PUBLISHING DOCUMENTATION IN MICROSOFT WORD - DON'T DO IT!: Totally inaccurate - Here's the real truth

» cherylkirk - Totally inaccurate - Here's the real truth

Although there are other reasons why someone may not use Word as their editing/writing tool, you are really uninformed about Word and its features. Let me address the misinformation in your article point by point:

** SECURITY ISSUE #1: THERE IS NO "DOCUMENT SECURITY"

Word does in fact offer password protection at several levels. One is for read-only options which is found in the Save As/Options section. The other is for revisions found under the tool menu. In addition, anyone with a basic knowledge of Visual Basic can easily create password protection features specific to their particular documents.

** SECURITY ISSUE #2: CAN'T HIDE THE META DATA
Again, totally inaccurate. When you choose Save As/options you can specify to have the document prompt for document properties and if used in a corporate environment document templates can be created to do just that for every user.

In addition this Knowledge base article outlines how to change other properties in the document property sheet. Templates can be set up to include only the information you want, and again, with visual basic, the property sheet can be populated automatically.

Q244086 WD2000: How to Change the Company Property Information and this KB article outlines how to minimize meta data information:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/...

** COVER YOUR TRACKS (TRACKED CHANGES, THAT IS)
The above link addresses this. The Alcatel problem is related to users who do not know how to use the product. Do you blame car accidents on autos when the driver is to blame?

** THE INCREDIBLE SELF-INFLATING DOCUMENT
Depending upon the graphics stored, it wouldn't matter what product you use, a document can become very large due to the type of graphics.

Also a fast save appends the changes to the end of your document, which increases the size of the document. By contrast, when you turn off the Allow Fast Saves option and save the document, Word performs a full save, which incorporates all your revisions (instead of appending them). If you perform a full save after a file was fast saved, Word reduces the size of the file.

** NOT EVERYONE OWNS A COPY OF WORD
Microsoft offers a viewer for both browsers, plus Word had some of the most extensive save filters available, more than any other word processor. if you are providing information to a client, you can easily use Word, then save to their specified format.

** SO WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?
Adobe PDF format - doesn't allow for changes. Also not everyone has the version of the PDF viewer that will be required. oftentimes users are forced to download a new version to view a PDF document.

HTML web pages - doesn't format with embedded fonts so layout looks different in different browsers/computers

>>HTML files are also small and load quickly, provided they are not too graphics-intensive.

totally inaccurate. HTML files are text only files. Graphics are simply file locations, not embedded in the document.

>>your Webmaster can make you a template to ensure the document style integrates with your overall website design.

Anyone who has been a webmaster knows, if the person creating the document does not know basics of HTML, this statement is totally inaccurate.

>>Embedded help (commonly called "online help") are those screens that magically pop up when you click the 'Help' button in a program.

Wrong again. These help systems create Java-based help files for mac or Linux users. The problem with this is that many may have Java turned off for security reasons, and because the Java Virtual machine has to load, this increases memory needs and slows down the system.

I'm in no way a real supporter of Microsoft products, but I am a supporter of giving users, particularly those who are NOT experienced users the CORRECT information, not just my "opinion" based on supposition or what I "think". This article is poorly researched.

-- posted by cherylkirk