New Templates? (take II)

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Karen Murri noted: <<Be careful about basing all your styles on Body  
Text. In Word, the Law of Unintended Consequences can produce some  
startling results. If someone inadvertently changes the Body Text  
style, every style based on it will also change. Instead, either use  
"none" (hidden at the top of the style list) or create a style  
specifically to use as a base (then hide the sucker!). >>

Good point. But the key is not to avoid basing one style on another,  
but rather to do that sensibly. For example, if you have several body  
text styles that must all have the same font (e.g., paragraphs,  
bullet and numbered lists, indented quotes), it makes very good sense  
to base all of these on a single style (e.g., BodyText). That way, if  
you need to change the font or line spacing or whatever, you can do  
it in a single step: by changing the "based on" template.

The trick is to separate out groups of styles that should not be  
affected by this change. For example, heading styles are often in  
sans serif type if body text uses serif type, so it makes sense to  
group the headings based on the same underlying font. That way, you  
can change all the different heading styles in a single step without  
affecting the body text styles, and vice versa.

And so on. The solution to "the Law of Unintended Consequences" is to  
be aware of the consequences and use them to your benefit.

----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
----------------------------------------------------


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help 
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content 
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Easily create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to any popular Help file format or printed documentation. Learn more at http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.