Desktop Publishing with Microsoft Word Shhh -- Don't Tell FrontPage Helen Bradley
Wed 6/5/02 -- As much as Microsoft-bashers love to complain about Office growing bigger or more bloated with every release, no one would seriously say that Word is a desktop publishing (DTP) program yet (more on the distinction in a moment). But if you need a simple newsletter or marketing brochure, and don't own or know how to use a package like FrontPage, Microsoft's word processor won't let you down. Word offers many features you'll find in big-name DTP software, and this week we'll explore some of the most useful.
Sticky spaces and hyphens. Need to tie together phrases or people's first and last names so they won't split across line breaks? Overrule word wrap by deleting the space between words where the split occurs and replacing it with a hard space (Ctrl-Shift-Space); the words will be yoked with a special, nonprinting space and move together to the next line. You can create a similar nonbreaking hyphen that will never be split across a line break by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Hyphen (i.e., Ctrl-Underscore).
Lines and alignment. Creating a customer form or coupon to be printed out and then filled in with pen or pencil? You can help folks sign on the dotted line with a leader character, available from the Format/Tabs dialog. Check the ruler and create your right tab where the line should end; click an option for the leader character to use (typically the underscore), and click OK.
Back in your document, type your prompt (e.g., Name:) and press the Tab key. Voila -- the underline or space for the reader to write his or her name appears. For lines with no prompts (like a second line for an address), just press Tab and then Enter. You can place text on both ends of the line by typing the left-side text, pressing Tab to draw the line, then typing some (right-justified) text before pressing Enter.
Put text boxes to work. Text boxes are key tools for placing text exactly where you want it on your Word page. Add them using Insert/Text Box (or the Text Box tool on the Drawing toolbar). Set their Wrapping style to suit your needs (select the box, then Format/Text Box and the Layout tab), you can use them for coupons, pull quotes, or to place one piece of text over another or closer than regular line spacing will allow.
To flow a story from one page to another, create two text boxes, click in the first, and click the Create Text Box Link (chain) icon on the Text Box toolbar. Then click in the second text box. Text which overflows the first box will flow into the second.
Text boxes are also handy for placing text sideways on the page. After creating the box and typing your text, choose Format/Text Direction and one of the vertical alignment options (or click to toggle the Change Text Direction icon on the Text Box toolbar). To remove the border around a text box, right-click it, choose Format/Text Box and the Colors and Lines tab, then set the Fill Color to "No Fill" and the Line Color to "No Line."
Character spacing. Tightening the spacing between characters in a word often improves the look of printed text. Select your text, then choose Format/Font, the Character Spacing tab, and the Spacing/Condensed option to decrease the spacing -- you can do this in amounts as small as 0.1 point. The same dialog lets you increase character spacing -- say, to stretch a word or sentence to span the width of the page. However, note that this is a trial-and-error process (set the spacing, click OK, do it again if text is too spacy or illegibly squished together). Word's tool for kerning text (reducing the space between letter pairs like W and A so they look neater) is also found here.
Line spacing. Pressing Enter twice at the end of each paragraph gives acceptable line spacing for most business letters, but a smaller space is neater for DTP projects. Adjust the inter-paragraph spacing by choosing Format/Paragraph, the Indents and Spacing tab, and changing the Spacing After setting to half the point size of the type you're using (e.g., 6 points if you're using 12-point Times New Roman).
You can also adjust the spacing within a paragraph using the Line Spacing options in this dialog -- handy for pull quotes, for instance, where you want to visually separate the quoted text from the remainder of the text on the page. Changing the font style and increasing the line spacing to double spacing or more achieves this.
Get the templates. Microsoft's Template Gallery offers some neat free and easily downloadable templates for Word. These include a number of brochure, newsletter, and other handy business and personal documents, as well as the helpful Newsletter Wizard omitted from the most recent version of Word (you'll find it in the Marketing/Newsletters section).
Word versus the DTP pros. As we mentioned, page-layout professionals will tell you that no word processor comes close to being a "real" desktop publishing package. While they're fine for occasionally publishing a quick newsletter, or printing for an in-house audience instead of must-impress customers, Word's tools are relatively rudimentary. If you're printing commercially or doing serious design work, look for a program that gives you ultra-precise placement of objects on the page, better graphics handling, Pantone (industry-standard palette) color selection, and the ability to create color separations. You'll find these in a high-end DTP program like Adobe PageMaker or QuarkXPress.
