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+\newcommand{\GLOSS}[1]{\textsc{#1}}
+\newcommand{\key}[1]{\texttt{#1}}
+\newcommand{\Ascii}{\textsc{Ascii}}
+\newcommand{\MP}[1]{}
+
+\title{Word processing}
+\author{R.~Allan Reese}
+\begin{Article}
+
+The software most used by students, including research students, at
+Hull is MicroSoft Word. This is {\em their\/} preference; when the
+Computer Centre consciously offered introductory courses using the
+Works integrated package which has a simplified word processor compared
+with Word, it was found that students quickly switched to using Word.
+The reasons for this preference are largely peer and societal pressure;
+it is unlikely that students should immediately need the more advanced
+formatting features of the product. Many students are rather vague as
+to what they are using: a typical enquiry starts with, ``I was typing
+into Windows when \ldots .''
+
+The local preference is seen much more widely, and again the reasons
+are hard to identify apart from marketing pressure. Word has no
+apparent technical superiority over its rivals (WordPerfect, Ami Pro)
+but has captured a large majority of the world market. Nigel Lodge of
+\GLOSS{CHEST} reported (verbal report to \GLOSS{UCSG} committee
+meeting, January 1996) that while WordPerfect was functionally
+equivalent, available to UK HE sites on a similar unit-based licence,
+had the advantage that documentation could be copied under the licence,
+and was well under half the price (\pounds 16 per unit compared with
+\pounds 38), nevertheless, sales through Chest were biased to Word in
+the ratio 22:1. It seems that Microsoft dominates the market because
+it has a stranglehold on operating systems; this is similar to the
+situation summarized in the 1960s and 70s when ``no one ever got fired
+for buying IBM kit.''
+
+Change is slow to bring about. As JISC point out\cite[paras~36--38]
+{JISC:95}, ``The protection of existing investment [in resources and
+knowledge] is an extremely powerful factor in any decision to extend or
+replace computing equipment. \ldots The same factor can be seen at work
+even with an individual\ldots wishing to retain existing peripherals and
+package software. \ldots Personal workstations should be regarded as
+having a relatively short effective life of two to four years only.
+[However,] while interesting new technologies are emerging all the time,
+they often become significant only when a supplier perceives a market
+advantage in exploiting them, or when a major and completely new project
+opens which has no `legacy' problem.'' The pressures on students occur
+in departments (perhaps driven by both students and staff in mutual
+feedback) and when they talk to other users at the machines.
+
+Standardization on Word is, however, not necessarily appropriate or
+helpful for students or academic writers. Word has developed as a
+product over ten years entirely under the control of the MicroSoft
+Corporation and, while the name has stayed the same, the product has
+changed dramatically in appearance and function. The
+documentation\cite{winword} does not contain a statement of the design
+aims of the program, but it is a fair assumption that the primary
+concern is to support the commercial office market, which is the
+largest and most lucrative. The extensive range of features concentrate
+on text and document formatting: features such as mail-merge,
+boilerplate letters, documents composed from standard paragraphs are
+not obvious requirements for original text composition. One
+semi-evident development policy has been to suggest that Word provides
+most of the functionality of a true DTP package. The overheads of these
+unwanted features have created problems, especially for novice users
+working on open-access machines in university computer centres.
+
+Students using shared machines need to renew the whole system at the
+start of each session. Failure to do so may lead to the student's work
+being affected by a previous student\Dash whether accidentally or
+maliciously. This involves basic rebooting of the PC, logging on to
+the network, loading Windows and loading the word processor before the
+document can be opened. On a PC network, as is currently and
+increasingly the norm, this process may take up to several minutes,
+dependent upon the other demands on the network. This is a ridiculous
+overhead when all the student wants to do is type and edit text, but
+the students remain adamant that they prefer to type directly into a
+fully WYSIWYG version.
+
+Once the student has the document on the screen, there is an
+unacceptably high probability that the document will be damaged or
+lost. This can occur as a result of user incompetence, inadvertent
+action, or system failure. An example of the first results from our PC
+network system having many logical disk-drives visible to the user; new
+users not infrequently save their first document onto a network drive
+letter in the temporary area. The word processor knows only that the
+buffered document has been saved; the network allows the user to
+logout; it is only when the student comes back for a second session
+that they find their floppy disk has no files on it. Usually this is a
+lesson that is learned once and before any serious work has been lost.
+Much more anguish is caused by students selecting accidentally some
+random feature of the word processor. For example, in MS Word you can
+select (highlight) the complete text and then a single press of the
+ENTER key deletes it! Of course, the text has not then been lost but
+merely copied to the clipboard. Unfortunately, the student often does
+not know this, and their subsequent panic actions generally lose the
+clipboard and often overwrite the disk copy with the blank buffer
+before they come (in tears, whether male or female) for help\Dash
+either file archaeology or a miracle. Other problems occur because
+the student clicked a mouse button when the cursor was at some random
+point in a window or toolbar. System errors can be protected against
+only by frequent and independent backup. Despite the name, `system'
+faults may be due to factors totally beyond the control of the computer
+service `systems' staff: one case of repeated failures was traced to a
+student who habitually used the same workstation, and whenever she got
+into difficulties switched the power off and on at the wall switch\Dash
+thus crashing all the PCs on that bench.
+
+The third disadvantage of high-performance word processors is that they
+encode a large amount of physical formatting within the document file.
+The file format is proprietary and binary\Dash highly complex. As a
+result, any file that is not 100\% readable and correct may be unusable
+by the program. Multiple footnotes in particular cause problems in
+academic writing. When files have been corrupted due to a physical
+disk fault or failure while writing, the bulk of the text can generally
+be recovered but formatting is lost and usually so are footnotes. Even
+when the program functions, there is no intuitive or essential logic to
+the manipulation of footnotes: do you, for example, delete a footnote
+by selecting the marker in the body or the footnote text?
+
+\subsection{Features of Word in relation to needs}
+
+The pre-eminence of MS Word as a tool for academic writers means that
+if it does not meet the needs of the task, or if its method of working
+is unwieldy, the software may be a drag on the effectiveness of the
+writer. Even worse, the user may be controlled by the technology,
+doing things `because they're there' and overlooking options because
+the program lacks them. This is not an unduly cynical view.
+Commercial software necessarily plays down those features that it does
+not provide, and trumpets those features which have been added at the
+last upgrade. Previously perfectly good working practices can be swept
+aside because a new feature has to be promoted. Let us examine how
+Word meets the requirements laid out in Section~\ref{Sec:composing}:
+
+ \begin{description}
+ \item[text input]
+ Switch on the PC, start Windows, then start Word\Dash and you obtain a
+screen on which you can type words. The exact appearance of the screen
+should be configured according to user preferences, but this is not
+feasible on open-access computers. Every user must be given a clean and
+consistent system that conforms to the documentation. A personal copy
+on an individual's machine can be configured, but the user needs to
+understand and record the changes. Problems can arise when documents
+are moved between systems with different set-ups; style or template
+files may need to be copied and re-linked to documents that use them.
+
+Word has options that make space characters and other special codes,
+such as paragraph marks, visible. These are used by default, which
+should make it easier for students to learn the differences between
+features: for example, spaces and tabs.
+
+Word is, of course, WYSIWYG and this is an aspect that is frequently
+commended. The temptation is therefore to type and format in one
+operation. The Computer Centre strongly advises the use of
+stylesheets, but these are ignored in the RSA elementary syllabus. The
+use of an extra {\tt Enter} at the end of paragraphs has been
+discussed; this practice would be counter-productive once stylesheets
+were introduced, since the stylesheet defines a `standard paragraph'
+which would contain information on spacing and indents. The default
+paragraph format is single spaced, left aligned with no indent; it
+could so easily have had the more conventional first-line indent.
+
+The biggest drawback to Word for basic use is the sheer complexity of
+the screen. Absolute beginners to word processing have the problem of
+recognizing the multitude of visual cues on the screen and equating
+these with meaningful functions. There are, by default, menus and
+toolbars, other active points where clicking the mouse does something,
+a ruler, and all the paraphenalia of Windows. It is easy to catch some
+key inadvertently (or click the mouse in the wrong place) and the
+unexpected happens. Overcoming this is a matter of familiarity, but it
+underlines the need for training. Very little is truly intuitive.
+
+Despite being `WYSIWYG', Word offers four different ways of viewing a
+document: Normal, Page layout, Print preview and Outline. Initial text
+input is best done in Normal mode, which is the default when starting.
+This view shows most text attributes (font, size, etc.) and spacings,
+though centered text will not appear centred on the screen as the edges
+of the `page' are not marked. Graphic inserts and multiple-column text
+are simplifed in this view, but this should not cause problems during
+composing. Page and section breaks appear as dotted lines and headers,
+footers or footnotes are edited in separate windows. Page layout shows
+the physical arrangement of the page on the screen, and provides an
+alternative way of editing structures. Print preview takes account of
+the exact features of the printer. While you cannot edit in this view,
+It shows two pages side by side and allows you to adjust page
+parameters such as margin widths. Provided the system is consistent
+(and that may be a big assumption), the writer can be confident that a
+document can be composed, formatted and printed as wanted, first time.
+
+Word has several methods for inputting characters that are not assigned
+single keys. Apart from foreign language letters, this includes
+characters like long-dashes and opening quotes that resolve ambiguities
+in the typist's reduced character set. If you are in the process of
+typing, the optimal method is probably to use either a key-combination
+or a `dead-key' method. A key-combination involves holding down one
+key while pressing another, similar to using \key{Shift} to obtain
+capital letters. \key{Alt} is an obvious centender. The `dead-key'
+method involves pressing one key (or combination) and then another; the
+two keys are combined in one character. This is a traditional method
+for obtaining accented characters on a manual typewriter, where the
+dead-key does not move the paper. Word does provide such mechanisms.
+Characters can be inserted by key combinations or by typing a numerica
+character code. However, these shortcuts have fallen victim to the
+\GLOSS{WIMP} paradigm; the first method advised in the manual and in
+the on-line help is a pull-down menu that shows all the symbols in the
+extended character set. The manual suggests an alternative of mapping
+the keyboard to a foreign character set; this method simply moves the
+problem, since there is still a mapping from the 102-key keyboard to a
+256-character set. The optimum for habitual use of a few characters
+would seem to be to use the symbol menu once, and to make a note of the
+keyboard shortcut.
+
+Word will also make changes to your text as you type. The auto-correct
+feature is discussed below under the topic of checking.
+
+
+ \item[notes]
+Notes for the writer are used in two contexts: notes that will form
+part of the text, and notes for the writer's own use. A note involves
+two components: a marker within the body of the text, and the note
+itself. Notes may appear on the printed page as footnotes or endnotes.
+ The inserted mark may be a number or a special character; unless
+footnotes are used very sparingly, a numbering system is easier to
+follow. Word automatically renumbers footnotes whenever you add,
+delete or move footnotes.
+
+Notes for the author's use can be inserted as `annotations', which are
+similar to footnotes but are stored as `hidden' text. The same chapter
+of the manual describes the use of revision bars for keeping track of
+changes in a text. Hidden text can be hdden, viewed or printed, but if
+visible will affect the pagination. Annotations are printed
+separately, after the body text, but if annotations are printed, then
+so is hidden text. Hidden text can be treacherous; a colleague in my
+department once received from a national committee a file containing
+earlier ideas as hidden text\Dash which they probably did not want to
+distribute. Word's annotations do not quite match the functions of
+`comments' in LaTeX or `attached notes' in Journalist, as discussed in
+Section~\ref{latex:input}\MP{do it!}.
+
+While the footnotes mechanism has the required features, there are
+several drawbacks. One is that this is seen as `advanced' use. It is
+documented under `Special features', well after features like tables
+and inserting graphics. The mechanism is not intuitive. Inserting a
+footnote opens a \GLOSS{dialogue box} for the in-text mark and a box
+for the actual text; deleting a footnote is done by selecting and
+deleting the mark\Dash deleting all the text does not delete the mark.
+Users are often confused between `footnote' and `footer'. Both of
+these are training points, but they lead to misuse. It may be a
+consequence of misuse, but the mechanism of storage appears to be be
+unstable, especially on networked computers; footnotes seem to be
+implicated in a high proportion of files that `become unreadable'.
+Word document files are complex binary structures, which must read
+completely or not at all. Since academic writers perhaps use footnotes
+far more commonly than do office workers, it may be that this is a
+weakness of the program. Finally, it is conventional to typeset
+fotnotes in a smaller font than the body text and single spaced even
+when the body text is double spaced, but Word does not apply these
+rules automatically.
+
+
+
+ \item[moving text around]
+The major advantage of a word processor over a typewriter is the
+ability to manipulate your text without retyping more than the
+corrections. Word provides for revisions on-screen and through
+command menus. Screen editing is standard; position the cursor
+anywhere and use \key{Del} and {\tt Insert} or {\tt Overtype} input.
+Beginners get confused between \key{Backspace} and \key{Delete}, and
+they have difficulty positioning the cursor with the mouse\Dash it's
+easier to use keys because the cursor then moves in discrete steps.
+
+Larger changes are made by selecting text, using the cursor keys or the
+mouse. The standard method of working in Word is to select text and
+apply an operator. The mouse can be used to select words, lines or
+paragraphs at a time, by subtle positioning. The equivalent keyboard
+operations use two or three-key combinations. You can also select a
+column of text within a tabbed table, a useful feature. A frequently
+reported problem at the Helpdesk is however: `I've lost all my text,'
+or it may be stated as `I was using Word and the screen went blank.'
+This is the (undocumented?\MP{?}) feature that \key{Enter} acts like
+\key{Del}; students use the menu option to `select all the text' with
+the intention of applying some format, but they press \key{Enter} and
+all the text disappears. It is actually copied to the clipboard, so
+users who recognize what has happened can use `undo' to retrieve it.
+Unfortunately, by the time they come to the Helpdesk, it is usually too
+late. If they exited from Word as well, it will have also destroyed
+the previous version on file.
+
+Moving text by cut-and-paste works within a document, between
+documents, and between Word and other Windows software. However, as
+an example of the ad hoc design elements that have gone into Word,
+consider the following (Word for Windows version 2 manual, p109):
+\begin{quote}
+If you include paragraph marks in your selection when you copy or move
+text between documents, the formatting and styles applied to the
+paragraphs are also copied. If you copy more than 50 paragraphs in
+[sic, do they mean from?] a document you have saved at least once, all
+styles in the document are copied along with the paragraphs.
+\end{quote}
+
+Word has another mechanism called `the spike'. This is described under
+the Glossary section and differs from the clipboard in that selected
+items are appended to the spike rather than overwriting its existing
+content. Material can be accumulated on the spike and inserted once or
+repeatedly.
+
+There is also a facility to move or copy text without involving the
+clipboard. This strikes me as needing considerable practice, and just
+the sort of feature that fails when you have something irreplaceable in
+the clipboard. It's too much like Chinese plate juggling. And having
+three distinct mechanisms for essentially the same job is another
+symptom of the emphasis by the vendors on shear numbers of features
+rather than consistent design.
+
+Other editors provide a single command to transpose two letters, but
+this feature is lacking from Word: a pity as transposition is a very
+common typing problem.
+
+Large scale reorganization of text can also be carried out using
+outlining. This is less likely to lead to duplicated text or
+arbitrarily omitted words\Dash word processor syndrome.
+
+
+ \item[find and replace]
+Find and replace is the feature that starts to use the computer as a
+processor rather than merely a storage device. It can be used within a
+document as a fast way of moving. With a replacement text, it can be
+used to correct mistakes, make systematic changes, or make repeated
+changes with the user deciding whether or not to carry out each. The
+text searched for can be a word or phrase. Word will find a phrase
+even if it appears to have a linebreak in the middle, since that is
+Word's interpretation of a space for display purposes. You can
+restrict the matching to whole words and to the specific letter case.
+
+Find and replace can be applied to formatting, but it does not seem
+possible to change a format element, such as `italic', by inserting a
+markup code, such as \verb|<italic>|, for example to transfer a
+document into an \Ascii\ environment.
+
+It is a peculiarity that the shortcut keys for some special characters
+are different within the search and replace menus from those while
+inputting text.
+
+The Glossary system can be viewed as an alternative for find and
+replace, with the same objective of making input faster while also
+ensuring the text uses frequently used words or phrases consistently.
+
+Word's Find system can be used to search across documents, as a way of
+identifying files by their content. This feature is provided through
+the {\tt Files/Find file} menu, rather than {\tt Edit/Find}.
+
+More general pattern matching, file finding and text manipulation
+features are available in an add-in product
+PowerSearch\cite{powersearch} which, once installed, appears as simply
+another item in the Word {\tt File} menu. Such facilities as
+\GLOSS{boolean} and \GLOSS{proximity searches} would be valuable to
+frequent users of Word who create many files and need to keep track of
+them. They are of less interest to the research student working
+basically on one large document.
+
+
+ \item[cross-referencing]
+Word uses the concept of `bookmarks'. You can insert as many as 450
+bookmarks in a single document. Bookmarks are created at the current
+cursor point by the {\tt Insert/bookmark} command. The user types in a
+name; if that name has already been assigned, the original bookmark is
+removed \MP{with warning?}. Bookmarks can be used to find that point
+by the {\tt GoTo} command, as links to another document, or to create
+cross-references to page numbers of item-numbers in lists.
+
+As with many features of Word, the effect on bookmarks of many actions
+is undefined or arbitrary. `If you {\em cut} marked text and paste it
+to a new location, the pasted text is still marked. If you {\em copy}
+marked text and paste it to a new location, the pasted text is marked,
+but the original text is not longer marked. If you paste marked text
+into a different document, the bookmark and bookmark name are also
+pasted.' If you copy but never paste, does the bookmark stay where it
+was? If you copy, close the document and open another, then paste, do
+you get the bookmark in both documents? These may seem quibbles, but
+are indicative of a system where you `suck it and see', and be prepared
+for the next release to behave differently.
+
+Automatic cross-referencing can be used to generate a table of contents
+and an index or other lists. Although this is not a trivial task
+intellectually, having an index makes a large work so much more usable,
+this feature should be given more publicity.
+
+ \item[tables]
+Simple tables can be set up using \key{tab} but tabs have to be set at
+predefined distances on the ruler. It is not possible to type and
+choose a point within the text for a tab; this seems an omission.
+
+The manual suggests a much easier alternative is the `tables' feature.
+Tables created this way look very like spreadsheets, and some
+students\Dash perhaps because they have previously used an integrated
+package such as Works\cite{works}\Dash are inclined to switch to
+Excel\cite{excel} for even the simplest table. Word tables are also
+the recommended method for positioning side-by-side paragraphs.
+
+Word shows the outline table with dotted gridlines for input. This may
+prompt users to opt for full borders around each table cell\Dash a very
+poor design choice. Examples in the manual further reinforce the
+limited view of tables as strictly rectangular sets of cells conatining
+similarly formatted items; in the examples, all the items are
+left-justified within the cells. Cells can be merged across a row, to
+make an item spanning two or more columns, but the manual states that
+they cannot be merged down a column, so for example a brace linking
+rows would not be possible. The manual does not show any example where
+items on different rows are aligned differently, but this would appear
+to be possible as each cell operates like a self-contained
+mini-paragraph. Indeed, one feature that is documented is that you can
+insert a tab within a cell. However, as \key{tab} moves the insertion
+point (cursor) from cell to cell when you are working in a table, it is
+necessary to use the special convention that \verb|CTRL+TAB| sets a tab
+position\Dash another example of the ad hoc interface.
+
+When looking for examples of very simple published tables for a
+workshop, I was struck that almost every table in published journals
+had some special feature or complication. Most tables were qualified
+by footnotes, and a footnotes within the table used a separate marking
+system from those in the text. Word does not mention this, but it
+might be accommodated by making each table into a separate `section'.
+This would then raise further complications in printing the complete
+sequential document.
+
+Tables that follow the design recommendations of Chapman\cite{chapman}
+can be produced using Word but are not encouraged. Rules (lines) to
+span and conceptually bind groups of cells have to be inserted as
+`part-borders' of the cells. The Word for Windows 2 manual shows one
+example that used just single rules to offset a row of headings, but
+goes on to hint `the more the merrier':
+\begin{quote}
+You can apply borders on top of any of the gridlines to make a table
+easier to read. \ldots You can use different line styles for any
+borders you apply to table cells. For example, to add a double border
+to separate the column headings from the table entries as shown in the
+following illustration [omitted], first apply single borders to all
+sides of the cells \ldots\ then select the first row of the table, and
+change the line style of the border below the row.
+\end{quote}
+Word for Windows 6 has, under the `Insert Table' menu, dialogues called
+`Wizard' and `Autoformat'. The Wizard offers a selection of
+heavily-boxed tables, characteristic of Word output. Autoformat offers
+over forty styles: some good, some bad. Perhaps not wisely, but too
+well?
+
+Table entries can be highlighted by using alternative fonts, by borders
+or by shading. No doubt there exist examples that use all three.
+
+The `Windows philosophy' of design appears again in relation to the
+size and positioning of tables. Although column widths can be
+prescribed through dislogue boxes, the manual advises:
+\begin{quote}
+Unless your table design requires very precise column dimensions, it's
+easiest to change the column width by dragging the column borders or by
+dragging column markers on the ruler.
+\end{quote}
+In the WYSIWYG world, if it looks about right to the untrained eye, it
+is apparently good enough.
+
+ \item[lists]
+Bulleted or numbered lists are common requirements, particularly in a
+document that is a systematic description. Lists may be nested.
+Creating a simple list is easy in Word\Dash perhaps too easy, as the
+student with the `dot in her thing' (Section~\ref{dot:thing}) found
+out. A list can be input as plain paragraphs, and then turned into a
+list, or each item can be created in sequence.
+
+The formal description of a bullet list is that Word creates each item
+as a symbol, followed by a tab, and the rest of the item formatted as a
+\GLOSS{hanging paragraph}. The tab can be replaced by a space, though
+the click-box that does this does not make it obvious: the attached
+label is `Hanging indent by'.
+
+Numbered lists can use one of a variety of number formats. Outline
+headings, described in the next section\MP{check?} have the option of
+using a hierarchy of numbers.
+
+ \item[logical flow]
+Most of the features discussed so far speed up the process of typing
+and correcting text, or allow the author to specify structures that
+will assist the reader. Outlining is a facility and a technique that
+assists the author by allowing shifts of perspective. The writer can,
+while composing, look at the text at any level from its skeleton to the
+fine detail.
+
+Outlining in a word processor has the advantage over outlining on paper
+that it is dynamic. Topics can be moved about, and attached at
+different levels. If you move headings, any sub-headings or associated
+text is moved as well. So the task of reorganizing text can be carried
+out at any level, and there is less danger of losing text or leaving
+part of it in the wrong place than if you had to select each word with
+the mouse.
+
+Headings can be arranged in any number of levels, and in `outline' view
+you can select how many levels are displayed at a time. The body text
+can be displayed in full, or showing the first line only of each
+paragraph. The headings themselves may appear in the final document, or
+they may be suppressed or used to form the table of contents. They can
+also be printed separately to give a working overview. The manual also
+suggests the technique of splitting the document window while editing,
+with the normal view in one pane and the outline view in the other.
+Unless you are using such techniques, with multiple views or multiple
+applications open at once, it is hard to justify the power of a modern
+PC for basic text input.
+
+A concept related to outlining and structure is the `template'. Every
+Word document is based upon a ocument template, which is a file that
+describes various attributes. This is perhaps not obvious because the
+default template \verb|normal.sty| is so basic; the point was made
+earlier that the `standard paragraph' is neither proper indent nor
+blocked format. Templates can specify formats for pages, paragraphs or
+other objects; they can contain boilerplate text that is the same in
+every document; and they can contain many different styles. Templates
+can be used to save repetitious work and to apply consistent house
+style. They can also tailor the working environment by customizing
+menus, toolbars, macros and glossary items, and the keyboard. A
+university might well develop its own template and require its use when
+dissertations are printed.
+
+ \item[handling multiple documents]
+One of the most distressing aspects of using a computer is the loss of
+a file. For obvious reasons, for because of sod's law, the probability
+of a file being lost increases with the size of the file, the amount of
+work that would be lost, and the tightness of the deadline. It is also
+apparent that the speed and ease of manipulation of a file decreases as
+it gets larger. Any document of the size and complexity of a
+dissertation should therefore be split into components rather than
+stored as a monolithic file.
+
+The Word manual suggests that any document longer that twenty pages is
+a candidate for splitting. The terminology is complex, since a
+document can be divided into `sections' which are still stored as a
+single file, or into multiple documents where each is stored as a
+separate (\verb|.doc|) file. Multiple files can be printed
+individually (leaving the user to manipulate page numbers etc.\ to
+maintain continuity), or the user can set up a `master' document that
+combines all the subfiles for output.
+
+Having the text of a dissertation spread across multiple files raises
+problems of maintaining consistency of style and usage. The `find'
+command can be used across multiple files, after which up to nine files
+can be opened in separate windows. The need to apply similar edits
+across several files would be one reason for using the `macro' facility
+to store a sequence of operations.
+
+ \item[checking]
+Word boasts a number of commands which it collectively calls `proofing
+tools'. These include spell-checking, grammar-checking, a thesaurus
+and the hyphenation option.
+
+Each of these tools is language-dependent, and MicroSoft makes a
+feature of Word being usable with multilingual documents.
+Unfortunately, the data files necessary to support these commands are
+not available for every language. The pull-down menu of languages
+shows some twenty names of languages, from Brazilian~Portuguese to
+Swiss~German. Word lists for the spell-checker are available for all
+of these but are not installed by default. Grammar files are available
+for English and French (and maybe a couple of others). Thesarurus and
+hyphenation files are equally patchy.
+
+For what it does, the system is impressive. Each document has a
+default language, but any selection of text can be marked as another
+language. Running a check should use the appropriate file(s) for each
+language, but in practice is likely to generate only messages that the
+files are missing. In addition, the method of spell-checking does not
+work very well for inflected languages: English typically only has two
+forms for a noun and three for most verbs, but German has case endings
+for nouns and Spanish has multitudinous forms for verbs. Such
+languages demand an algorithm that identifies the root of each word; a
+worthwhile proofing tool would be able to detect inconsistencies of
+gender and person.
+
+The grammar checker for English is based upon the algorithm in Correct
+Grammar\cite{CG} but in my experience gives less reliable results. The
+number of alternative styles and degree of customization have been
+reduced from the parent program.
+
+ \item[revising]
+The operations of revising a text are well supported by the operations
+of find-and-replace, annotation and outlining.
+
+Word documents are binary files, so can be passed to an editorial
+reader as a disk file or as an attachment to an electronic mail
+message, but needing coding/decoding at each end. Passing the file
+assumes that the reader has access to a compatible version of Word; in
+practice this means the {\em same} version, as converting files between
+word processors or between versions is not a hundred-per-cent reliable.
+ The obvious way to return comments is as annotation text.
+
+ \item[formatting]
+Word formatting operates at several levels and is highly complex. Even
+a simple operation like applying page numbering can cause problems.
+Students come to the Helpdesk when they are unable to position, or
+delete, or print page numbers. They are confused by the sophisticated
+terminology and control for headers and footers.
+
+Formatting is best carried out as a separate phase from writing, if
+only because adding or deleting text may affect the formatting of
+several pages following. Word does not have the cocept of a
+\GLOSS{float}. The nearest equivalent would be to manually fix an
+object as a graphic insert and allow the text to flow round it, but
+this would not ensure that, for example, a figure could not occur
+before the page where it is referenced.
+
+Formatting in Word also has to take account of the physical
+characteristics of the output device. Final tuning should always be
+carried out in print-preview display. This is WYSIWYG par excelence:
+the user is encouraged to fiddle until it `looks about right'.
+
+
+ \end{description} %end of list of Word's
+ features
+
+My conclusion is that while Word is a powerful program that has many
+features that commend its use as a document preparation system, it also
+has drawbacks and one of these is the complexity that provides several
+alternative ways of performing almost any task. Once an operation is
+completed and is not as desired, it becomes a forensic job to deduce
+what has been done, and Herculean challenge to undo or correct it.
+
+Word is fashionable, but it is largely fashionable because it is a
+fashion. The nature of fashion is to change, and Word changes at a
+whim with each release. Whatever the merits of its features, it seems
+they are not grounded in a coherent philosophy.
+\end{Article}
+\endinput
+
+
+
+R. Allan Reese Email: r.a.reese@ucc.hull.ac.uk
+Head of Applications, Computer Centre Direct voice: +44 1482 465296
+Hull University Voice messages: +44 1482 465685
+Hull HU6 7RX, U.K. Fax: +44 1482 466441
+