Book details of 'Word 97 Annoyances (Nutshell Handbook)'

Title	Word 97 Annoyances (Nutshell Handbook)
Author(s)	Woody Leonhard, Lee Hudspeth, Timothy-James Lee
ISBN	1565923081
Language	English
Published	September 1997
Publisher	O'Reilly & Associates

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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'Word 97 Annoyances (Nutshell Handbook)':

Reviewer amazon.com wrote:
The problem with Word 97 is that Microsoft designed it to be all things to all people. And everyone knows what results when you try to do that--you end up pleasing no one. Fortunately, the company also made Word reasonably customizable. Word users with the proper information can tweak the application so it looks and behaves to their liking. Word 97 Annoyances shows you how to make the necessary adjustments. Say you're annoyed with the fact that there's a File Open button on the Word toolbar, but no corresponding File Close button. Word 97 Annoyances shows you how to remedy that shortcoming. Or say you've had it with Word's tendency to hide filename extensions. The book shows you how to fix that, too. Ditto for getting formatting to look right, incorporating nonstandard characters, and dealing with macro viruses. What's more, this book's tutorial on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)--the tool you use to customize Word in many cases--ranks among the best out there. You'll learn a lot from it and will soon be writing automation routines to beat the band. There's good news for Word 98 and Word 2000 users, too: Many of the tips in this book apply to your programs. Read it, implement its suggestions, and watch your Word time become more enjoyable and productive.
Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
This book is not an introduction to Word, and it probably isn't suitable for the complete novice. However, users who have had some time to get used to using Word will find a wealth of advice for the irritations they encounter on a daily basis. Chapter one attempts to classify some of the concerns with regard to MS Word, and also tries to convince you that "bloat" isn't. Not all of chapter two is about Word as such, As well as program settings it suggests a number of configuration changes in Windows 95 that can make life easier all round, including in applications. Leonhard has always insisted that the Word toolbar is not designed with real people in mind, so chapter three tells you how to change it. (If you slavishly follow the suggestions in the book as to what belongs in the toolbar, you deserve what you get.) Chapter four is, of course, an introduction to macro programming, and it gets even novices into the swing of things very nicely indeed. This background is then used in chapter five to correct some annoyances by creating macros to deal with them. Myself, I would have put chapter six earlier in the book. It explains some of the *real* annoyances in Word: the oddities that have been part of the program from the beginning, like the fact that paragraph formatting is "contained" in the paragraph mark. The explanation of these internals goes a long way to explaining some of the counter- intuitive ways that Word behaves. Chapter seven deals with advanced level problems with advanced solutions. While the material definitely belongs in the book novices may want to be wary of it, since some tips use solutions that involve changing the registry, and other pretty dangerous activities. Chapter eight is simply excellent. It is a complete and reliable overview of the MS Word macro virus situation. Were I writing the chapter myself, I would not have recommended McAfee and Symantec/Norton, but otherwise I find no fault with it. Originally I was going to say that it is a great chapter given that it was written by a non-specialist, but that would be false. This is, for the average computer user, the best single coverage of the topic I have ever read. Chapter nine provides a number of references and resources for further information. There is a lot of ground that the book does not cover. Pure bugs are not given a lot of space, but their inclusion would likely balloon the work to encyclopedic size. This volume does, though, dispense useful and valuable advice on how to make Word more productive and less vexing. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998
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