Impressions, InDesign and NWE

Peder · Post by **Peder** » 2004-09-23 03:17:18

First of all, thanks for NWE; I may have found my replacement for--ageing--Word 5.1, which, twice emulated under OS X on a Ti PowerBook, was getting a little fragile. The Style Sheets are great, albeit a little quirky--something to get used to.

I was able to import my standard Styles from Word, and after I had eliminated the dreaded Times, 14 pt, which inexplicably overlayed the whole thing, they work the way I want them to--in NWE.

My problem is with InDesign--not a big one, but irritatingly short of perfection. I work as an translator/editor/book designer/typesetter, and an important aspect of doing the job effectively is having standardised Styles, i.e. names of Styles, across the board. That means I do my basic formatting in the word processor, set my variables for the book in the page layout programme, and when I place the text, the Styles in InDesign override the Styles with the same name in the word processor, and I have the correct typeface, size, leading, pagebreaks, chapter headings, space above, &c, &c, automatically.

I have based all Styles in NWE on a basic Style ("Normal"), so that I can change the typeface, &c, of the entire document with one setting change, and this works well in NWE. This is also the way ID is set up.

InDesign imports Styles--that I don't already have defined in it--correctly; thanks a lot, I asked for that in a feature request quite some time ago

, but when the text is placed, only the Normal Style changes into the preset typeface and size for the book. The Styles based on Normal retain the typeface and size from NWE, and it shows up as local formatting in ID. Alright, this can be remedied by searching and replacing the various Styles with themselves, but it's annoying and above all unnecessary. The rtf-files from Word 5.1 I use with ID work the way they should.

Is there any chance this might be changed in a future version of NWE? Or have I missed any tricks?

Otherwise, as I said, you seem to have done a great job--I'm already working on my latest translation in NWE...

Peder

PS Oh, by the way, I suppose it would be too much to ask for the ability in NWE to read Word 4/5 format directly

Paul Howson · Post by **Paul Howson** » 2004-09-29 17:03:01

Would like to second the request for reading of legacy MSWord 5.1 files directly. I'm also looking at NWE as a replacement for the ageing Word 5.1 -- still in use under Classic in Panther.

Peder · Post by **Peder** » 2004-10-05 06:42:01

Thanks for the support, Paul. Nice to hear someone else is in the same situation.

And now for some more gripes, in connection with InDesign (I know, I'm obsessive, but it's my bread and butter):
When one changes Styles in NWE, local formatting, like italics and bolds, disappear, which is not good – they are usually there for a reason.
But even worse, if they are in the NWE file, they also disappear when one places the text in ID. rtf-files from old Word don't do this. With this situation, one has to either go back and check the text file against the typeset text, or write codes in the original text (can anyone say Paleolithic?).
Further to the problem of importing Styles into ID in my first post: I tried with New York (I know, I know, but it looks good on screen when I'm translating) – the base Style changed, but font, size and leading in the subordinate Styles remained the same.
Then I did the same thing with the typeface changed to Times, in the base Style. This time all Styles changed to Times, but size and leading remained unchanged in the subordinate Styles.

Please, if at all possible, do something about this. I know I'm harping, but I can't be the only one doing typesetting and looking for a Word replacement – or…?

Oh, and while I'm in Request Mode, how about OpenType support?

PS Don't get me wrong – I like NWE a lot, which is probably why I bother

rmark · Post by **rmark** » 2004-10-05 12:05:17

Thank you for the information and the details.

We'll look into the matter.

jonlink · Post by **jonlink** » 2004-10-09 15:58:28

this is a real big problem. i've tested it and word formatted rtf isnt always perfect either, but the formatting (italics, bold & etc) sticks-- while problem areas at least get highlighted. with nwe imported text is treated like plain text. stranger still, text cut from word to nwe keeps proper formatting, and text cut from nwe to word keeps the formatting.

sadly.... (very very sadly) that means i cant use nwe anymore and what's worse is that i have to cut and paste the thirty or so files i've created in nwe over the last three weeks into word so that things arent all screwy. the work is no fun, but going back to word, especially after i thought i was done with word, is far far worse.

i am just glad i found out about this now as i am about to begin layout work on two books (one of which, coincidently, is also translation-- norwegian)

jon