arie@zippy.eecs.umich.edu (Arie Covrigaru) (05/16/89)
I would like to share my experience and opinion on the new table feature in Microsoft Word 4.0. I find this feature very useful and I tried to use it immediately when I received my upgrade. Unfortunately, I found two major design problems in what is called Ra tableS by the programmers (human interface guidelines specialists?) of Word 4.0. I know of two types of objects in Word 4.0: paragraphs and graphics objects. A table is a new type of object introduced in the Word environment. But hey, this new object does not confirm with the Macintosh editing guidelines: 1 When one applies the Cut command to a cell in a table the cells are not removed. When the Cut command is applied to any other object (text or graphics) they disappear. What is going on here? On the other hand, if one performs a Cut on a row of cells in a table and then a Paste outside the table area, the table cells are created the way they should be. Conclusion: It is impossible to move a table with the conventional Cut then Paste commands. 2. The second flaw, in my opinion is the fact that a table is not treated as a character of paragraph or as a whole paragraph. If one wants to control the space above a table, one needs to have the paragraph above the table formatted properly, and so if the table is moved the formatting is screwed up. Is this a design flaw in the program or what? Please donUt send me work around suggestions, I know how to move the table in 45 commands. All I wanted to say is: I want my Cut and Paste! ============================================================================= Arie Covrigaru Cognitive Science and Machine Intelligence Laboratory, University of Michigan =============================================================================
ar4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Piper Keairnes) (09/19/89)
Word 4.0 ======== I recently wrote a report for ye ole english class. In the report, I included a table. While in the standard view mode, the table was half way down the page, following a couple paragraphs. The problem: when I went to page preview mode or the page view mode, the table decided to put itself at the top of the page, and move the text down. (The printed form was also incorrect) I was quite frustrated because I needed the information in a particular order. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Is it a bug, or am I just missing some kind of preference?? -- Piper Keairnes (ar4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu)
truesdel@ics.uci.edu (Scott Truesdell) (09/19/89)
ar4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Piper Keairnes) writes: >Word 4.0 >======== > I recently wrote a report for ye ole english class. In the report, >I included a table. While in the standard view mode, the table was half >way down the page, following a couple paragraphs. > The problem: when I went to page preview mode or the page view mode, >the table decided to put itself at the top of the page, and move the text >down. (The printed form was also incorrect) I was quite frustrated because >I needed the information in a particular order. > Has anyone else experienced this problem? Is it a bug, or am I just >missing some kind of preference?? The table grew to the point where it crossed page bounderies. You need to do one of several things. 1. Shorten the text immediately preceding the table. 2. Use Word 4.0's new Position command. This supposedly should work, though I couldn't get it to right now, though I didn't consult the manual. --scott -- Scott Truesdell
fleming@cup.portal.com (Stephen R Fleming) (09/20/89)
I had a similar problem when using some hidden text to write some Post-it
notes to myself. After mailing the disk to Microsoft, the only answer they
could come up with was to turn Show Hidden Text Off. Don't know if this
applies to your case or not.
Stephen Fleming / Director, Technology Marketing
Northern Telecom / Federal Networks Division
(703) 847-7058 / FAX (703) 847-7395, ...7396cramer@athens.iex.com (Bill Cramer) (09/20/89)
In article <4097@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> ar4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Piper Keairnes) writes: > >Word 4.0 >======== > I recently wrote a report for ye ole english class. In the report, >I included a table. While in the standard view mode, the table was half >way down the page, following a couple paragraphs. > The problem: when I went to page preview mode or the page view mode, >the table decided to put itself at the top of the page, and move the text >down. (The printed form was also incorrect) I was quite frustrated because >I needed the information in a particular order. > Select all of the cells of the table and then assign the "Keep with next" paragraph attribute. Unless the table is longer than the length of a page, it should fit. The bad news, Word may need to leave alot of white space at the end of the previous page in order to keep the cells together. if this really bothers you, before you print out the **final** copy, go back and shuffle paragraphs to make it look even (but that seems like alot of work just for 'ye old english class' :-) Bill Cramer IEX Corporation Plano, Texas {uunet,convex,attctc}!iex!cramer
beard@wuibc.UUCP (James Beard MD) (09/21/89)
In article <4097@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> ar4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Piper Keairnes) writes: > I recently wrote a report for ye ole english class. In the report, >I included a table. While in the standard view mode, the table was half >way down the page, following a couple paragraphs. > The problem: when I went to page preview mode or the page view mode, >the table decided to put itself at the top of the page, and move the text >down. (The printed form was also incorrect) I was quite frustrated... > -- Piper Keairnes (ar4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu) There are a few possibilities: - Has the table crossed a page boundary? It will move itself to avoid this. Try editing in Galley mode (that shows the page layout) and turn on automatic (background) repagination. That should keep you up to date on what Word will do when printing. - Have you inadvertently formatted the position of the table (or a paragraph enclosing it, if such a thing is possible)? When everything (paragraph ends, tabs, etc.) is showing on the screen, items that are "Positioned" have a tiny square in front of their first line. To un-position something, select "Format Position" and then click on Reset. Best of luck.