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#1
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Process Management advise, please
I have been working with a university professor on a marketing text book
made up of 20 chapters, each about 100 pages long. Originally, he created the entire thing on his Mac using character formatting, hard returns, and spaces instead of tabs. I spent a couple of weeks reformatting using styles (we have about 30 styles to cover all the situations). Although I was never able to teach him to use styles, it was ok, because it only took a few minutes for me to reformat his changes after each iteration. Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing existing material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor, consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even know styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields. So when one of these new people wants to change a figure number, for instance, they delete the caption including the figure number field I inserted, and type in a new line, using whatever style was in the previous paragraph. Then they manually reformat the caption to make it look like they want. As a result, the process of managing the formats has become much more difficult. Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are getting crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with error codes and grey boxes. The final product must be more or less "camera ready" - the publisher will reset the text using something other than Word, and so they don't care about styles, formats, or any of that. They just want it to look like how we want it. In fact, they would be happier if we just did the whole thing in plain text, and used ASCII codes at the beginning of each 'graph to say how we want that one formatted. Given how complex Word is, and how few people really understand how to use it, my guess is that other people here have faced similar situations. (For instance, Sandra Jensen has posted a similar request just a few days ago). So I would very much appreciated any process management advise people can give. Thanks, jeremy |
#2
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I'm afraid I don't have any advice to offer, but you have my deepest
sympathy. The situation you describe [which is certainly not uncommon] is why I try to limit my work to situations where I have control over the final version and can provide camera-ready copy. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "jg70124" wrote in message ... I have been working with a university professor on a marketing text book made up of 20 chapters, each about 100 pages long. Originally, he created the entire thing on his Mac using character formatting, hard returns, and spaces instead of tabs. I spent a couple of weeks reformatting using styles (we have about 30 styles to cover all the situations). Although I was never able to teach him to use styles, it was ok, because it only took a few minutes for me to reformat his changes after each iteration. Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing existing material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor, consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even know styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields. So when one of these new people wants to change a figure number, for instance, they delete the caption including the figure number field I inserted, and type in a new line, using whatever style was in the previous paragraph. Then they manually reformat the caption to make it look like they want. As a result, the process of managing the formats has become much more difficult. Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are getting crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with error codes and grey boxes. The final product must be more or less "camera ready" - the publisher will reset the text using something other than Word, and so they don't care about styles, formats, or any of that. They just want it to look like how we want it. In fact, they would be happier if we just did the whole thing in plain text, and used ASCII codes at the beginning of each 'graph to say how we want that one formatted. Given how complex Word is, and how few people really understand how to use it, my guess is that other people here have faced similar situations. (For instance, Sandra Jensen has posted a similar request just a few days ago). So I would very much appreciated any process management advise people can give. Thanks, jeremy |
#3
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Reminds me of the famous advice to sailors caught in a storm on a lee
sho rule 1 -- do not let yourself get caught in this situation. About all that's to be done is circulate a memo to the effect that the other participants are contributing *content*, and when they've finished doing so you (or somebody) will be creating the camera-ready version, as a separate, final exercise. If the publishers are paying for it, let them know that the cost of that final exercise is partly a function of how those other participants do their work. Even if the consultants don't understand styles, the publisher probably does -- most publishing houses have style guides of some sort or another. Not quite the same thing, but close enough that they'll know what you mean if you say the consultant isn't following your style conventions. For a 2000 page book, this is a lot of work you're looking at! "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... I'm afraid I don't have any advice to offer, but you have my deepest sympathy. The situation you describe [which is certainly not uncommon] is why I try to limit my work to situations where I have control over the final version and can provide camera-ready copy. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "jg70124" wrote in message ... I have been working with a university professor on a marketing text book made up of 20 chapters, each about 100 pages long. Originally, he created the entire thing on his Mac using character formatting, hard returns, and spaces instead of tabs. I spent a couple of weeks reformatting using styles (we have about 30 styles to cover all the situations). Although I was never able to teach him to use styles, it was ok, because it only took a few minutes for me to reformat his changes after each iteration. Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing existing material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor, consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even know styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields. So when one of these new people wants to change a figure number, for instance, they delete the caption including the figure number field I inserted, and type in a new line, using whatever style was in the previous paragraph. Then they manually reformat the caption to make it look like they want. As a result, the process of managing the formats has become much more difficult. Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are getting crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with error codes and grey boxes. The final product must be more or less "camera ready" - the publisher will reset the text using something other than Word, and so they don't care about styles, formats, or any of that. They just want it to look like how we want it. In fact, they would be happier if we just did the whole thing in plain text, and used ASCII codes at the beginning of each 'graph to say how we want that one formatted. Given how complex Word is, and how few people really understand how to use it, my guess is that other people here have faced similar situations. (For instance, Sandra Jensen has posted a similar request just a few days ago). So I would very much appreciated any process management advise people can give. Thanks, jeremy |
#4
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On 2-Nov-2004, "jg70124" wrote:
Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are getting crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with error codes and grey boxes. I don't have any solution to offer for the other problems you mentioned, but with regard to Equation Editor, the formats on the PC and the Mac aren't compatible with each other. Everyone involved in the process (whether they edit the equations or not) should be using either the full version (i.e., the paid version) of MathType, or the 30-day trial. The 30-day trial will be full-featured for 30 days, after which it becomes a less-featured "MathType Lite". MathType Lite will continue to be able to edit equations created in either the full version of MathType, or Equation Editor, on either platform. -- Bob Mathews Director of Training 830-990-9699 http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5 Design Science, Inc. -- "How Science Communicates" MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide |
#5
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With regard to trying to persuade the other authors to use styles, this
article might help you Creating Custom Toolbars for Templates http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/P...cle.asp?ID=262 Once you have created a Styles toolbar in the way described in the article, point out to theother authors that clicking on the appropriate button is quicker & easier than doing manual formatting. -- Regards Jonathan West - Word MVP www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk Please reply to the newsgroup "jg70124" wrote in message ... I have been working with a university professor on a marketing text book made up of 20 chapters, each about 100 pages long. Originally, he created the entire thing on his Mac using character formatting, hard returns, and spaces instead of tabs. I spent a couple of weeks reformatting using styles (we have about 30 styles to cover all the situations). Although I was never able to teach him to use styles, it was ok, because it only took a few minutes for me to reformat his changes after each iteration. Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing existing material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor, consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even know styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields. So when one of these new people wants to change a figure number, for instance, they delete the caption including the figure number field I inserted, and type in a new line, using whatever style was in the previous paragraph. Then they manually reformat the caption to make it look like they want. As a result, the process of managing the formats has become much more difficult. Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are getting crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with error codes and grey boxes. The final product must be more or less "camera ready" - the publisher will reset the text using something other than Word, and so they don't care about styles, formats, or any of that. They just want it to look like how we want it. In fact, they would be happier if we just did the whole thing in plain text, and used ASCII codes at the beginning of each 'graph to say how we want that one formatted. Given how complex Word is, and how few people really understand how to use it, my guess is that other people here have faced similar situations. (For instance, Sandra Jensen has posted a similar request just a few days ago). So I would very much appreciated any process management advise people can give. Thanks, jeremy |
#6
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Hi Jeremy
jg70124 wrote: [..] Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing existing material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor, consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even know styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields. I have yet to test this thoroughly in real-life projects, but the new protection-features of Word 2003 Prof. might be worth investigating in your situation. 2cents ..bob -- /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS \ / | MVP X Against HTML | for / \ in e-mail & news | Word |
#7
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Having had the same problem with styles and captioning, I'd love to hear the
suggestions of other users as well. I've heard "you changed A, B, and C" more than once when in fact the other user deleted something in the doc that changed all the caption numbering (or references). "jg70124" wrote in message ... I have been working with a university professor on a marketing text book made up of 20 chapters, each about 100 pages long. Originally, he created the entire thing on his Mac using character formatting, hard returns, and spaces instead of tabs. I spent a couple of weeks reformatting using styles (we have about 30 styles to cover all the situations). Although I was never able to teach him to use styles, it was ok, because it only took a few minutes for me to reformat his changes after each iteration. Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing existing material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor, consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even know styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields. So when one of these new people wants to change a figure number, for instance, they delete the caption including the figure number field I inserted, and type in a new line, using whatever style was in the previous paragraph. Then they manually reformat the caption to make it look like they want. As a result, the process of managing the formats has become much more difficult. Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are getting crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with error codes and grey boxes. The final product must be more or less "camera ready" - the publisher will reset the text using something other than Word, and so they don't care about styles, formats, or any of that. They just want it to look like how we want it. In fact, they would be happier if we just did the whole thing in plain text, and used ASCII codes at the beginning of each 'graph to say how we want that one formatted. Given how complex Word is, and how few people really understand how to use it, my guess is that other people here have faced similar situations. (For instance, Sandra Jensen has posted a similar request just a few days ago). So I would very much appreciated any process management advise people can give. Thanks, jeremy |
#8
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I think these features may work properly only if all the other contributors
also have Word 2003. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Robert M. Franz" wrote in message ... Hi Jeremy jg70124 wrote: [..] Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing existing material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor, consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even know styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields. I have yet to test this thoroughly in real-life projects, but the new protection-features of Word 2003 Prof. might be worth investigating in your situation. 2cents .bob -- /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS \ / | MVP X Against HTML | for / \ in e-mail & news | Word |
#9
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Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
I think these features may work properly only if all the other contributors also have Word 2003. That's what I read as well, yes. ..bob -- /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS \ / | MVP X Against HTML | for / \ in e-mail & news | Word |
#10
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Suzanne, that assumes that the other contributors are willing to use the
features. I've worked on a document with one other individual and it's been a nightmare because he hasn't used the additional features. "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... I think these features may work properly only if all the other contributors also have Word 2003. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Robert M. Franz" wrote in message ... Hi Jeremy jg70124 wrote: [..] Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing existing material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor, consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even know styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields. I have yet to test this thoroughly in real-life projects, but the new protection-features of Word 2003 Prof. might be worth investigating in your situation. 2cents .bob -- /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS \ / | MVP X Against HTML | for / \ in e-mail & news | Word |
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