my microsoft legacy
i see that the microsoft word team has tried to fix a problem i faced down almost 3 decades ago – it occurred when deleting a section break – which would mess up the formatting of the section preceding it
in 1995 – i sweated for 6 months in microsoft’s phone support department – and my sole positive contribution was the workaround to this intractable section break problem – the first few times i dealt with it with callers – i led the callers thru a meandering path of destruction – hoping that somehow we’d stumble upon a fix to the problem
during one of those struggles – a solution occurred to me – but it was too late to try it on that caller – after leaving him in whatever state i left him in – i tested my idea – and used it to aid the next caller with that issue – a woman writer – who was already expert at word
she was ecstatic with the result – so i wrote it up and emailed it to my fellow word supporters – but that was so soon after i started there – that i didn’t know i coulda/shoulda placed my workaround instructions in the online troubleshooting database where internet users could find it – – sorry
the issue occurred when you deleted a section and there was a section above – then the formatting (that is – margins – headers/footers – page orientation – etc) – of the deleted section – would overwrite the formatting of the section above
this was a ridiculous thing for the program to do since sections were intended to allow switching to a different formatting – so imagine a user creating a new section with radically differing format – than changing his mind about that the new section and deleting it – why move the formatting of the new section to the section above – that’s an appallingly bad idea
i’ll illustrate the problem and my workaround using graphics – the different formatting will be symbolized by different design icons
the problem
here’s 2 sections in a document – section 1 has design A in it – section 2 has a design B in it
when you deleted section 2 – its design B overwrote section 1’s design A – whether you wanted it to or not
my solution was to have the caller first create a temporary section 3 under section 2 – and then copy design A from section 1 into section 3 – which means a thorough recreation of the formatting in section 3
when the temporary section 3 was deleted – section 3’s design A supplanted section 2’s design B
then when you deleted section 2 as originally intended – its design A supplanted the design A in section 1 – section 1 should then look unchanged – unless you messed up when recreating design A in section 3 – though it should be easy to clean up any mistakes
the current status
i checked word some years later for that issue – and found it still there – but i noticed just now (Oct 2023) – that it has been “fixed” – tho i don’t consider it fixed – cuz now – instead of moving up the formatting of the deleted section – they move up the formatting of the following section – i don’t know what they do if there isn’t a section below – i suppose they either leave section 1’s formatting alone – or move the default section formatting
but the fact is –
they – don’t – need – to – move – anything
just leave section 1’s formatting alone – i can only assume that they continue this misbegotten process cuz there’s something in the programming that forces formatting to be moved up
that makes me wonder if this workaround that you just read – might still be useful to word users – almost 30 years later – that says something sad about this microsoft product – part of the definition of a “workaround” is that it is not good enuf to be a permanent fix
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i read a book by the man who led the design team for word for windows – richard brodie – the book was called “virus of the mind” – it was about memes – which is a bizarre concept by richard dawkins that claims that mental concepts that spread thru the culture are as real as DNA genes – in fact – biological genes are just a metaphor for social memes – i use “memes” when talking about untrustworthy concepts that are spreading like an epidemic (“infectious viruses” would perhaps be a better metaphor)
in the book – brodie planted some very bald & biased statements about the high quality of microsoft products – probably in attempt to inspire a few memes on the greatness of microsoft – if so – he failed – microsoft still makes mistakes – and windows user know it – and don’t live with the same blind loyalty that possess apple users
which is good – microsoft customers maintain a realistic perception of microsoft products – while mac zealots perceive mac products with religious rapture – the realism of microsoft users prepares them for things – like section break eccentricities
