Monthly information digest for EditPros clients and friends

CONTENTS FEATURE: Underused word processor function could improve your documents BOOKSHELF: A request GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend – and earn up to $500 FEATURE: An underused word processor function could improve your documents      Microsoft Word and other word processing applications include numerous functions and adjustable settings that many users never explore – which is unfortunate. While some specialized word processor features have limited appeal, two functions that can save time for every writer are surprisingly underappreciated and underused.      We're referring to the "styles" and "tabs" functions. Writers who make proper use of styles and tabs produce clean, crisp, uniform text documents. Documents created without styles commonly have an erratic appearance. At EditPros, when we're asked to edit or format a word processing document, we can tell immediately whether or not the writer used styles properly – if at all.      Some writers may be inclined to pooh-pooh the notion that typographic consistency is important – but they do so at their own peril. Fluctuations in the formatting of a document are distracting. Readers may wonder why some paragraphs of body text appear more condensed than others, or why some segments of body text appear larger than others. Lack of typographic uniformity can create the impression that a writer is inattentive to details, and can undermine the credibility of the document.      Some luxury car models enable drivers to record and automate their preferences for seat position, steering wheel tilt, side-view mirror, temperature control and audio system settings. After the settings are recorded, pressing one button adjusts all those systems automatically to the driver's preset preferences. Microsoft Word's "style" function is like that.      We're focusing on Microsoft Word here because of its dominant market share; it accounts for more than 90 percent of word processing applications sold. The "style" dialog box, found under Microsoft Word's "format" menu, lets you record text and paragraph settings that you define.      The easiest way to define a style is to create a prototype paragraph containing all the formatting attributes you determine. Select and apply your preferred type face, size and color; choose paragraph formatting characteristics, including alignment, line spacing, indents, and line and page break parameters; and tab stops you specify. In the "format style" box, click "new," and assign a name to your new style, and then save the style definition.      Thereafter, you can apply all of those attributes, with one click, to any other paragraphs you choose. The formatting for all of those paragraphs will be uniform.      Writers can save themselves a lot of formatting keystrokes by using first-line indents and tabs wisely. We see many word processing documents in which writers create first-line indents using multiple hits on the spacebar. That's laborious and imprecise. The "first-line indent" paragraph formatting option is more accurate, and can be included among the criteria of a style definition.      In documents we edit, we often see another common formatting flaw: tab-tab-tab-tab-tab-tab-tab-tab-tab strokes to align a column of figures or other inset material in a column. Microsoft Word sets default tab stops every half-inch, but those can be overridden easily by changing settings in the tab dialog box. You can set left tabs, from which type aligns to the right; you can set right tabs, against which type aligns toward the left; you can set centered tabs, from which type spreads equally on both sides; and you can set decimal tabs, which are particularly useful for aligning the decimal points in numerical values. After you set the tab stops you want, you won't need to type multiple tabs to hit your mark on the line. Yes, you can set multiple tab stops on the same line. And, yes, all of those tab definitions also can become part of a paragraph style.      The "format styles" dialog box offers two additional time-saving functions: a "style based on" attribute, and a "style for following paragraph" attribute.      The "style based on" specification can become handy as you develop multiple styles. Suppose you develop a "body text" style that is set in the Cambria typeface and includes a first-line indent – and then you make a variation that is not indented. You click in that reformatted paragraph, select "format > style," click "new," give that new style the name "body text no indent," selected "based on body text," and save and apply it. After starting to type a paragraph styled as "body text no indent" you decide to format it with a hanging indent, and you use that to create another new style, "hanging indent," that you indicate as being based on "body text no indent."      All of those styles would be set in the Cambria typeface. But suppose that you decided to switch the body text and its derivatives to Times New Roman. With styles, it's a snap. Simply change the style definition of "body text" to the Times New Roman typeface. All text in your document with the "body text" style applied will change simultaneously. Furthermore, all of the text formatted as "body text no indent" and "hanging indent" also will switch to Times New Roman, because you designated that your style "body text no indent" was based on "body text" (which had switched to Times New Roman) and because "hanging indent" was based on "body text no indent" (which had, in turn, switched to Times New Roman).      The "style for following paragraph" attribute determines the formatting of each subsequent paragraph when you hit the "return" key. For body text, you likely want the following paragraph to be automatically formatted for body text as well. But if you have created styles for headings and subheadings, you may want a subsequent paragraph to be formatted as body text, rather than as another heading. You can make that choice in the "format > style" dialog box for each level of heading and subheading. If you anticipate that each level-1 subhead should immediately precede a paragraph of body text that is not indented, you can apply that specification. Then each time you type a level-1 subhead and then hit the "return" key, presto – the following paragraph is formatted as "body text no indent."      As you sit at your desk and write, familiarizing yourself with tab and style formatting can save lots of time and vastly improve the appearance of your documents. However, you'll still have to manually adjust your desk chair and your room temperature. BOOKSHELF: A request      Several people who have read and enjoyed EditPros books have posted reader comments on Amazon. We greatly appreciate that, and we have a request for our other readers. If you have read any of the five books that our company, EditPros, has published, please consider adding your comments about the book on the respective pages for each book on the Amazon or the Barnes & Noble website, or on Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThing, Book Depository, Virtual Bookshelf or any of the other reader commentary book sites.      The five books that EditPros has published so far (with their respective links) are: Ark: Asteroid Impact Author: Thomas A. Cahill Amazon, paperback Amazon, Kindle edition Barnes & Noble, paperback and Nook editions Goodreads Shelfari Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? – Volume 2 Authors: Marti Smiley Childs and Jeff March Amazon, paperback Amazon, Kindle edition Barnes & Noble, paperback edition Barnes & Noble, Nook edition Goodreads Shelfari Annals of the Omega Project: A Trilogy Author: Thomas A. Cahill Amazon, paperback Amazon, Kindle edition Barnes & Noble, paperback and Nook editions Goodreads Shelfari Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? – Volume 1 Authors: Marti Smiley Childs and Jeff March Amazon, paperback Amazon, Kindle edition Barnes & Noble, paperback edition Barnes & Noble, Nook edition Goodreads Shelfari Echoes of the Sixties (e-book only) Authors: Marti Smiley Childs and Jeff March Amazon Barnes & Noble Goodreads Shelfari Library Thing      We would be thankful for anything you might write about why you enjoyed any of these books, to help guide prospective readers who are pondering book choices. You don't need to write an essay; just a few earnest sentences would be perfect.      The next EditPros book, double amputee Mike Penketh's heart-wrenching and inspirational first-person story Within My Grasp, will be available in a few weeks. We'll soon post more details about those forthcoming books here and on the bookshelf page of the EditPros website. GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions 1. Dave W. wrote:      I'm sending this shout-out to you because morphological suffixation resulting in nominalization drives me nuts! How about you? [Dave included a link to a New York Times article in which Henry Hitchings criticized the practice of using verbs as nouns. Examples the article discussed included "Do you have a solve for this problem?" "Let's all focus on the build." "That's the take-away from today's seminar."] The grammar coach replies:      Dave, thanks for the "shout-out" – a wonderful use of subtle irony because that term is, of course, an example of nominalization of a phrasal verb. In the linked article, Henry Hitchings wrote, "Writing packed with nominalizations is commonly regarded as slovenly, obfuscatory, pretentious or merely ugly." We at EditPros believe that more than anything else it's the result of laziness. Calling something an "epic fail" is easier than saying "epic failure" because it eliminates the need to articulate that pesky "ure" syllable. What's next? "The president will make an announce today"? "Ted filled out a job apply"? "The Declare of Independence"? Epic failure indeed. We appreciate the link to the article, Dave. 2. Jessica E. wrote: Facebook and some other social media sites tell you to select a photo of yourself. It appears in thumbnail size with your messages, and they call it your "profile" picture. But if it's a picture of you looking directly at the camera, it's not really a profile photo, is it? The grammar coach replies:      In the literal sense, Jessica, a profile image is a side view – and, more specifically, a silhouette or contour drawing or photo. The noun "profile," however also can be used in reference to a short article that describes an organization or a person. When establishing an account with Facebook or other social media sites, people are asked to create a profile describing themselves, and an image to accompany the profile – in that sense, their profile photo.      Even so, we agree with you that a different term – "portrait" – would be preferable. A portrait is a representative likeness of someone, which would work in the Facebook thumbnail image context.      Are you perplexed by some aspect of grammar or word usage? Don't be shy! Ask the "grammar coach" at EditPros and we'll try to help – at no charge, just for the sport of it. FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend – and earn a finder's fee of up to $500      Do you know of a friend or colleague whose office can benefit from EditPros' services? If you do, EditPros may reward you with a "finder's fee" of up to $500.      EditPros LLC, established in 1993, performs writing, editing, proofreading and publication management services for newsletters, brochures, Web sites, annual reports, research studies, business proposals, and other informational and marketing materials. Our office is in Davis, Calif., between Sacramento and San Francisco; however, our clients include educational institutions, private corporations, health-care organizations, trade associations, scientific research institutions, Web site developers and government agencies from throughout the United States. We have worked with some of them for more than 10 years.      If you recommend our services to a friend or business colleague, and that introduction leads to an assignment for EditPros, we will award you a "finder's fee" equaling 10 percent of the amount we earn on the first assignment for the new client, up to a maximum finder's fee of $500. Naturally, the finder's fee is applicable only to client organizations for which we have not worked previously.      This offer will remain in effect until further notice. YOUR TURN: Ask the "grammar coach" or subscribe      We invite you to submit your questions to the "grammar coach," and we welcome you to subscribe to this monthly newsletter – which we'll send to your e-mail address at no charge. We respond to all "grammar coach" questions personally, but delays may occur because we must place top priority on assignments from our clients. We appreciate your patience and your interest.      You also can change your e-mail subscription address. For an address change, please indicate your existing AND your new e-mail address. Thank you. OUR PRIVACY POLICY for e-mail newsletter subscribers:      We do not use any commercial e-mail lists or automated mass-mailing programs, and we do not allow access to the list by anyone else for any reason. Our subscriber list is maintained by hand, and it is not for sale. We are protective of confidentiality because many of our readers are also clients of ours. Any accompanying advertising is placed by Yahoo.com in exchange for our use of the e-mail server to distribute this newsletter.