subject: Word Styles For Translators: Part 2: Before You Begin [print this page] Formats in General. Formats in General.
Word has four levels of formatting. Translators should create the "target document" with the same "look and feel" as the source document, using all four levels of Word formats. Everything should be set up at the outset.
Unless you are otherwise instructed, give priority to the formatting and not to the amount of space occupied by the translation. The same text in the target document will almost certainly take up a different amount of room from that used in the source document. For example, Spanish documents are about 20% longer than English ones. Japanese is about 10% longer than English. Chinese can be a bit shorter than English. It may be impossible to keep a one-to-one relationship between the pages in source and target without changing the formatting.
(Some clients may request that you put page breaks in the target document when you reach an end-of-page in the source document. This keeps the client from losing track of which target text corresponds to which source text. If this has been requested, be mindful that the target document may have many more pages than the source document, but all that will be cleared up later by the client prior to publication.)
Four Levels of Formatting.
Word's four levels of formatting are: Document Section Paragraph and Character
Be sure to replicate the Document settings (like page size and orientation) and the Section settings (like margins, columns, headers and footers). Sections are used when you want to modify headers and footers or alter page layouts (like two- or three-column designs). Many authors do not know about Word's concept of "sections." In translation, the main application is to separate a title page and table of contents from the main body of text and to number the pages differently.
"Styles" are applied to text to accomplish the last two levels of formatting: paragraph and character.
Templates and Themes.
Word works with document templates. If you do not specify a template, you will be working with the default template, "normal.dot" (or "normal.dotx" or "normal.dotm" in Word 2007). The ".dot" family of file extensions is reserved for templates.
Each template defines some basic things about the document and section settings: The paper size, page orientation, margins and the number of columns on the page are all part of this set-up.
In addition, each template comes with a set of pre-designed styles -- the formatting specific to characters, paragraphs, lists and tables in the document.
Word 2007 also is equipped with "themes," a feature that lets you define and apply consistently throughout the document certain aesthetic elements (colors, patterns, lines and fills). It is worth experimenting with some of the starter themes provided with Word, and then you can create your own. Many documents do not require defining a special theme. The default (plain) theme in "normal" will be OK. Themes are implemented in part by automatically modifying the styles in a document.
If you are creating a document that is one of a kind, there is no need to worry about templates: just set all the formatting elements as you wish and then save the document. If you decide you want to use the document as a template, just save it as such with the correct ".dot" extension. It should go in the "My Templates" folder, which Word uses for easy access later. You can call upon that precise template when creating or editing a different document that needs to have the same look as the one you've just created.
Most users of Word never use templates. They always are using "normal" by default, and probably do not even know it. Possibly a user has selected to add all new styles created in a document to the template. This could quickly overrun "normal.dot" with hundreds of one-time-only style specifications. Careful users of Word consciously keep "normal" uncluttered, creating new templates before launching into documents that have specific design features.
Knowing about templates is an important part of understanding how styles work. For more detail on viewing, defining, changing and applying templates, read through article nine in this series: "More About Templates."
Points and Picas.
Word uses "points" as a default measure for type size and paragraph spacing. An inch is divided into 72 points, so with 12 point type, you get 6 lines to an inch, or a maximum of 56 lines on an 11-inch page with 1-inch margins at the top and bottom. A pica is a unit of 12 points. Hence there are 6 picas to an inch. Each line of 12-point type, therefore, is one pica high. Word is able to work in pica units, but it is not the default setting. Therefore, becoming familiar with "points" is essential, but learning to think in "picas" is optional.
Associated with the size of type faces (called "fonts") is "leading" (pronounced to rhyme with "bedding"). Word does not offer adjustments to leading between lines within a paragraph. The leading is determined automatically from the type size and the font. However, the space between paragraphs can be specified in Word -- and should always be set. Word calls it "Vertical Spacing."
The Vertical Spacing feature is in the "Paragraph" section of the formatting options. For example, if you specify 12-point type (in the "Font" section of formatting options), and then a vertical spacing of "0 points before and 12 points after" (in the "Paragraph" section), then each paragraph will have 12 point type, and an additional 12 points (or one automatic linefeed) at the end, before a new paragraph begins. Vertical Spacing controls how paragraphs are spread out on the page.
Fonts.
Before proceeding, make sure you have selected "Print Layout" and "Reveal Codes." Most power users of Word work with these options set, so they will always know what is going on in the document. "Print Layout" is the first selection in the "View" ribbon. "Reveal Codes" is set by activating the paragraph symbol ("") in the "Paragraph" section of the Home ribbon.
Type a single character, or a string of characters, such as "X" or "Xylophone." Select the text you have written and right click on the selected text to bring up the context menu. "Font" is an option. Click it. The word "font" in this menu is preceded by a graphic capital "A". This is your reminder that the "font" option only applies to characters. (Alternatively, from the "Home" menu, click on the small box in the lower right hand corner of the "Font" section of the "Home" ribbon, or type Ctrl-D.)
Here you can tell Word how you want that character or character string to appear. You can select a font from the drop-down menu (such as Times New Roman, Arial, etc), as well as type style (Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold-Italic), the size in points, font color, underline options, and "effects" (like superscript and small capitals). The character spacing tab offers additional (more advanced) options. For purposes of using styles, concentrate on the idea that these options do not apply to "blocks" of text (defined as ending in a paragraph symbol -- created by pressing the "Enter" key), but only to a character string comprised of one or more characters in sequence.
Paragraphs.
Many people type in Word as if it were just an electronic typewriter. They hit the carriage return at the end of each line. Then they use a blank carriage return to insert a line feed between paragraphs or sections of the text. They put an extra space after periods before the beginning of a new sentence. This is NOT how Word was designed. Word is NOT a typewriter. Word handles these manual operations (carriage return, linefeed, space after periods) automatically.
This point is so basic to the full use of Word that it bears reiterating. Break bad habits:
DO NOT end each line with a carriage return (Enter); DO NOT put an extra carriage return-linefeed in between paragraphs (Enter); DO NOT add an extra space after periods to help separate sentences.
Each block of text is defined in Word as a string of characters terminated by a "hard return" (the "Enter" key, shown on the screen as a paragraph sign, visible in "reveal codes" mode). Right click on any block of text in the paragraph and select "paragraph" from the context menu that appears. Observe that the "paragraph" option is preceded by a graphic "". This is a reminder that the paragraph menu ONLY APPLIES to blocks of text that end in a paragraph symbol.
You have control over how the paragraph fits into the flow of text. You can define indents on the right and left and vertical spacing of paragraphs (referred to above). To see how the text will come out on the page, be sure you have set the view to "Page Layout" (on the "View" menu).
For example, entering in the "spacing" section a value like "6 pt" for before and after will give you an extra linefeed between paragraphs without inserting an empty "hard return" (defined as a carriage return-line feed - the "Enter" key without any text). If later you need to squeeze the paragraphs a little to fit on a page, or if perhaps you want to open them up a little, you can do that with the "paragraph" menu and avoid unnecessary blank hard returns. Blank hard returns just confuse the functions of the program when it comes to applying styles. Vertical Spacing can be clicked from "auto" to "0" to multiples of 6 points. You can manually insert odd numbers of points for vertical spacing, too. For example, you might want 5 points before and after if the type size chosen is 10 points. Just set the spacing manually. Another example: Selecting "3 pt" before and after will provide half-line feeds between paragraphs when you are applying 12-point type.
You control the flow of text within the paragraph by means of the same menu, setting the adjustment for align-left, align-right, center, or justified. No one should be putting hard returns at the ends of lines within a "paragraph" as Word defines the term.
If you have not done it before, experiment with the several other options Word provides (like hyphenation and "forced" alignment for the short line at the end of a paragraph). Eventually you will also be familiar with the "outline" level option and the several decision you can take on the "Line and Page Break" tabs. These settings, when chosen, become part of the style definition, too, but they need not be mastered while learning the basics of styling your document.
Once you are clear in your mind about the special concept in Word of "paragraph" and the effect the "paragraph" menu has on a block of text, it is intuitive that a "paragraph style" is just a pre-designed set of paragraph properties to be applied automatically to a block of text, in the same way that a "character style" is a pre-set collection of properties to be applied to individual characters (1 or more in a row).
Even a blank space has character style properties, and a single paragraph symbol (a hard return with no text) will have paragraph style properties. Just open the "font" menu on a blank space, or the "paragraph" menu on a single linefeed, to see for yourself.
The next part is "3. The Styles Pane." This is where you will begin working with the styles features in Word.
