Okay, I have to put this to rest.The article applies to Word and OpenOffice. In it, I even advocate using LaTeX. So stop being snobby and realize that the article applies to almost every WYSIWYG word processor.And if you're going to be a snob, be a LaTeX snob.
scheper: You can't be serious. PDF is a multi-platform standard. It's embarrassing for MS that Office still doesn't include it.If you mean that they didn't do it because it doesn't keep people tied to Office, then I still disagree. PDF has it's place, and MS doesn't have anything that competes, to my knowledge. (PowerPoint is _not_ competition.)
as a graphic designer and typesetter at a printing press i have some major problems with word (and office as a whole, specifically powerpoint and publisher). these applications are installed on practically every computer out there but are wildly misused.1. word is not designed whatsoever for separations or color precision. if you take a file you made in word to a print shop and ask them to print it 2 colors on a press you will quickly learn the printing limitations of word.2. this is also absolutely true for publisher, which is supposedly for "publishing" however ask me or any other printer about its capability for press publishing and they will laugh at you. publisher is for folks who want to print a silly birthday card on a bubblejet printer. microsoft needs to either get some real design and printing capabilities built in to the program or stop marketing it as a publishing application and instead market it to the "american greetings card maker" grandma crowd. in short, it's a piece of junk and their new app they've been touting that is supposed to replace it doesn't sound any better.3. if you want to get specific colors (ie, pms colors) from a word document or publisher or any other office program you're screwed. you are stuck with how the printer interprets the color word spits out. ever wonder why that blue that you printed looks purple? that's because word is retarded when it comes to color reproduction.4. powerpoint is not for making posters. folks, quit making posters in powerpoint. microsoft, stop allowing people to make 24"x26" slides. they don't print in a predictable and proper manner. there is also absolutely no precision towards measurement. powerpoint also prints all slides as a rastered image with vectored fonts layered on it (even if there are vectored layers like box shapes). it's a mess. this is true of all of the office apps (word, publisher, etc.)5. office smoothes graphics when it prints. this isn't optional.6. font matching is spotty at best in office documents. word has font substitution checking built in but it is buried under preferences/compatibility/font substitution. most folks will never find that and most folks will never know a font was substituted. aside from being in publisher, it is completely absent from the rest of office.7. office lacks absolute positioning. this is especially a pain in the ass in word, powerpoint and publisher. you want to place something exactly where you want it? good luck.8. word reformats your text when you open it on a different computer. adobe would sell 1/10 as many copies of acrobat if it weren't for this problem. this is due to word reformatting the page to your printers capabilities (the edge of the margins). this is a pain in the ass as it doesn't alert the user that it is doing so.9. word lacks the ability to save in a pdf form. this is something microsoft is fixing with the next version of office but it will of course be in their proprietary format (i don't believe pdf will be an option unless you buy acrobat). apple has had pdf capability built into the os available to any app since the start of os x.10. word could use a tutor system to show folks what the hell tabs are all about and why they should lay off the damned spacebar.word is a fine typewriter replacement but it doesn't replace applications designed for printing. most of the printing problems above are not so bad when printing on a color laser printer but when it gets to press printing you will likely have lots of problems unless you are willing to shell out the extra bucks to run it on a 4 color press (and therefore it better be a large job or else you'll be paying out the nose for a short run). but microsoft doesn't know the first things about desktop publishing and printing. they'd do well to steal a few developers from adobe or quark (and perhaps a few from apple who can build a decent interface as the adobe and quark folks seem to have missed that day of class)...
Did anyone else find the use of latin as an example a little high and mighty? He used a whole page of it, when a much smaller portion would have worked fine. Do you think he has something to prove? Maybe.
@Zonk3r, I read your post with mounting disbelief. You have listed almost all the reasons why Word fails as a DTP application. Did you ever consider that the reason could, just possibly, be that WORD *ISN'T* A DTP APPLICATION? It's a word processor. It's not designed to be a DTP application, it's not meant to be a DTP application. Do you also complain that Excel isn't very good at picture editing, or that Powerpoint doesn't make a wonderful programming environment? No. So, instead of using Word for DTP and compaining that it doesn't work very well, stop using it for a purpose it wasn't designed for.
generaldisarrayApr 17, 2006Submitter
Okay, I have to put this to rest.The article applies to Word and OpenOffice. In it, I even advocate using LaTeX. So stop being snobby and realize that the article applies to almost every WYSIWYG word processor.And if you're going to be a snob, be a LaTeX snob.
nofxjunkeeApr 17, 2006
scheper: You can't be serious. PDF is a multi-platform standard. It's embarrassing for MS that Office still doesn't include it.If you mean that they didn't do it because it doesn't keep people tied to Office, then I still disagree. PDF has it's place, and MS doesn't have anything that competes, to my knowledge. (PowerPoint is _not_ competition.)
leszekApr 17, 2006
This account has been closed by the user
zonk3rApr 17, 2006
as a graphic designer and typesetter at a printing press i have some major problems with word (and office as a whole, specifically powerpoint and publisher). these applications are installed on practically every computer out there but are wildly misused.1. word is not designed whatsoever for separations or color precision. if you take a file you made in word to a print shop and ask them to print it 2 colors on a press you will quickly learn the printing limitations of word.2. this is also absolutely true for publisher, which is supposedly for "publishing" however ask me or any other printer about its capability for press publishing and they will laugh at you. publisher is for folks who want to print a silly birthday card on a bubblejet printer. microsoft needs to either get some real design and printing capabilities built in to the program or stop marketing it as a publishing application and instead market it to the "american greetings card maker" grandma crowd. in short, it's a piece of junk and their new app they've been touting that is supposed to replace it doesn't sound any better.3. if you want to get specific colors (ie, pms colors) from a word document or publisher or any other office program you're screwed. you are stuck with how the printer interprets the color word spits out. ever wonder why that blue that you printed looks purple? that's because word is retarded when it comes to color reproduction.4. powerpoint is not for making posters. folks, quit making posters in powerpoint. microsoft, stop allowing people to make 24"x26" slides. they don't print in a predictable and proper manner. there is also absolutely no precision towards measurement. powerpoint also prints all slides as a rastered image with vectored fonts layered on it (even if there are vectored layers like box shapes). it's a mess. this is true of all of the office apps (word, publisher, etc.)5. office smoothes graphics when it prints. this isn't optional.6. font matching is spotty at best in office documents. word has font substitution checking built in but it is buried under preferences/compatibility/font substitution. most folks will never find that and most folks will never know a font was substituted. aside from being in publisher, it is completely absent from the rest of office.7. office lacks absolute positioning. this is especially a pain in the ass in word, powerpoint and publisher. you want to place something exactly where you want it? good luck.8. word reformats your text when you open it on a different computer. adobe would sell 1/10 as many copies of acrobat if it weren't for this problem. this is due to word reformatting the page to your printers capabilities (the edge of the margins). this is a pain in the ass as it doesn't alert the user that it is doing so.9. word lacks the ability to save in a pdf form. this is something microsoft is fixing with the next version of office but it will of course be in their proprietary format (i don't believe pdf will be an option unless you buy acrobat). apple has had pdf capability built into the os available to any app since the start of os x.10. word could use a tutor system to show folks what the hell tabs are all about and why they should lay off the damned spacebar.word is a fine typewriter replacement but it doesn't replace applications designed for printing. most of the printing problems above are not so bad when printing on a color laser printer but when it gets to press printing you will likely have lots of problems unless you are willing to shell out the extra bucks to run it on a 4 color press (and therefore it better be a large job or else you'll be paying out the nose for a short run). but microsoft doesn't know the first things about desktop publishing and printing. they'd do well to steal a few developers from adobe or quark (and perhaps a few from apple who can build a decent interface as the adobe and quark folks seem to have missed that day of class)...
lukas88Apr 18, 2006
Did anyone else find the use of latin as an example a little high and mighty? He used a whole page of it, when a much smaller portion would have worked fine. Do you think he has something to prove? Maybe.
diggnationdevonApr 18, 2006
Okay Openoffice fanboys sorry to tell you but, Office 2007 makes Openoffice look like WordPad.
requiem18thApr 18, 2006
Is it my imagination or this is only just an excuse to post OSX screenshots? I swear, Apple owns digg.
mipmapApr 18, 2006
Missing tip: CTRL + mousewheelZooms in and out on the document in realtime. Works in Excel too. Handy.
kodachrome22Apr 18, 2006
Finally, a beginner's guide to using styles. I personally don't use them, but I should.
semwSep 20, 2006
@Zonk3r, I read your post with mounting disbelief. You have listed almost all the reasons why Word fails as a DTP application. Did you ever consider that the reason could, just possibly, be that WORD *ISN'T* A DTP APPLICATION? It's a word processor. It's not designed to be a DTP application, it's not meant to be a DTP application. Do you also complain that Excel isn't very good at picture editing, or that Powerpoint doesn't make a wonderful programming environment? No. So, instead of using Word for DTP and compaining that it doesn't work very well, stop using it for a purpose it wasn't designed for.