Re: Fonts fouling up in word pictures

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Hi Jeff:

On 12/8/05 8:22 AM, in article uznncMsnFHA.1996@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Jeff
Wiseman" <throwawayacct223@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Actually, since 95% of the picture is text and it is replicated
> in other areas, this is a significant step backward.

I agree: I wouldn't use that method.

> On suspicion of how I created the original pictures, I took a
> document and did an Insert->Object->Microsoft Word Picture to
> create a brand new picture. I then typed a few characters in the
> picture. I then created a text box inside the picture and typed a
> few characters. Lo and behold, when I closed the picture editor I
> could actually read the text in the text box in the picture.

Yes: That's the way I do it. The trick is Insert->Object->Microsoft Word
Picture ... That keeps the whole thing as a single object, so you do not
have to worry about floating anything, or the attendant anchors.

> Thanks for the suggestion. Had a quick look at it. Seems to be
> anchor behaviors typical of several documenting programs I've
> worked with but it seems to have some very spastic
> idiosyncracies. E.g., an inline anchor is relative to the text
> stream it's in but when making the anchor visible, it sits way
> out of the text colum (i.e., so where is the anchor exactly?).

Yep: The anchor is actually a binary pointer: It's a hexadecimal number,
and it occurs early in the paragraph immediately to the right of the anchor
symbol.

The graphic itself is not stored with the text, it's stored in a "slot" at
the bottom of the document, along with all the other non-text components of
the document.

ALL anchors are embedded in the text stream. A "property" of that anchor
determines whether the graphics object is positioned relative to the
paragraph or relative to the margins of the page upon which the graphic
lands.

The fundamental unit in a Word document is the paragraph. Everything is
referenced to a paragraph somehow. But if the paragraph containing an
anchor is moved to a different page, the wrapping property on the layout tab
determines the positioning of the graphic when it gets to its new page: it
can be relative to the paragraph, or to the margins.

> Maintaining an entire slew of anchors for
> a dozen objects in each diagram I need is a ridiculously involved
> workaround (easily subject to error, I might add)

Yeah. Don't do it. Use Insert>Object...

> for a very
> rudimentary function that is obviously broken.

No, it's not broken. But it is very complex. Word is a "word processor"
which is designed to "flow" a "stream" of text. Word expects to flow the
text and graphics together and to position the graphics relative to each
other. Word expects to do the pagination for you. That's what
word-processors "do".

There are no "pages" in a Word document: pages are generated on the fly
during output to the screen or printer.

What you are wanting is a page layout program. In a page layout program,
the "pages" paradigm is replicated in the file. In Word it isn't. You
"can" achieve layout effects in Word, and get them predictable and stable.
But you have to use word-processing techniques to do it, not page layout
techniques.

An easy way to start is to accept that a Word document is a stack of
paragraphs, stacked one below the other from the top of the document. The
graphics are each anchored to a paragraph. That paragraph will be moved
around automatically by Word to make the text fit. When the paragraph
moves, Word moves the graphic anchored to it so it is always on the same
page as the paragraph to which its anchored. Word then attempts to preserve
the relationship between the graphic and the page margins.

That's the basis of it. As I said, it's quite complex and took me a while
to get the hang of it.

> Thanks a lot for the help! As you know though, if there's no gas
> in the car, all the tuning in the world ain't gonna make it go
> anywhere :-)

I have had that experience! It's worse on a motorbike, let me tell you: you
can't thumb a ride to the gas station with a can, you have to push... :-)

There are various parts of Word that simply do not work well enough, but I
believe this is not one of them. You can get stable, reliable and very
flexible results with Word. But it's very complex and took me a long while
to learn.

Cheers

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <john@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

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