA02%dayomitchell_1997@NOhotmailSPA M.com.invalid...
"Shauna Kelly" wrote:
Hi Ed
The two best on-line resources a
(1) These newsgroups
and
(2) word.mvps.org.
My general advice on writing a big document in Word is first to
use
styles
and avoid direct formatting like the plague. And, figure out the
tough
stuff
before you begin: heading numbering, appendix numbering, table of
contents,
headers and footers, page numbers and so on. Don't leave them to
the
end!
Shauna left out her own site, which if you are using numbered
chapter
titles, is THE place to start.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
For other links to help follow this advice, start with:
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styl...sOnStyles.html
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...platePart1.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Format...singOLView.htm
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/legal/Styles.asp and a
supplemented
version of the same article,
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/index.htm
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numb...ingStyles.html
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting...rontMatter.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Format...thSections.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...platePart2.htm
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/customization/AutoCorrect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Format...PrintChars.htm
***Master Documents***DO NOT USE
Why Master Documents corrupt
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...ocsCorrupt.htm
How to recover a Master Document
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...MasterDocs.htm
DM