Styles

  • Thread starter Thread starter W. Guy Delaney
  • Start date Start date
W

W. Guy Delaney

I am trying to learn how to use Styles. I know enough to know that you want
to use as little Direct Formatting as possible--none if you can get away
with it.

When you need to change a style within a paragraph, is Direct Formatting the
only way to do it? For instance, say I want to change the font from Regular
to Italic in order to type the title of a book, would I have to use direct
formatting? If so, this means that there are times when you must use Direct
Formatting. Right?

Any help or explanations will be appreciated.
 
Yes, there are times when you must use direct formatting. Some people define
character styles for specific types of direct formatting, but by and large
this is overkill. When it is useful is when you think you might want to
change the formatting. For example, when I'm typing a dictionary, and the
cross-references are in small caps, I make that a character style. Then if
the publisher decides to use bold or italic instead of small caps for the
cross-references, it can be accomplished at a stroke by changing the
character style. Fortunately or unfortunately, character styles are removed
just as easily as direct font formatting.

The proscription against direct formatting is directed toward paragraphs.
Instead of using Normal style for every paragraph in the document, but
making every #1 head 16-pt Arial Bold, centered, with 18 pts Space Before
and 3 pts Space After, you modify Heading 1 to have this format and apply it
to your #1 heads. That way, all your #1 heads will be consistent, and if you
change your mind about the formatting, you can change all the Heading 1
paragraphs just by changing the style.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
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