
 |
|
June 19, 2013
June 12, 2013
Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect
Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden
June 10, 2013
The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust
June 5, 2013
John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less
Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison
June 3, 2013
Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself
May 29, 2013
Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die
May 24, 2013
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
|
| |
Jewish World Review
August 11, 2006
/ 17 Menachem-Av, 5766
Microsoft Office 2007 Beta shows promise
By
Mark Kellner
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I am looking at the future, and on the PC these words are first being
written with, it's not in Times New Roman. Instead it appears in something
called "Calibri," which Microsoft Corp. believes will be easier on the
eyes than the old default Word typeface, which has serifs, what the
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines "...short lines stemming from
and at an angle to the upper and lower ends of the strokes of a letter."
The typeface in this newspaper - and this newspaper's Web site - uses
serifs. Calibri, definitely, does not.
That's a small distinction, I am sure, and one which may not matter much
to many readers. And, if you click on the "Font" panel atop the screen,
you can switch over to Times New Roman, or any of a dozen other typefaces,
without hassle. But it's the first thing that hits as you begin to type
with Microsoft Word 2007, and it'll take some getting used to, I think.
Less surprising is the clean, crisp look of the Word screen, with a
quick-access toolbar at the very top, and then a palette of choices below.
The choices are grouped in "tabbed" menus: "Home" will show you the
clipboard, font, paragraph, style and editing menus; there are other tabs
to determine the insertion of text, tables and graphics; page layout;
references; mail merge and envelopes; document review and a "view" menu
that offers a host of options. I had to do some searching to find the
"e-mail this document" option; the "File" menu is now a circle with the
Office logo in it. Feh.
In most cases, all of these work quite well: I can't recall any other word
processor, in roughly 23 years of using such programs, that offers as many
reference options, and as easily, as this one does. Scholars, attorneys,
and their associates, will likely rejoice at this development. Term papers
and other documents should be a breeze with this sort of tool
availability; it's very impressive.
The other editing tools are equally impressive, however the "zoom" panel
requires more than one step to enlarge text on a screen to the width of
the page, something aging "Baby Boomers" may want in lieu of stronger
eyewear prescriptions. On closer inspection, there's a small "slider" in
the lower right corner that'll adjust type size from 10 percent to 500
percent; at settings above the page width, however, the text won't "wrap"
to fit the screen, but rather scroll back and forth as you type. Dramamine
might not be a bad option here.
The layout of the program screen is duplicated across the Office 2007
program range, with similar appearances found in the firm's 2007 versions
of PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and Access. It'll take some getting used to,
I guess, but it all seems fresher and brighter than the long-in-the-tooth
Windows versions users have struggled with over the years.
I have the feeling that I'll like PowerPoint's new incarnation. It seems a
bit friendlier and the "default" layouts are fresh. Apple's "Keynote" it's
not, but terms of approach and ease of use, it certainly seems better.
Ditto for Excel, although I suspect spreadsheet aficionados will rejoice
even more than I am doing.
There's one final surprise - Word 2007's "default" file format is not
backwards compatible, or cross-platform friendly to Mac versions of Word.
Those who want to share files with non-2007 users will need to save them
in an "older" format. Ironically, when such files are opened on another
computer, the Times New Roman type face returns as the "default."
You can find out more about Office 2007 at
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx, and, despite the
occasional surprise, I believe this is one new program worth checking out.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.
Archives
© 2006, News World Communications, Inc. Reprinted with permission of The Washington Times. Visit the paper at http://www.washingtontimes.com
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Peter Funt
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
John Kass
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Michael Reagan
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Cathy Young
Mort Zuckerman

Eric Allie
Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Nate Beeler
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
Daryl Cagle
Patrick Chappatte
John Cole
Paul Combs
J. D. Crowe
John Darkow
Bill Day
John Deering
Sean Delonas
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Randall Enos
Mallard Fillmore
David Fitzsimmons
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Mike Keefe
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Gary McCoy
Rick McKee
Jack Ohman
Jeff Parker
Milt Priggee
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Steve Sack
Bill Schorr
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
David Ray Skinner
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Christopher Weyant
Larry Wright
Dan Wasserman
Adam Zyglis

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|